A man who was abducted by aliens returns to his family three years later, but his presence affects them negatively.

We all have those films that have passed us by, this was one for me, I knew of it but just had never got round to actually watching it.

When it comes to Horror and Sci-Fi together I’m admittedly a very hard person to please, maybe it’s because my first Sci-Fi/Horror was “Alien”, maybe it’s because I’m only a fan of certain Sci-Fi, maybe it depends on how much Horrors involved, maybe it’s a mixture of it all? I don’t know why but I’ve always been this way.

I’d heard bits and pieces about this film, that it was a b-grade movie, that it was strange, that it was great, that it was horrible and I’d seen the odd still that intrigued me enough. I decided it was finally time to hunt this film down and get it watched before it slipped me by once again and I’d never get round to watching it at all.

The first thing I’d like to mention is the films atmosphere, just wow, from beginning to end it makes you feel seriously uncomfortable. Whether it’s the near constant synthesized music played throughout or the strange and surreal script, whatever it is it gives you an uneasy and unpleasant feeling. Which in my opinion is what a Horror film should do.

For me this feature is a great balance of Horror and Sci-Fi, sure it’s obviously a lower budget film but what it lacks in budget it more than makes up for in it’s creativity. At times it’s highly disturbing and for a film that’s nearly 40 years old that’s very impressive, kudos are in order to Writer and Director Harry Bromley Davenport and his crew.

Sure “Xtro” is dated and of course it hasn’t really aged well but it still makes for some eerie viewing, I wish I’d have watched it all those years ago but maybe I wouldn’t have appreciated it like I do now.

If you want to see the “Xtro” trailer then just click on the video below:

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Miscellaneous facts about the film:

Director Harry Bromley Davenport stated in an interview on the DVD release that he looks back on the film with embarrassment, saying that the bizarre atmosphere of the film was completely unintentional and that there is no deeper, symbolic meaning to the strange, random events that happen, because he and his co-writers were very high on drugs while writing the script and would often throw in whatever random ideas popped into their heads or thought would be neat, such as the panther scene and the toy soldier coming to life. Davenport has also said that despite being unhappy with the film, he is somewhat proud of its reputation for being a disgusting and bleak horror movie.

The creature that attacks the woman in the cottage was played by a mime they hired to crawl on his back.

Even though the plot involves extraterrestrials, the creatures in this film are at no point referred to as aliens. Some fans like thinking of them as Lovecraftian-type beings. It’s also never said they come from another planet, so it’s possible they come from another dimension.

The film was often incorrectly listed as a UK video nasty though it was never officially listed among the original 72 titles.

Director Harry Bromley Davenport humorously described his score for the film in an interview as “screaming synthesizers.”

Film debut of Maryam d’Abo.

A DVD release says in the synopsis that Sam Phillips is a scientist. However, this isn’t mentioned anywhere in the movie at all.

Was featured on an episode of the RedLetterMedia show The Killer Eye, They Bite, and Xtro (2013). It won with four out of four votes and was considered a “genuine good movie” by the crew.

According to Bernice Stegers, during filming Philip Sayers began to show symptoms of the cancer that sadly would take his life, suffering back pain he at the time attributed to a strenuous sword fight scene he had done recently for another film.

Anna Wing went on to play battleaxe Lou Beal in Eastenders

The Alien creature and the ‘Action Man’ are played by mime artists Tik and Tok (alias Tim Dry and Sean Crawford), who also released music during the New Romantic era, appearing alongside Depeche Mode, Gary Numan and many others.

Director Harry Bromley Davenport claimed in interview that a working title for the film was ‘The Judas Goat’, meaning an animal that leads others of it’s kind to slaughter – which puts an interesting slant on the purpose of Sam’s mission.Xtro shares a title with Alfred Bester’s otherwise totally unrelated 1975 science-fiction novel, also known as The Computer Connection.

Xtro was believed to be a Video Nasty due to it’s appearance on the infamous ‘Section 3’ list – a nebulous document naming 82 titles which the DPP considered could not be found obscene, but were nevertheless liable for forfeiture and seizure by police.

Phillip Sayer was a close friend of Queen guitarist Brian May, who dedicated the song ‘Just One Life’ (B-side of his single ‘Driven By You’) to his memory.