Species (1995)
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A team of scientists and government agents must hunt down a seductive extraterrestrial-human hybrid before she can mate and threaten the human race.
The story
After receiving an alien DNA sample and instructions for creating life, a government team led by Xavier Fitch creates a hybrid organism codenamed 'Sil'. The creature, which possesses superhuman abilities and rapid growth, escapes her containment and flees to Los Angeles. A specialized team of scientists and a mercenary are dispatched to track her down. They must find and neutralize the hybrid before she can successfully mate with a human male and produce offspring that could potentially endanger the human race. The hunt leads them into a dangerous game of cat and mouse across the city as Sil hides and hunts her own targets.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Following the receipt of an alien DNA sample, a government team creates a hybrid organism named Sil. After she escapes her containment, a specialized team—including Dr. Stephen Arden, Dr. Laura Baker, Dan Smithson, and mercenary Preston 'Press' Lennox—is formed to hunt her. Sil travels to Los Angeles, where she hides by assuming the identity of a woman named Marlo Keegan. During the hunt, she kills several people and eventually encounters the team. She lures them into a chase, eventually resulting in her being separated from them. She later encounters Dr. Arden, with whom she has sex and becomes pregnant. She then kills him. The team eventually finds her in a sewer complex where she gives birth. Her offspring attacks Dan Smithson, who destroys it, while Press kills Sil with a grenade launcher. In the final moments, a rat gnaws on one of her severed tentacles and begins to mutate.
- First release year
- 1995
- Runtime (minutes)
- 108
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Roger Donaldson
- Writers
- Dennis Feldman · writer
- Cast and characters
- Ben Kingsley · Xavier Fitch; Michael Madsen · Preston "Press" Lennox; Alfred Molina · Dan Smithson; Forest Whitaker · none; Marg Helgenberger · Dr. Laura Baker; Natasha Henstridge · Sil
- Genres
- science fiction; horror
- Themes
- mankind's place in the universe; biological warfare; maternal instinct
- Tone and mood
- suspenseful; threatening
- Premise and plot tags
- alien hybrid; government conspiracy; survival; science fiction
- Source material / true-story basis
- The Message (original treatment)
- Franchise connections
- Species
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics, who felt the execution did not match the ambition of the premise, but it was a box office success.
- Awards and nominations
- Audie Award · Solo Performance · win
- Production trivia
- The character Sil was designed by H. R. Giger.; The film's design was influenced by the 'Alien' franchise.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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