(There’s spoiler falling from the sky) Mahal Empire Productions, the production company behind Bus Party to Hell and Art of the Dead, is at it again. This time the threat isn’t from witches or demons, but from outer space. Director Brandon Slagle’s Attack of the Unknown lands August 28th on VOD and Blu-ray this October.

ATTACK OF THE UNKNOWN

Richard Grieco (21 Jump Street, Art of the Dead), who’s becoming a regular Mahal Empire Productions player, leads a Los Angeles SWAT team charged with taking down notorious drug kingpin Hades (Robert LaSardo). Of course, once Hades is in police custody the FBI steps in to take over the case and orders Vernon’s team to escort Hades to federal prison.

While escorting Hades for the FBI, Vernon (Grieco) and his team are caught in the middle of an alien invasion. Their only hope is to hold up in a local precinct. The movie never tells us why the aliens need these exact cops, but they’re hell bent on getting them all. At this point, Attack of the Unknown starts to have an Assault on Precinct 13 vibe to it, on an even smaller budget, as the aliens fight their way into the precinct.

INDEPENDENT SPIRIT 

Like other Mahal productions Attack of the Unknown was funded through crowd funding. It doesn’t get much more independent than having your production funded through Indiegogo. At times the movie’s ambition outweighs the budget.

The movie’s lack of set dressings, props, and staging is obvious from the moment the opening credits end. There’s no arguing that Attack of the Unknown is Z-level movie. However, that shouldn’t discourage you from watching the movie. Even with a small budget it’s an alien invasion movie that’s fun to watch and with a lot of intentional and unintentional humor.

SPACE VAMPIRES

Movie aliens have been invading earth since the beginning of cinema. They’ve invaded to enslave humanity, they’ve invaded to strip the earth of natural resources, and sometimes they’ve just want to blow everything to smithereens. The aliens in Attack of the Unknown invade earth for blood, human blood. Human blood is alien medicine. We’re never told if these particular aliens are sick or if they’re stocking up medicine in the event there’s ever a pandemic (too soon?) on their home planet, but they need blood in a bad way.

OLD SCHOOL ALIENS

We can criticize the movie for its low budget, but in a time when most movies are turning to CGI for monsters, aliens, and ghosts Attack of the Unknown‘s aliens are the old school foam and rubber variety topped off with a lot of care.

These aliens aren’t the new school variety. These alien creations are a throw back to the old science-fiction films of the ’50s and the original Mars Attacks trading cards. You’re not going to find more interesting looking aliens in a movie with this size budget. If you take anything away from Attack of the Unknown it should be that someone out there in the Hollwoodverse is keeping practical effects alive.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Check out Attack of the Unknown if you’re looking for an alien invasion to occupy your time. You won’t be disappointed.