I viewed The Watch last night, and I was contemplating whether or not I should include a review of it over here on the blog. While I don't think most of the content really adheres to the purposes of this blog (in that it's more of a fratboy comedy than it is a horror movie), there are some instances where the film strays into territory that looks similar to something you might see in an Alien or Predator film (or a mash-up of the two, in which case you should probably just stay away).
The Ben Stiller-led comedy about a man who fulfills himself by creating a neighborhood watch club full of misfits to battle skin-stealing aliens draws obvious ideas from horror film. The design of the alien itself feels straight out of Predator - the mouth features the horny, spiked contraptions that Predator so often likes to flare; there's a green, viscous fluid that seeps from the alien in a similar vein to ye old extraterrestrial; and the lithe, powerful body of the aliens in The Watch seem like they'd be quite a match for even Mr. Governator.
Astoundingly, the logic behind The Watch's aliens is less realistic than Predator's, though. There's something about the aliens wanting to come to Earth simply to destroy it, to take the time to steal humans' skin in order to blend in or something, and a large ball with holes in it that can not only shoot a beacon into space, but also destroy anything in its path thanks to a powerful laser.
But I don't care about all of that. Who needs plots that make sense anyway? Instead, I'd rather talk about the chest-bursting scene that The Watch nabbed (as an homage) from Alien. Yes, it's super cliche and yes, it's easy to see coming, but it's still pretty cool to see in a film that seems to emphasize dick jokes over blood and guts.
The Ben Stiller-led comedy about a man who fulfills himself by creating a neighborhood watch club full of misfits to battle skin-stealing aliens draws obvious ideas from horror film. The design of the alien itself feels straight out of Predator - the mouth features the horny, spiked contraptions that Predator so often likes to flare; there's a green, viscous fluid that seeps from the alien in a similar vein to ye old extraterrestrial; and the lithe, powerful body of the aliens in The Watch seem like they'd be quite a match for even Mr. Governator.
Astoundingly, the logic behind The Watch's aliens is less realistic than Predator's, though. There's something about the aliens wanting to come to Earth simply to destroy it, to take the time to steal humans' skin in order to blend in or something, and a large ball with holes in it that can not only shoot a beacon into space, but also destroy anything in its path thanks to a powerful laser.
But I don't care about all of that. Who needs plots that make sense anyway? Instead, I'd rather talk about the chest-bursting scene that The Watch nabbed (as an homage) from Alien. Yes, it's super cliche and yes, it's easy to see coming, but it's still pretty cool to see in a film that seems to emphasize dick jokes over blood and guts.
And I'd be remiss to forget that The Watch borrows from horror film to give the aliens a major Achilles heel that Stiller and co. can take advantage of - their penises are totally their brains, meaning that "Shoot the head!" gets a new meaning in this film.
Will you see The Watch for the homage? I must ask you, though: who doesn't want to see something get shot in the dick?
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