Species IV
Encyclopedia
Species – The Awakening is a 2007 Sci-Fi Channel
film and the third sequel to Species
(1995). It was directed by Nick Lyon
and stars Helena Mattsson
, Adam Wylie
, Ben Cross
, Marco Bacuzzi, and Dominic Keating
as "Forbes". It is the first film of the Species franchise that does not feature Natasha Henstridge
. It is also the first in which the female lead does not know that she is half alien.
) is a beautiful and smart woman. She is a college professor and lives with her "uncle", Tom Hollander (Ben Cross
) who works in a museum. Miranda believes that she has lived with her "uncle" ever since her parents were killed in an accident while she was a baby. After her birthday, Miranda becomes unconscious and is sent to a local hospital. Tom is notified by the police. When Miranda arrives at the hospital, she silently transforms into alien form and kills a few people. When Tom finally arrives at the hospital the following morning, he finds bodies everywhere. Tom locates Miranda, injects her with human hormone and begins to drive her to Mexico
.
On the way to Mexico, Miranda wakes up, asking for the cause of her 'illness'. Tom tells Miranda that she is the result of an experiment that combined human and alien DNA, an experiment conducted with his friend Forbes McGuire (Dominic Keating
) while they were both still in college. Miranda can read books just by touching them, without even needing to open them. Tom has been injecting her with human hormones since her childhood to suppress her alien DNA. Her parents never existed; they were just a fiction created by Tom to help build up Miranda's "normal life." Tom explains he and Forbes parted ways because of differences of opinion over the vision of their creation.
When they arrive in Mexico, Miranda rests in a motel room while Tom spends the day searching for Forbes. After a few incidents, Tom and Miranda locate Forbes' current home. Forbes now lives with his recent experiment named Azura (Marlene Favela
), another human and alien DNA hybrid who also serves as his lover. Forbes supports his experiment by creating half-alien facsimiles of dead pets and relatives. Forbes checks Miranda's condition and finds that Miranda has reached the end of her lifespan and will die in days. The only way to deny death is injecting fresh human DNA into Miranda. Miranda won't allow that to happen when she realizes it will result in the sacrifice of another human being.
Then Miranda goes unconscious again. Tom goes searching for a "donor" and is mugged by a woman in the process. Azura then incapacitates the mugger and the two bring her back to Forbes' lab, where they succeed in extending Miranda's life. Unfortunately, Miranda goes unstable and the alien side dominates; now she seduces men, killing them swiftly after. Tom chases and beats Azura in a church, when Azura transforms into an alien. Forbes chases Miranda, but is seduced, coupulated
with, and killed by her before he can give her another injection.
The climax is in Forbes' house, when Miranda is tired and beaten by Tom, afraid she's pregnant. Tom is attacked again by Azura, but Miranda, in alien form, redeems herself for Tom's good work, and helps attack Azura; they succeed in killing her. However, Miranda is wounded, and after she goes back to human form, she dies. In the final scene Tom turns on all the gas burners and tanks in the house and leaves. The house explodes.
was in production. An MGM/360 Production, filming commenced in October 2006 with Frank Mancuso Jr. returning as executive producer. The movie premiered on the SciFi Channel on September 29.
The producers wanted to go back to Giger's
designs of the alien creature due to popularity with fans and the absence of this decision in the last installment. The original look is apparent but with different color variations and new spikes on the aliens' wrists of the nemesis. It is also a first in the series that a half-human, half-alien character does not change fully into the alien creature but has prosthetic eyebrows, veins and contacts for a long period of time in more than one scene.
, the director of the picture, named the film as "Species: The Awakening" on his official site and then appeared on sites thereafter. Even though the online trailer can be viewed on his site, it is called "Species - Quattro" at the end of the presentation. Like the third film, the original movie logo is used for the main title.
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
film and the third sequel to Species
Species (film)
Species is a 1995 science fiction horror film directed by Roger Donaldson, and starring Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Alfred Molina, Forest Whitaker, Marg Helgenberger, and Natasha Henstridge...
(1995). It was directed by Nick Lyon
Nick Lyon
Nick Lyon is a Los Angeles-based director and writer. A native of Portland, Oregon, he spent 9 years in Germany where he attended the renowned Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg, Germany....
and stars Helena Mattsson
Helena Mattsson
Helena Mattsson is a Swedish actress, currently living and working in Hollywood.Mattsson was born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, had roles early on in Wild Side Story and other cabarets there, and moved at a young age to London, England, to attend theatre school.When she was 19 years old she...
, Adam Wylie
Adam Wylie
Adam Augustus Wylie is an American television and motion picture actor, as well as a Broadway musical performer and a former Crayola spokesman.-Early life:...
, Ben Cross
Ben Cross
Ben Cross is a British actor of the stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of the British Olympic athlete Harold Abrahams in the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire.-Early life:...
, Marco Bacuzzi, and Dominic Keating
Dominic Keating
Dominic Keating is a British television, film and theatre actor, known for his portrayal as Lt. Malcolm Reed on Star Trek: Enterprise.- Biography :...
as "Forbes". It is the first film of the Species franchise that does not feature Natasha Henstridge
Natasha Henstridge
Natasha T. Henstridge is a Canadian fashion model turned actress. Her most notable on-screen roles include Species, The Whole Nine Yards, It Had To Be You, Ghosts of Mars, She Spies, the TV series Eli Stone, and the Canadian TV mini-series Would Be Kings, for which she won the Gemini Award for...
. It is also the first in which the female lead does not know that she is half alien.
Plot
Miranda Hollander (Helena MattssonHelena Mattsson
Helena Mattsson is a Swedish actress, currently living and working in Hollywood.Mattsson was born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, had roles early on in Wild Side Story and other cabarets there, and moved at a young age to London, England, to attend theatre school.When she was 19 years old she...
) is a beautiful and smart woman. She is a college professor and lives with her "uncle", Tom Hollander (Ben Cross
Ben Cross
Ben Cross is a British actor of the stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of the British Olympic athlete Harold Abrahams in the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire.-Early life:...
) who works in a museum. Miranda believes that she has lived with her "uncle" ever since her parents were killed in an accident while she was a baby. After her birthday, Miranda becomes unconscious and is sent to a local hospital. Tom is notified by the police. When Miranda arrives at the hospital, she silently transforms into alien form and kills a few people. When Tom finally arrives at the hospital the following morning, he finds bodies everywhere. Tom locates Miranda, injects her with human hormone and begins to drive her to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
On the way to Mexico, Miranda wakes up, asking for the cause of her 'illness'. Tom tells Miranda that she is the result of an experiment that combined human and alien DNA, an experiment conducted with his friend Forbes McGuire (Dominic Keating
Dominic Keating
Dominic Keating is a British television, film and theatre actor, known for his portrayal as Lt. Malcolm Reed on Star Trek: Enterprise.- Biography :...
) while they were both still in college. Miranda can read books just by touching them, without even needing to open them. Tom has been injecting her with human hormones since her childhood to suppress her alien DNA. Her parents never existed; they were just a fiction created by Tom to help build up Miranda's "normal life." Tom explains he and Forbes parted ways because of differences of opinion over the vision of their creation.
When they arrive in Mexico, Miranda rests in a motel room while Tom spends the day searching for Forbes. After a few incidents, Tom and Miranda locate Forbes' current home. Forbes now lives with his recent experiment named Azura (Marlene Favela
Marlene Favela
Silvia Marlene Favela Meraz is a Mexican actress. She studied at "Centro de Educación Artística de Televisa in Mexico City and is also a model...
), another human and alien DNA hybrid who also serves as his lover. Forbes supports his experiment by creating half-alien facsimiles of dead pets and relatives. Forbes checks Miranda's condition and finds that Miranda has reached the end of her lifespan and will die in days. The only way to deny death is injecting fresh human DNA into Miranda. Miranda won't allow that to happen when she realizes it will result in the sacrifice of another human being.
Then Miranda goes unconscious again. Tom goes searching for a "donor" and is mugged by a woman in the process. Azura then incapacitates the mugger and the two bring her back to Forbes' lab, where they succeed in extending Miranda's life. Unfortunately, Miranda goes unstable and the alien side dominates; now she seduces men, killing them swiftly after. Tom chases and beats Azura in a church, when Azura transforms into an alien. Forbes chases Miranda, but is seduced, coupulated
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
with, and killed by her before he can give her another injection.
The climax is in Forbes' house, when Miranda is tired and beaten by Tom, afraid she's pregnant. Tom is attacked again by Azura, but Miranda, in alien form, redeems herself for Tom's good work, and helps attack Azura; they succeed in killing her. However, Miranda is wounded, and after she goes back to human form, she dies. In the final scene Tom turns on all the gas burners and tanks in the house and leaves. The house explodes.
Cast
- Helena MattssonHelena MattssonHelena Mattsson is a Swedish actress, currently living and working in Hollywood.Mattsson was born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, had roles early on in Wild Side Story and other cabarets there, and moved at a young age to London, England, to attend theatre school.When she was 19 years old she...
as Miranda Hollander - Ben CrossBen CrossBen Cross is a British actor of the stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of the British Olympic athlete Harold Abrahams in the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire.-Early life:...
as Tom Hollander - Dominic KeatingDominic KeatingDominic Keating is a British television, film and theatre actor, known for his portrayal as Lt. Malcolm Reed on Star Trek: Enterprise.- Biography :...
as Forbes - Marlene FavelaMarlene FavelaSilvia Marlene Favela Meraz is a Mexican actress. She studied at "Centro de Educación Artística de Televisa in Mexico City and is also a model...
as Azura - Meagen FayMeagen FayMeagen Fay is an American actress.A native of Chicago, in the early 1980s Fay was a featured cast member at The Second City. Her first television role was in the 1987 television series Ohara....
as Celeste - Roger Cudney as Leland Fisk
- Mauricio Martinez as Dalton
- Felipe de Lara as Burke
- Julian Sedgwick as Logan Wilson
- Marco Bacuzzi as Rinaldo
- Adam WylieAdam WylieAdam Augustus Wylie is an American television and motion picture actor, as well as a Broadway musical performer and a former Crayola spokesman.-Early life:...
as Jared
Production
It was announced on 6 September 2006 by MGM that another sequel to SpeciesSpecies (film)
Species is a 1995 science fiction horror film directed by Roger Donaldson, and starring Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Alfred Molina, Forest Whitaker, Marg Helgenberger, and Natasha Henstridge...
was in production. An MGM/360 Production, filming commenced in October 2006 with Frank Mancuso Jr. returning as executive producer. The movie premiered on the SciFi Channel on September 29.
The producers wanted to go back to Giger's
H. R. Giger
Hans Rudolf "Ruedi" Giger is a Swiss surrealist painter, sculptor, and set designer. He won an Academy Award for Best Achievement for Visual Effects for his design work on the film Alien.-Early life:...
designs of the alien creature due to popularity with fans and the absence of this decision in the last installment. The original look is apparent but with different color variations and new spikes on the aliens' wrists of the nemesis. It is also a first in the series that a half-human, half-alien character does not change fully into the alien creature but has prosthetic eyebrows, veins and contacts for a long period of time in more than one scene.
Title
The title went through many changes in publicity from "Species IV" to "Species - Quattro" and finally settling on "Species - The Awakening" from the producers. The working title "Species IV" appeared on movie sites when the film was in pre-production. "Species - Quattro" appeared on an online trailer for the film and now Nick LyonNick Lyon
Nick Lyon is a Los Angeles-based director and writer. A native of Portland, Oregon, he spent 9 years in Germany where he attended the renowned Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg, Germany....
, the director of the picture, named the film as "Species: The Awakening" on his official site and then appeared on sites thereafter. Even though the online trailer can be viewed on his site, it is called "Species - Quattro" at the end of the presentation. Like the third film, the original movie logo is used for the main title.