DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem (Unrated Edition)
By Jeff Swindoll
Apr 15, 2008, 11:37 GMT

Those alien cinematic icons are back and battling again. This time a town in Colorado is the battleground, and the humans are once again caught in the middle.  Though this sequel does do some interesting things the results are not exactly what should befit the meetings of these two titans of terror.  

Dallas (Steve Pasquale) has just gotten out of jail and is returning to Gunnison, Colorado to reunite with his brother Ricky (Johnny Lewis).  He’s not the only one having a homecoming since Kelly (Reiko Aylesworth) has returned from Iraq to her husband Tim (Sam Trammel) and her daughter Molly (Ariel Grade).  Some other visitors are not so welcome as a Predator spaceship that was trying to get back to their home planet crashes. 

The problem is that the reason for the crash is that an Alien has infected the crew of Predators.  When the ship crashes the face huggers come out and the little town of Gunnison finds that these illegal aliens are more interested in making sure their eggs find a warm place to grow – in the stomachs of the town’s residents.  

Requiem is the second sequel since the Aliens and Predators decided to team up and battle each other, but both interstellar critters have been giving audiences shudders for quite some time now. 

A requiem is defined as any musical hymn, composition, or service for the dead.  The film does seem like a dirge for the series, but I believe that Fox has been rumbling that a third sequel is in development. 

The film feels like it would’ve been at home in the bad sequel times of the 1980s and in some ways reminded me of Critters or perhaps even the Blob remake.  We have a series of soap opera type stories that are interrupted by some alien beasties.  I have to give co-directors Colin and Greg Strause some credit in that they let the red stuff flow and don’t bow down to a PG-13 rating. 

They also let the Aliens burst out of a little kid’s chest as well as making a hatchery of a maternity ward full of pregnant ladies.  However, these flashes of gore don’t go any further into making this a good movie. 

This version is the unrated one and adds about seven minutes of more footage (more on that in the special features section).  It all feels too familiar and the big battle finale just doesn’t live up to what we’d expect this meeting of the titans to be, not to mention that some of it is shot so dark that you really can’t make out all the gory details.    

Requiem is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  Special features include two audio commentaries.  The first is from directors Colin and Greg Strause and producer John Davies.  The second is from creature effects designers/creators Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr. 

Next is an option to have a digital marker to scenes that have been added to this unrated cut.  There are also two theatrical trailers (4 minutes total) and trailers for other Fox DVDs. 

Those special features above are available on the single disc version of the film.  A two-disc special edition adds a series of featurettes and a second disc with a downloadable version of the film.  The 15 minute “Preparing for War” goes into the preproduction of the film.  The 12 minute “Fight to the Finish” is about the post production done on this extended cut. 

The 7 minute “The Nightmare Returns” looks at the special effects used to bring the Predators and Aliens back to the screen.  The 8 minute “Crossbreed” looks at the PredAlien hybrid creature.  The 6 minute “Building the Predator Homeworld” is about the design of (guess what?) the Predator homeworld.  There are also seven still galleries.  

This one probably comes to a draw in the battle between the Aliens and the Predators.  I guess that Fox was the real winner with $128 million in international receipts, but the film really doesn’t live up to the pre-fight hype.  

Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem (Unrated Edition) is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.