Alien Uprising & me – or: How I stopped worrying and learned to yell at glowing space robots

Alright. So, Alien Uprising got dumped in my lap last Saturday night, just after midnight. You know those weird late-night sci-fi flicks from the UK where you half expect Shaun the Sheep to turn up with a laser rifle? This is very much in that spirit. Jean-Claude Van Damme, of all people, is in it – which was enough to sell me, to be honest. The director, Dominic Burns, seems like he’s having some sort of crisis-of-genre though. One moment we’re deep in gritty apocalypse-brummie horror, next it’s like an episode of EastEnders with suits of armour clanking about. If someone put Attack the Block and Snatch in a blender and forgot to put on the lid… ja, maybe it’d splash out this film.

The plot, if you squint, is about a group of mates who wake up after a heavy night out (very Swedish Valborg vibes, actually) to aliens invading, and everyone argues and shouts. The effects… eh. Sometimes they’re okay, other times I’m back in my childhood, making UFOs from aluminium foil and fishing line. Van Damme pops up occasionally, like a confused Swedish father visiting his kids’ school play, just nodding and frowning with those big sad eyes. Not sure if he knew what film he was actually in, to be honest.

I remember the first time I saw an alien movie – E.T., age six, on SVT2 with way too much coffee and sockerbitar. This is not that, but there’s a little charm in its chaos. Alien Uprising is perfect for a laugh with mates, especially if you have a sense of humour about weird British film attempts and enjoy shouting “Move outta the way!” at terrible digital spaceships. Is it good? Not really. Is it fun? Strangely, yes. So grab some chips, maybe a folköl, and just roll with it.

watch the full movie on Mavshack Movies on YouTube

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