The Deadly Spawn

1983
R
1h 21m

IMDb RATING

5.9/10

5.5K

YOUR RATING

Alien creatures invade a small town and a group of four teenagers, plus one little boy, try to escape from them.

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Alien Invasion Body Horror Horror Sci-Fi

Alien creatures invade a small town and four teenagers, along with a young boy, attempt to escape from them.Alien creatures invade a small town and four teenagers, along with a young boy, attempt to escape from them.Alien creatures invade a small town and four teenagers, along with a young boy, attempt to escape from them.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.9/10

5.5K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination

Trivia
Gene Simmons of the band 'KISS' currently owns the prop severed head of the kid's mother. It was given to him by Tim Sullivan when he interviewed Simmons for "Fangoria" in 1983. Sullivan - who was a PA on this film - went on to produce Detroit Rock City (1999) and write and direct 2001 Maniacs (2005) and Driftwood (2006).

Goofs
At the very beginning of the movie when it shows the meteor hitting the earth it is clearly daytime, yet when the campers leave their tent to investigate, it's dark.

Quotes
[after being attacked by an enormous alien mouth]
Kathy: What... the FUCK was THAT?

Crazy credits
As soon as the end credits finish, the words "Don't try it, Gary" appear.

Alternate versions
The UK DVD version for the first time actually uses a "deadly spawn" title screen, instead of the original full title "return of the aliens deadly spawn". the original title is used on the US and Japanese versions of the film despite the fact that later US releases shortend it to "the deadly spawn" (just on the video box and not the film). Also the Uk titles appear over a blue background, instead of a black background like the US and Japanese version. Whats even more odd is the UK titles do appear to have the same "age look" of the film itself, with it looking like it was from 1983 and not recently made

Connections
Featured in Terror on Tape (1985)

User reviews94

Review

Featured review

Surprisingly fun low-budget monster mayhem

For some it's probably criminally easy to dismiss a movie like this just because of it's low budget, but "The Deadly Spawn" was somewhat of a cult-hit in it's day and it's easy to see why. The make-up-effects are quite good for a movie this cheap (reportedly it cost just $ 20,000 and ended up making millions), and writer/director Douglas McKeown actually takes time building characters before he lets them die gory deaths (moahahaha).

The monsters are quite effective, at least those small eel-like buggers reminiscent of the chest-burster that ruined everyone's breakfast in "Alien" (1979). It also deserves kudos for - in the end - painting a realistic picture of the traumatizing effects something like this would have on those who survive.

If you like alien-invasion-movies in general, or just love the charm of horror on a shoestring-budget, this might be your cup of tea.