Whether it’s in the comedic and light-hearted story of Home Alone, or the utterly terrifying fights of Attack the Block, there’s something cathartic about seeing kids outwit and conquer outlandish situations. Maybe it touches on that memory of being a kid and wanting to do the same thing, taking on the world in our imaginations with whatever inventive scenario our brains could come up with. Maybe it’s just fun to see kids do things normally expected of adults. In the case of Kids vs. Aliens, however, the threat of an alien invasion is incredibly real, and based on the recently released trailer, no punches are going to be pulled.

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Director Jason Eisener’s previous film, Hobo With a Shotgun, won its cult-classic status for its over-the-top acting, superb casting, and saturated neon visuals that called back to the days of grindhouse filmmaking. Seeing as how Hobo With a Shotgun was originally a short film, Kids vs. Aliens will also expand on his contribution to V/H/S/2, “Slumber Party Alien Abduction.” As for what to expect from Kids vs. Aliens, there’s plenty to see in the film’s action-packed trailer.

Kids vs. Aliens Is a Neon Grindhouse Film

We open on an isolated boat. It’s the dead of night, darkness surrounding the vessel on all sides in a starless void, save for the starbursts of utility lights and an opposing blue mist. The captain declares that it’s going to be a long night, ashes from a lit cigarette wafting away in the briny air. Already, you can tell that this is Eisener’s work: there’s a thick film grain layered over the captain, his skin as vibrant as the peel of an orange against the sickly greens of the interior.

While the cinematographer for Hobo with a Shotgun, Karim Hussain, did not return for Kids vs. Aliens, Mat Barkley does a wonderful job in making the lighting for the film pop out. Lighting plays a huge part in building the atmosphere for the trailer, as the boat is rocked by a mysterious orange glow. One of the crew goes overboard, just before a lithe hand seals itself around the captain’s face and pulls him into the deep. That orange light will be a recurring visual, signaling the presence of imminent danger.

Our view turns into VHS artifacts before we cut to a wholly new location—more orange, likely a mid-afternoon day in the Fall as a quartet of kids film themselves making a movie. They’re done up in make-shift armor, playing out a scenario of fighting humanoid dinosaurs. They don’t know that it’ll be practice for what’s to come.

An older kid, Samantha (Phoebe Rex) is asked by Billy (Calem MacDonald) to throw a party in the absence of her parents. A nice outing at the local pier turns to a neon-soaked house party, with toiletries stuck up in trees, walls dripping with graffiti, and noise permeating the house into the surrounding woods. The same familiar glow from before bursts through the window shutters, with humanoid figures casting intimidating silhouettes into the house. It’s dismissed as a prank before the creatures are revealed to be aliens, with one dragging Gary (Dominic Mariche) into the depths beyond the pier.

Kids vs. Aliens Is What You’d Expect

     Shudder

An interview with Film School Rejects revealed that Eisener originally made “Slumber Party Alien Abduction” with the intent of replicating a “haunted house feel.” It shows in how dynamic the camera work is in the trailer, despite not being a found footage film.

Some time after the party, it’s revealed that Gary somehow escaped. He declares that the aliens are harvesting human skin to power their spacecraft, followed by a sickening practical effect of someone’s skin being sloughed off by a thick goo. Someone else affirms that “this means war,” as we’re treated to a montage of the kids suiting up with whatever durable equipment they can find. Brief glimpses of action in the film include a scene where an alien’s face is burnt with aerosol spray and a lighter, as well as a toy sword nearly bisecting another. Between close-ups of the gnarly alien makeup, we also get a brief bit of humor as the kids are surrounded: “give us a [expletive] break already!”

The synthesizers that made up the trailer’s backing track intensify, showing that the kids are more than ready to take down the alien threat. The four-wheeler that the kids used in their home movie makes a return, now tricked out with explosives and a skull for the gear-shift knob. More gore, more one-on-one alien combat featuring Samantha, and even a brief glimpse at what might be a tractor beam ultimately conclude the trailer.

Release Date

According to Bloody Disgusting, Kids vs. Aliens will come to theaters and VOD on January 20th, 2023.