This witless alien-abduction movie is the work of writing duo the Vicious Brothers, of which director Colin Minihan is half. They’re not really that vicious, just mean-spirited, and desperately short of inspiration. At first, Extraterrestrial appears to be out to play with the cliches of 1980s sci-fi – animal mutilations, Spielbergian sheaves of light, big-eyed escapees from Roswell. But no, the Brothers simply recycle the staples without any smarter purpose – there’s even a cabin in the woods, but just a plain old non-ironic, pre-Cabin in the Woods cabin in the woods. It’s all about as pleasurable as the inevitable alien anal probe. Extra-terrible, more like.
