William Malone made his directorial debut with this sporadically successful mix of Alien and Halloween. A bunch of sexy women are being murdered by a slimy monster called “Syngenor” (Synthesized Genetic Organism). When the police are helpless to stop the killings, they turn to a former cop-turned crime novelist (John Stinson) to help track down the monster.
In addition to directing, Malone also co-wrote, co-produced, and created the monster. He’d later go on to make Creature (another Alien clone) and the House on Haunted Hill remake. He gives us all the stalking peeping tom POV shots of women getting dressed and terrorized in their cars that you’ve come to expect from a slasher flick. Just to keep things interesting, he tosses in a memorable scene where the creature stalks some roller skaters.
The slimy monster was obviously inspired by H.R. Giger’s Alien design (it even has a mouth inside of its mouth). Heck, you can probably say that about any monster from an ‘80s movie. At least this one looks better than most Alien rip-offs. You can tell Malone really liked the design too because he shows the monster a lot, skipping with all the “you’ve got to keep the monster in the shadows for the first two acts” shenanigans that most directors try to pull. On the other hand, a lot of scenes are way too dark, which kind of takes some of the fun out of it (although that might’ve been more the fault of the print than Malone’s).
If Malone concentrated solely on blending together aspects of Alien and Halloween, it might’ve worked. (Although the attack scenes where the camera violently shakes in Syngenor’s face get repetitive.) However, the stuff with the writer’s love life really bogs things down. These scenes play out like a romantic comedy that isn’t romantic or funny. The detective scenes are halfhearted as well and feel like a half-assed TV pilot or something.
It doesn’t help that Stinson is stiff as a board in the lead. A big miscalculation on the script’s part was sidelining the likeable heroine (Diana Davidson) about halfway through. I guess Malone was going for the Janet Leigh in Psycho thing, but the brainy scientist (Toni Jannotta) who takes on the heroine role in her stead is pretty annoying.
Ten years later, a quasi-sequel, Syngenor was released without Malone’s involvement.
AKA: Scared to Death: Syngenor. AKA: The Aberdeen Experiment.
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