ALIEN
AUTOPSY
Alien Autopsy (2006)
Actors: Bill Pullman, Ant McPartlin, Declan Donnelly, Harry Dean
Stanton, Omid Djalili
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Subtitles: English, French
Region: 1 (U.S. and Canada only)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number of discs: 1
Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Release Date: September 21, 2010
Run Time: 91 minutes
Special Features
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The Making of Ant and Dec's Alien Autopsy
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Additional scenes
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Outtakes
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Commentary by director Jonny Campbell
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Alternate opening
Movie:
  
Disc:
 Back
in 1995 some mysterious, supposedly top-secret, black-and-white footage
purportedly of an autopsy of an alien that crash-landed in Roswell, New
Mexico in 1947 was broadcast across the world.
Today the same footage wouldn’t cause so much as a stir on YouTube, but in
those heady pre-Internet days (it was also the height of the
X-Files craze) it was quite
a news story, or at least it was until the next big “news” item, namely Hugh
Grant’s Divine Brown fiasco . . .
Set in 2005, this comedy tells the story of the two enterprising Brits who
“discovered” the footage in flashback as they try to interest an American
documentary film-maker (Bill Pullman of
Independence Day fame) in the real true story behind their escapade. How
much is non-fiction and how much is fabrication is up to the audience to
figure out, and is of course part of the light-hearted fun. (When one thinks
about it Alien Autopsy might not be sci-fi at all.)
THE DISC: This is the first time that this 2006 British comedy gets a
States-side release, be it on DVD or in theatres.
Why it took so long is a bit of a mystery. Sure, Alien Autopsy
features no recognisable star power as far as American audiences are
concerned. The two lead actors - Ant MacPartlin and Declan Donnelly - are
minor British TV celebs. (No, I haven’t heard of them either). But
much worse dreck makes it to U.S. DVD shelves and cinema screen.
Interestingly enough none of the actual autopsy footage is featured in any
of the making-of features for some reasons – probably copyright, something
that ought to make for an interesting story in itself.
WORTH IT? Alien Autopsy is one of those movies that you don’t
mind seeing, but will probably forget in a week or two’s time. It’s light,
fun and clever – with some decent acting and a script that will elicit the
occasional chuckle. However it is not particularly memorable or exceptional.
RECOMMENDATION: Not bad viewing for a slow night.
NOTE: By the way, some onscreen subtitles refer to “Kiev, Russia” in
the movie. This will come as a surprise to anyone living there. The city is
of course located in the Ukraine, which achieved independence from Russia a
few years before the date the movie is supposedly set.
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