Perilous planetary predicament puts opposing competitors in a precarious position pontificating a proposition of peace incapable of accomplishing proposals previously to predominantly protect the opposition.

Alien Planet is about a war between alien races over a valuable life-sustaining resource. It starts with an exposition dump explaining the history of alien races and the MacGuffin in question. It’s a peculiar liquid that replenishes the planet’s water supply once a year. This explains its importance and everyone’s motivation for obtaining it clearly. Eventually, inevitably as these films go, the enemies must work together to achieve a common goal. Will the truce last long enough to succeed?

Written and directed by Alan Maxson in his directorial debut, he films the barren wasteland of what seems to be California establishing how far gone the alien world has become in wideshots. It’s an excellent filming location to do this. The bulk of the film takes place on a spaceship where he uses different colours for the lighting which also makes a very visually intriguing immersive atmosphere.

I love the practical effects makeup by Alexys Paonessa. Not just the surprisingly brutal gore, which is indeed impressive, but the costumes for the aliens are the highlight of the film. They have distinct appearances so there’s no confusion about the different alien races. Each character design has an original look to it. I haven’t seen anything like these aliens before. I always praise and encourage originality.

The entire cast of Alien Planet is great. This includes Alexandra Bokova as Lock, Hunter C. Smith as Brocheet, and Eric Prochnau as The Dweller. Most people might not realize how daunting acting can be, doing so is especially commendable while under heavy special effects makeup in presumably high temperatures while filming on location. They show their dedication and conviction for what they do while on camera,all doing their part to bring the characters to life.

Giree, voice work provided by Maxon and puppeteered by Naiia Lajoie, steals the show by being just the right amount of cute and creepy. I love the creature design of the puppet. It looks like an alien/cat combination. The puppetry is so well done that it actually looks and feels like a living breathing creature. It even blinks. Some scenes have that movie magic quality like how the creature walks on all fours in a medium shot. You can see underneath and all around so was it animatronics or strings like a marionette puppet? Were people wearing green suits while moving its limbs? There’s no CGI as far as I could tell. How did they do that?

Overall, I always appreciate films that have substance to accompany the bells and whistles. Social commentary is provided on themes of the cost of war, bigotry, teamwork, and saving the environment. A simple story about characters with clashing ideologies while sitting in a room is a fascinating allegory for global current events. The writing for the dialogue is impeccable. The adventure along the way is fun. The biggest advantage of Alien Planet is how they went above and beyond with the special effects makeup for costumes and gore. My biggest complaint is that the conclusion is confusing. I was with it up to that point. It reminds me of Psycho Goreman so I’d recommend it if you liked that. Just because I don’t like the conclusion doesn’t mean you won’t. And remember, this is one small step for a directorial debut and one giant leap for special effects makeup.