Don't believe the artwork on the DVD case for writer & director Nick Vallelonga's science fiction chiller "Disturbance" a.k.a. "Choker" about an alien with gnarly fingers gripping an M-16 assault rifle. The $35-thousand dollar budget of this straight-to-video DVD release couldn't accommodate this other worldly nail-biter about aliens invading Earth as a last desperate measure for survival, as was the case in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." Essentially, this "X-Files" type actioneer has friendly aliens from a dying planet contacting an ultra-secret government agency about a splinter group of their ownnearly one hundred of themthat have come to Earth to live among us. The friendly aliens help us out by sending one of their own to inhabit the body of executed serial murderer Hud Masters (hard-bodied Paul Sloan of "The Scorpion King") and he makes it his mission to track down the renegade aliens. These renegades thought that they could sustain themselves in a human body, but the diseases that they bring with them break down human bodies. Consequently, to maintain their masquerade, the aliens have to jump from one human body to another like the alien in "The Hidden." Every time that these aliens swap bodies, they drool up a load of green slime and hurl. The aliens struggle to maintain a low profile, so they appropriate the bodies of the scum of the earth, for example, hookers, johns, pimps, drug dealers, addicts, in other words, the dregs of society.
Writer & director Nick Vallelonga displays a modicum of flair with this formulaic subject matter. First, he launches the story with an invigorating fight between our crew-cut, muscle-bound serial slayer Masters and a buff looking babe Kat (Kimberly Estrada of "Million Dollar Baby") in the rear of an apartment parking complex. They knock heads until he perforates her with an automatic pistol, and she starts spewing up green slime. Indeed, this run-of-the-mill thriller would have been extremely gory were it not for the green slime. Second, he waits until he has the plot in gear to reveal the hard facts about the unbelievable things that we wind up caught up in throughout the opening hour of "Disturbance." Indeed, enough of these savage killings attract the attention of LAPD's finest. Det. Lt. Murcer (Anthony John Denison of NBC-TV's "Crime Story") and his knuckle-fisted, wise-cracking partner Lt. Clark (Robert R. Schafer of "Psycho Cop") want answers that their own CSI technician Santo (Katrina Law of "Stiletto") cannot provide because she has never seen such phenomenon. Meanwhile, Frank Russo (portly Nick Vallelonga of "The Godfather") receives a call from his field agent-in-charge-of-the-mission, Logan (Colleen Porch of "Demon Hunter"), that he's needed because Hud is experiencing problems. Before Russo can to Logan, Hud chokes Logan to death. By this time, the LAPD has arrested Hud and Clark has done his best to beat the guy to a pulp. Russo shows up and spills the beans in an extended expository dialogue scene about Hud and the aliens. Russo uses his governmental authority to bail out Hud after the LAPD, and they resume their pursue the big cheese alien (Hayley DuMond of "Raptor Island") who now has targeted Russo's wife and child. The ending is pretty typical for a horror movie but at least Vallelonga eschews any kind of a happy ending.
Despite its low budget trappings, "Disturbance" has some gritty, get-up-and-go gumption to it, and it only malingers throughout its trim 91 minutes for Russo's expository scene in the police station. Vallelonga trots out several sexy babes for eye candy purposes and stages enough grueling fights so that this thoroughly average thriller has some solidarity to it that lesser efforts lack. Lenser Vladimir Van Maule does a marvelous job on a tight budget and the letterbox formatted cinematography is easy on the eye. During his colorful and insightful commentary, Vallelonga said that he wanted "Disturbance" to look like panes from a comic book and it does resemble a comic book in its palette of colors. The use of green, blue, and red is truly evocative and makes for appealing compositions, better than you'd expect from something like this with its borderline budget. Veteran composer Harry Manfredini of "Friday the 13th" movies rounds off the rough edges with a serviceable score. Although it isn't for anybody but people who love to slum for sci-fi thrillers off the beaten path, "Disturbance" is decent enough that you cannot really complain about time wasted. Sloan is convincing enough as the serial killer largely because he has some interesting memories as a kid growing up with an abusive father.
Writer & director Nick Vallelonga displays a modicum of flair with this formulaic subject matter. First, he launches the story with an invigorating fight between our crew-cut, muscle-bound serial slayer Masters and a buff looking babe Kat (Kimberly Estrada of "Million Dollar Baby") in the rear of an apartment parking complex. They knock heads until he perforates her with an automatic pistol, and she starts spewing up green slime. Indeed, this run-of-the-mill thriller would have been extremely gory were it not for the green slime. Second, he waits until he has the plot in gear to reveal the hard facts about the unbelievable things that we wind up caught up in throughout the opening hour of "Disturbance." Indeed, enough of these savage killings attract the attention of LAPD's finest. Det. Lt. Murcer (Anthony John Denison of NBC-TV's "Crime Story") and his knuckle-fisted, wise-cracking partner Lt. Clark (Robert R. Schafer of "Psycho Cop") want answers that their own CSI technician Santo (Katrina Law of "Stiletto") cannot provide because she has never seen such phenomenon. Meanwhile, Frank Russo (portly Nick Vallelonga of "The Godfather") receives a call from his field agent-in-charge-of-the-mission, Logan (Colleen Porch of "Demon Hunter"), that he's needed because Hud is experiencing problems. Before Russo can to Logan, Hud chokes Logan to death. By this time, the LAPD has arrested Hud and Clark has done his best to beat the guy to a pulp. Russo shows up and spills the beans in an extended expository dialogue scene about Hud and the aliens. Russo uses his governmental authority to bail out Hud after the LAPD, and they resume their pursue the big cheese alien (Hayley DuMond of "Raptor Island") who now has targeted Russo's wife and child. The ending is pretty typical for a horror movie but at least Vallelonga eschews any kind of a happy ending.
Despite its low budget trappings, "Disturbance" has some gritty, get-up-and-go gumption to it, and it only malingers throughout its trim 91 minutes for Russo's expository scene in the police station. Vallelonga trots out several sexy babes for eye candy purposes and stages enough grueling fights so that this thoroughly average thriller has some solidarity to it that lesser efforts lack. Lenser Vladimir Van Maule does a marvelous job on a tight budget and the letterbox formatted cinematography is easy on the eye. During his colorful and insightful commentary, Vallelonga said that he wanted "Disturbance" to look like panes from a comic book and it does resemble a comic book in its palette of colors. The use of green, blue, and red is truly evocative and makes for appealing compositions, better than you'd expect from something like this with its borderline budget. Veteran composer Harry Manfredini of "Friday the 13th" movies rounds off the rough edges with a serviceable score. Although it isn't for anybody but people who love to slum for sci-fi thrillers off the beaten path, "Disturbance" is decent enough that you cannot really complain about time wasted. Sloan is convincing enough as the serial killer largely because he has some interesting memories as a kid growing up with an abusive father.