Subtle horror

Rating: 8/10 (7 July 2005)

The movie turns from a sci-fi genre to horror soon after the aliens appear. After some initial gore, which is necessary to show how the alien ray guns destroy, the rest of the movie hides the blood and guts. You see the aftermath of things you can only imagine: a burning train, a crashed plane, clothes floating down from the sky, a red landscape. The images in your mind's eye of what could have happened are more disturbing than anything they could put on film.
Some things in the movie require explanation. What was the significance of the red vines? It looked like they were used by the director to show the vitality of the aliens. Why didn't they use nukes against the aliens (they did in the first movie)? Why did the aliens keep the battlefield farmhouse mainly intact, when they destroyed everything else? Why would the aliens expend the time and energy to place their machines on this insignificant planet? Why didn't they destroy human life long ago? The way they transported into the machines was imaginative.
What a stupid ending. I suspect the DVD will be advertised with alternate endings.