Species (film)
Species is a 1995 American science fiction horror film directed by Roger Donaldson and written by Dennis Feldman. It stars Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Alfred Molina, Forest Whitaker, Marg Helgenberger, and Natasha Henstridge in her film debut role. The film's plot concerns a motley crew of scientists and government agents who try to track down Sil (Henstridge), a seductive extraterrestrial-human hybrid, before she successfully mates with a human male.
Species
- Frank Mancuso Jr.
- Dennis Feldman
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
- Frank Mancuso Jr. Productions[1]
- July 7, 1995
108 minutes[2]
United States
English
$35 million[3]
$113.3 million[3]
The film was conceived by Feldman in 1987, and was originally pitched as a film treatment in the style of a police procedural, entitled The Message. When The Message failed to attract the studios, Feldman re-wrote it as a spec script, which ultimately led to the making of the film. The extraterrestrial aspect of Sil's character was created by H. R. Giger, who was also responsible for the beings from the Alien franchise. The effects combined practical models designed by Giger collaborator Steve Johnson and XFX, with computer-generated imagery done by Richard Edlund's Boss Film Studios. Giger felt that the film and the character were too similar to Alien, so he pushed for script changes.
Most of the principal photography was done in Los Angeles, California, where the film is set. Several scenes were filmed in Utah and at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Species was met with mixed reviews from critics, who felt that the film's execution did not match the ambition of its premise, but nevertheless was a box office success, partly due to the hype surrounding Henstridge's nude scenes in various tabloid newspapers and lad mags of the time, grossing US$113.3 million ($227 million in 2023 dollars). It spawned a franchise, which includes one theatrical sequel (Species II), as well as two direct-to-television sequels (Species III and Species: The Awakening). Species was adapted into a novel by Yvonne Navarro and two comic book series by Dark Horse Comics, one of which was written by Feldman.
Plot[edit]
During the SETI program, Earth's scientists send out transmissions, such as the Arecibo message, with information about Earth and its inhabitants in the hopes of finding life beyond Earth. After receiving transmissions from an alien source on how to create limitless fuel and an alien DNA sample with instructions on how to splice it with that of humans, the scientists assume the aliens are friendly. Inspired by the second transmission, a government team led by Xavier Fitch commissions a genetic experiment meant to create a female alien/human hybrid organism under the belief that she would have "more docile and controllable" traits. They eventually produce a girl codenamed "Sil", who initially resembles a normal human and develops into a 12-year-old in three months.
Due to her violent outbursts while she is sleeping, the scientists deem her dangerous and prepare to kill her using cyanide gas, but she breaks out of her containment cell and escapes. Fearing she will mate with human males and produce offspring that will eventually exterminate the human race, the government assembles a team consisting of anthropologist Dr. Stephen Arden, molecular biologist Dr. Laura Baker, "empath" Dan Smithson, and mercenary Preston "Press" Lennox to track and kill Sil. Using her superhuman strength and intelligence and regenerative capability to evade capture, Sil matures rapidly into her early twenties and travels to Los Angeles, where she kills several people to prevent them from alerting authorities and disguise herself.
After failing to mate with and killing Robbie, a diabetic young man, and John Carey, a man she met following a car accident, Press and Baker find Sil. She assumes her alien form and flees into a nearby forest, where she kidnaps a woman to assume her identity. Secretly returning to Carey's home to spy on Fitch, Sil reads his lips and determines he and his team plan to stake out a nightclub to find her. After being spotted by Smithson, Sil forces her pursuers into a car chase wherein she leaves the woman she kidnapped to die while she crashes the car into a high-voltage transformer and jumps out at the last minute. She later cuts and dyes her hair before developing an attraction towards Press, whom she dreamed of the previous night. Meanwhile, the government team celebrate Sil's apparent death at a hotel, where Sil stealthily stalks them. Arden, upset about being alone, goes to his room to find Sil waiting for him. They soon have sex, resulting in her instantly becoming pregnant before she kills him once he realizes who she is. Sensing her presence, Smithson alerts the remaining team members. Sil transforms once more and escapes into the sewers. The team pursue, but Sil kills Fitch before giving birth. Her offspring subsequently attacks Smithson, who incinerates it with a flamethrower while Press kills Sil with a grenade launcher. As the survivors leave, they fail to notice a rat gnawing on one of Sil's severed tentacles before mutating and killing another rat.
Influence and themes[edit]
Since Sil grows rapidly and kills humans with ease, at a certain point film character Dr. Laura Baker speculates if she was a biological weapon sent by a species who thought humans were like an intergalactic weed. Feldman declared that he wanted to explore this theme further in the script, as it discussed mankind's place in the universe and how other civilizations would perceive and relate to humanity, considering that "maybe [humans are] not a potential threat, maybe a competitor, maybe a resource".[4] He also declared that more could be said about Sil's existentialist doubts, as she does not know her origin or purpose, and only follows her instinct to mate and perpetuate the species.[4]
Writing for the Journal of Popular Film & Television, Susan George authored a paper that dealt with the portrayal of procreation in Species, Gattaca and Mimic. George compares the character of Fitch to "an updated Dr. Frankenstein",[5] and explores the development of Sil's maternal aspirations, which convert the character into an "archaic mother" figure similar to the xenomorph creature in the Alien series, both of which are, she claims, portrayed negatively.[5] George further states that a recurring theme in science fiction films is a response to "this kind of powerful female sexuality and 'alien-ness'" in that "the feminine monster must die as Sil does at the end of Species".[5] Feldman himself considered that an underlying theme regarded "a female arriving and seeking to find a superior mate".[4]
A five-year investigation into accounts of the chupacabra, a well known cryptid, revealed that the original sighting report of the creature in Puerto Rico by Madeline Tolentino may have been inspired by the character Sil. This was detailed in paranormal investigator and skeptic Benjamin Radford's book Tracking the Chupacabra.[6] According to Virginia Fugarino of Memorial University of Newfoundland writing for the Journal of Folklore Research, Radford found a link between the original eyewitness report and the design of Sil in her alien form, and hypothesized that "[Species], which [Tolentino] did see before her sighting, influenced what she believes she saw of the chupacabra".[7]
Release[edit]
Species received a wide theatrical release on July 7, 1995. Its opening weekend was $17.1 million, MGM's biggest opening at the time and ranked second in the box office ranking behind Apollo 13.[16] Budgeted at $35 million, the film earned a total of $113 million worldwide ($227 million adjusted for inflation), including $60 million in the United States.[3] Audiences polled by CinemaScore during opening weekend gave the film an average grade of "B−" on a scale ranging from A+ to F.[17]
MGM Home Entertainment released the film on DVD in March 1997, which contains a booklet with trivia and production notes,[18] and on VHS in August 1999.[3][19] In July 2006, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released it on Blu-ray, whose supplements includes several featurettes as well as two audio commentary tracks: one by director Roger Donaldson, Natasha Henstridge and Michael Madsen, and another from Donaldson, cinematographer Andrzej Bartkowiak, make-up effects creator Steve Johnson, visual effects supervisor Richard Edlund and producer Frank Mancuso Jr.[20] In July 2017, Scream Factory released a collector's edition Blu-ray, issued with a concoction of new and archival bonus contents which have been ported over from original DVD and Blu-ray versions.[21]
Reception[edit]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film received an approval rating of 42% based on 73 reviews, with an average rating of 5.30/10 and a critical consensus which reads: "Species shows flashes of the potential to blend exploitation and sci-fi horror in ingenious ways, but is ultimately mainly interested in flashing star Natasha Henstridge's skin".[22] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[23]
Roger Ebert gave it 2 out of 4 stars, criticizing the film's plot and overall lack of intelligence.[24] Cristine James from Boxoffice magazine gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, describing it as "Alien meets V meets Splash meets Playboy's Erotic Fantasies: Forbidden Liaisons, diluted into a diffuse, misdirected bore".[25] James Berardinelli gave the film 2½ out of 4 stars, stating that "as long as you don't stop to think about what's going on, Species is capable of offering its share of cheap thrills, with a laugh or two thrown in as well".[26] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly found the film lacking in imagination and special effects, also commenting that Alfred Molina "sport[s] a haircut that's scarier than the creature".[27] Variety's review of the film described it as a "gripping if not overly original account of an extraterrestrial species attempting to overwhelm our own" and that Ben Kingsley and other lead actors "have only two-dimensional roles to engage them". The review notes the similarity between H.R. Giger's design of Sil and his work on Alien.[28]
Scott Weinberg of DVD Talk praised the acting, Feldman's screenplay and Donaldson's direction. He concluded by saying that Species makes for "a very good time for the genre fans".[29] Mick LaSalle, writing for San Francisco Chronicle, was notedly less enthusiastic, quipping that if "Species were a little bit worse, it would have a shot at becoming a camp classic".[30] Los Angeles Times critic Peter Rainer described Species as "a pretty good Boo! movie", finding it an entertaining thriller while unoriginal and with ineffective tonal shifts.[31]
Related works[edit]
Adaptations[edit]
Yvonne Navarro co-wrote a novelization based on the original screenplay with Dennis Feldman. The book gives several in-depth details about the characters not seen in the film, such as Sil's ability to visualize odors and determine harmful substances from edible items by the color. Gas appears black, food appears pink, and an unhealthy potential mate appears to give off green fumes. Other character details include Preston's background in tracking down AWOL soldiers as well as the process of decoding the alien signal. Although no clues are given as to its origin, it is mentioned that the message was somehow routed through several black holes to mask its point of origin.[32] An audiobook version narrated by Alfred Molina won the Audie Award for Solo Performance.[33]
Dark Horse Comics published a four-issue comic book adapting the film, written by Feldman and penciled by Jon Foster. Dark Horse would also publish a mini-series with an all-new storyline,[9] Species: Human Race, released in 1997.[34] West End Games released a World of Species sourcebook for its Masterbook role-playing game system.[35] MGM had partnered with Cyberdreams to make a computer game based on the film, and while the company managed to release an H.R. Giger screen saver featuring Species images, the game never came to be due to Cyberdreams' closure.[36]