PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Back in 1994, my father’s best friend installed a Black Box in our house. If you don’t know what that is, it was a device that bypassed the lockout codes on the paid channels. Nowadays the equivalent would be getting apps for free such as Netflix, Hulu, Max, etc. Back then, we got the paid channels such as Starz, HBO, the pay-per-view channels and the not for children channels, wink wink. What that meant is 8 year old me got to watch a lot of movies, shows and channels that I wasn’t supposed to.
The golden era was 1994-96, with 1995 being the big year in particular. I’d watch Nickelodeon and other things meant for kids, but more often than not I’d be watching the hot new movies on the pay-per view channels that had just come out in theaters I was too young to go see. Then after a few months they would be on the other channels such as Starz or HBO and I’d watch them again. Starting with Congo, this is going to be part two of The Black Box Chronicles. One of the many movies I saw again and again is the subject of this article, the 1995 sci-fi horror flick SPECIES.
In 1985, Dennis Feldman (the son of noted attorney Phil Feldman), co-wrote Just One of The Guys (think She’s The Man only 20 years earlier) and put himself on the map as a screenwriter. In 1987, he wrote the genesis of what would become SPECIES as a crime drama. Eventually he changed the characters from straight police to a team of specialists. HR Giger, the man responsible for designing the xenomorph for the Alien franchise, took a look at an early draft since they wanted him to design the creature for this movie and felt it was a little too close to Alien. Finally, in 1995, Feldman got it right.
So what is SPECIES about? The opening scene shows a young girl (Michelle Williams – Venom 2018) in a pod in a secret base. The overseer is Xavier Fitch (Ben Kingsley – Ghandi 1982) and he tearfully tells a team to gas her to death. The reason is unclear but the girl busts out, runs away and boards a train. After she’s escaped, a team of specialists is brought in to meet with Fitch. Molecular biologist Dr. Laura Baker (Marg Helgenberger – TV series CSI), anthropologist Dr. Stephen Arden (Alfred Molina – Maverick 1994), empath Dan Smithson (Forest Whitaker – Platoon 1986) and trained killer Preston Lennox (Michael Madsen – Reservoir Dogs 1992).
Fitch explains that the US sent out information via satellites to contact other worlds. They received a message back from outer space showing how to splice their DNA with humans. This created the mutated clone that rapidly grew to the young girl, known as Sil. Her violent outbursts during nightmares and abnormal growths poking out of her skin made her seem too dangerous, thus Fitch ordered the experiment to be put down. He failed, and he tells the team to go find her.
While on the train, Sil goes through a cocoon like transformation into a grown woman (Natasha Henstridge – The Whole Nine Yards 2000) and slips past the team who’s still looking for the teenager. Once they realize she’s mutated, Baker figures out the next step is reproduction with Fitch realizing that would mean the end of the human race if more powerful beings like her are created. Can they catch Sil in time or will she cause a chain reaction that dooms humanity? Watch SPECIES to find out.
So what makes SPECIES special? A lot of it has to do with the acting. The character Sil appears to be human but is mostly a feral predator with no remorse or regret. At the same time, she was created in a lab and didn’t ask to be born. During the transformation from Michelle Williams into Natasha Henstridge, Michelle is in deep physical pain and has no idea what’s happening. Apart from killing a hobo, she seems so awestruck and confused that its hard to root against her. Then when she turns into Henstridge, Natasha steals the show. Its really tough to be mindless and calculating at the same time, but she pulled it off. She even asks what her purpose is and why she’s the way she is. Its easy to see why Xavier Fitch shed a tear when he tried to have Michelle gassed and also easy to see why Natasha was dangerous.
You would think Ben Kingsley going from winning Best Actor in 1982 for a biographical look at Mahatma Ghandi to a sci-fi horror movie would be a downgrade, but he took the role seriously (wait till you see him in Iron Man 3). He was cold and stern when needed but he had a soft spot when it mattered. You could feel his reluctance to put Sil down but having to do it anyway. Forest Whitaker playing an anxious empath was definitely a welcome sight considering he spent most of the 80’s as the loveable sidekick in Bloodsport, Platoon and Good Morning Vietnam. Those roles were more fodder for the main character while Dan Smithson is essentially the most important character because he knows where to find Sil and how she’s feeling.
The most surprising was Alfred Molina but mostly due to the time period. A year earlier he played the big, burly main antagonist in the western Maverick starring Mel Gibson. In this movie he’s nowhere near as burly looking and is more of a standard wisecracking British character. His range over his career was incredible. Marg Helgenberger was the most human of all the characters. Not to spoil anything but when Marg finds a dead body for the first time, she’s totally disgusted. By the fourth and fifth victims, she barely even flinches. That’s humanity in a nutshell.
She even develops a crush on Preston which brings me to the final member of the main cast, the late, great Michael Madsen. He’s known for playing stoic heroes or villains and this one was no different. The only thing different between Press and Mr. Blonde from Reservoir Dogs was the wardrobe. You can close your eyes and pretend that Mr. Blonde was found alive after the events of Reservoir Dogs, changed his identity, saw the error of his ways and became Press. RIP Michael, you were the man.
Back in 1995, computer generated images aka CGI was in its infancy. Video game consoles like Sega Saturn and Personal Computer games toyed with it but feature length movies was where it was supposed to shine. Nowadays CGI has been vastly improved in both video games and movies but in SPECIES, the CGI stands out like a sore thumb compared to the brilliant practical effects by HR Giger. Other movies that came out in 1995 such as Mortal Kombat and Virtuosity both had CGI that looks ridiculous 30 years later, but looked interesting at the time. Still, 80% of the movie is bad guy chasing and science fiction, but the final act goes straight horror. When Sil is in her final form and without spoiling anything, has backup, it gets downright scary. That’s where the practical effects shine. It was a brilliant set up to go from one extreme to another.
So how did SPECIES do at the box office? Its opening weekend it drew $17.1 million dollars, MGM’s best drawing movie of the year. It finished second that week to another movie involving outer space, Apollo 13. Altogether it drew $113 million dollars which would be $239 million today. It received generally good reviews but as usual, the Academy frowns upon action/sci-fi/horror. No Oscar for Ben Kingsley this time.
Anything else to discuss? The minor characters all have a role in Sil’s development. Without spoiling too much, one man gets too aggressive with Sil and another pushes her away, she didn’t like that…at all. SPECIES pretty much uses Fitch’s group to hold your hand throughout the movie to explain everything Sil does and why. Now I have to address the elephant in the room, the sex scenes.
*SPOILER ALERT* Natasha Henstridge was just 20 years old in the movie and not only gets naked a few times, she has sex scenes and makeout sessions with potential mates. All of the actors are significantly older than her, the biggest one being Alfred Molina who was a spry 41 at the time. Back then nobody cared, but today, so many hysterical reprobates shout to the high heavens that anyone between 18-21 was “groomed” or “raped” by doing scenes with people twice their age. I’ll say it right now, she was a consenting adult and it was a stage performance. Not to mention Alfred Molina has no rap sheet as far as we know, so don’t bother whining.
Does it have some of the goodies for standard horror movies? You bet your bippy big guy! We got T & A from Natasha Henstridge and sex scenes involving not only her and Alfred Molina but two aliens appearing to get it on as well in a dream sequence…kinky. Does it have gore? Oh yes it does! We got a guy snapped in half, we get the tongue through the back of the neck style kill, some poor woman gets her spine ripped out, we got pools of blood and even severed fingers. Family fun for all!
And now for the legacy. Ben Kingsley was an Oscar winning actor before this and went on to enjoy a long career after. As I mentioned earlier, he steals the show in Iron Man 3. Alfred Molina went on to play some iconic characters of his own in Spider Man 2, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, The Da Vinci Code and the previously mentioned Maverick. Forest Whitaker was in plenty of movies and TV shows but you youngsters probably know him from Star Wars: Rogue 1 and the TV series Andor. Watch The Godfather of Harlem as well.
Michelle Williams also has ties to MCU/Disney as she played Eddie Brock’s love interest Anne in Venom but was also in the hard hitting Manchester By The Sea. Marg Helgenberger became a bigger star on the hit TV series CSI and the hit movie Erin Brockovich. Michael Madsen continued to play iconic roles such as Budd in Kill Bill and Tony Cipriani in Grand Theft Auto 3 before sadly passing at the age of 67 on July 3rd this year.
Ironically the high point of Natasha Henstridge’s career was her debut in SPECIES. She was a big part of The Whole Nine Yards and was in the number one movie of 1996 in Maximum Risk, but as the years went on she was more known for Species than anything else. She guest starred on an early episode of South Park and her credits were simply “The chick from Species“. She’s definitely been active in the last 30 years but while the others are known for more iconic roles, THIS was her iconic role. She did return for Species 2 along with Michael and Marg, but that’s a story for another day.
Now all in all, this is NOT the movie you want an 8-9 year old to watch but it can be very educational if you’re a glass half full kind of person. You learn about reproduction, how primal animals mate, deal with prey and why you really shouldn’t screw with science. After all, if the brainiacs didn’t splice alien DNA with human, none of the events in SPECIES would have happened. But where’s the fun in that? That’s the key word though, fun. The philosophical discussion of breeding clones can be had but the general movie is about the chase, the action, the kills and the story. It was never meant to be Braveheart or Apollo 13. You’re here to see Natasha Henstridge naked and go on a killing spree, along with Mr. Blonde, Mahatma Ghandi and Agent Willows trying to stop her.
Don’t think too hard about it and enjoy the movie. Younger me enjoyed it and I still enjoy it 30 years later.
