Not sure if its an age thing or just a thing, but I am finding myself more and more thinking ‘you know what i remember that film title but ive never seen the film, and I should check it out’  Over the years I have watched thousands of films (I average around 300 a year, give or take a handful) and that adds up when youve been around a bunch of decades like I have. One of the films that fell into the  ‘you know what i remember that film title but ive never seen the film, and I should check it out’ category was Xtro, Directed by Harry Bromley Davenport (who also went onto direct Xtro 2 and 3) and starring Philip Sayer, Bernice Stegers and Simon Nash, Xtro’s video box art was something that I saw pretty much every day when I would head home from school, but have a few hours to kill before my parents would get home from work and let me in the house, and so I would venture into the local video library and browse the VHS (and Betamax) boxes to see what delights the store had in stock. Thankfully the staff in the store didnt thrown me out and clearly knew that I was just a young film fan and wasnt causing any trouble for their store.,  

Other than the cover art. I had no clue what Xtro was about. Yes I knew it was about an alien, and a scary looking one at that. this certainly wasnt going to be a nice family film like ET and so the cover art for Xtro freaked me out. Over the years I often thought about Xtro and so one day a few weeks ago I saw the film on Legend (formally called Horror Channel) and checked it out. What a fun bonkers film it is/was. It wasnt really anything like I thought it would be, but thats okay. I love being surprised. Xtro is a very strange trippy British film which starts with Sam (played by Philip Sayer) being abducted into a blinding light, right in front of his son Tony (played by Simon Nash )  Then 3 years later. Sam comes back (or is it Sam!) 

To say that Xtro feels very early 80s isnt a bad thing. As it mentioned its a fun bonkers film that might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but is definitely worth checking out especially for the creature effects both make up and performance. I had a blast watching it and even though it has taken me over 40 years to get around to seeing it. and I do wish I had watched it decades earlier, Im glad ive seen it now. But to be honest, Im not sure what I would have thought of the film had I see it back in the early 80s. Back then I was more Cat From Outer Space, and The Beastmaster than scifi horror, but hey Ive seen Xtro now, so its a film I can tick off my list    There is a Second Sight bluray edition of the film which you can order here and as well as im sure a great picture restoration to the film itself It does have quite a few special features.  including Xploring Xtro – a new 57 minute documentary featuring interviews with Harry Bromley-Davenport, Mark Forstater, Bernice Stegers, Susie Silvey, ‘Tik’ – Tim Dry, ‘Tok’ – Sean Crawford, Robert Pereno, Alan Jones and Craig Lapper

The World of Xtro – a new featurette with Dennis Atherton, Harry Bromley-Davenport and Mark Forstater

Beyond Xtro – a new featurette with Harry Bromley-Davenport and Mark Forstater looking ahead to new reboot, Xtro – The Big One, including excusive test footage

Xtro Xposed

Loving The Alien: A Tribute to Philip Sayer, featuring exclusive Brian May music tribute