Attack the Block – The British answer to Spielberg’s Super 8

While Steven Spielberg’s alien flick Super 8 was about good kids taking on an extra-terrestrial invasion in a small town, the British sci-fi/action/comedy Attack the Block looks at the more gritty side of life for kids in the inner city.

As an attention grabber, the movie is “from the producers of ˆShaun of the Dead” and Nick Frost of Shaun of the Dead and Paul has a small role in it. It’s essentially a pointless cameo because the kids carry this movie.

After mugging a young woman on the street and then killing some critter that crash lands in a car nearby, the boys find themselves being pursued by big, freaky alien creatures.

These nightmarish creatures are furry black lycanthropic beasts! And I mean black. They basically look like hulking shadows with no features…except neon green glowing eyes and razor sharp teeth. So awesome. The action and suspense is out of hand as the boys—on scooter bikes and bicycles—are chased relentlessly by these vicious aliens. And when these aliens sink their teeth into a victim, the blood flows.

The boys take refuge in the huge apartment building where it turns out the young woman they mugged also lives. Now they have to work together to survive the onslaught of alien monsters.

What’s so refreshing about the movie is that the boys, while delivering plenty of humor, aren’t immediately likable. They’re actually a bunch of pricks. And even deeper into the film, the worst of them still suck. They don’t immediately vindicate themselves just because of the circumstances in which they find themselves, which means more conflicts and complications beyond them fighting the aliens and becoming heroes.

Attack the Block seriously delivers everything–horror, humor, sci-fi, and action. It’s an instant party favorite for me.