''Alien Hunter'' is a 2003 American-Bulgarian

science-fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by Ronald Krauss and starring

James Spader James Todd Spader (born February 7, 1960) is an American actor. He has portrayed eccentric characters in films such as the drama ''Sex, Lies, and Videotape'' (1989) for which he won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, the action scien ...

Carl Lewis Frederick Carlton Lewis (born July 1, 1961) is an American former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. His career spanned from 1979 to 1996, ...

and

Leslie Stefanson Leslie Ann Stefanson (born May 10, 1971) is an American model, actress and artist. She is most known for playing the title role as Capt. Elisabeth Campbell in the film '' The General's Daughter'', and Joan Bennett Kennedy in the television minise ...

Plot

In 1947 New Mexico, a radio operator receives a bizarre signal, coming from

Roswell, New Mexico Roswell () is a city in, and the County seat, seat of, Chaves County, New Mexico, Chaves County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Chaves County forms the entirety of the List of micropolitan areas in New Mexico, Roswell micropolitan area. As of ...

. He decides to investigate the signal's origin and goes out to follow it, never to be seen again. Present day and the same signal is received from the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

and then retransmitted from the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

to the United States. A satellite image captures an unknown object sitting on the Antarctic snow.

Cryptologist This is a list of cryptographers. Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties called adversaries. Pre twentieth century * Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi: wrote a (now lost) bo ...

Julian Rome (

), a teacher at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, is invited to investigate the mystery. He is sent to an Antarctic research base, which includes a huge greenhouse of genetically modified plants being studied by the scientists. They find what appears to be an alien vehicle frozen in a huge block of ice. The unknown object is shaped like a shell or pod and is emitting the mysterious

encrypted In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can decip ...

signal. Once it is freed of the ice, Julian discovers that it has a powerful static electric charge on its surface and painfully shocks anyone who touches it. Julian tries to

decrypt In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can deci ...

the signal (which soon proves to be: "Do not open!"), while another team works to open the alien shell. They succeed in cutting off the lid, which allows a viscous alien liquid to pour out. An alien also escapes and at the same time an airborne virus sealed in the shell kills four members of the scientific team by melting them from within. The virus also kills all the plants, making them wilt and turn brown. The virus has an unusually high speed of transmission and extreme

virulence Virulence is a pathogen's or microorganism's ability to cause damage to a host. In most, especially in animal systems, virulence refers to the degree of damage caused by a microbe to its host. The pathogenicity of an organism—its ability to ca ...

. It kills anyone within a few minutes of exposure. The government is aware of the alien virus and the global risk that it poses. They ask a Russian nuclear submarine to fire a nuclear missile at the base before the threat can spread. As the submarine nears its firing position, Julian manages to communicate with the alien, before it is unfortunately killed by one of the survivors. Julian realizes that if any of the survivors leave the base alive, the lethal alien virus will cause a

pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic (epidemiology), endemic disease wi ...

destroying all life on earth. Just a few seconds before the missile hits, he and three others, Shelly, Kate, and Dr. Gierach, are rescued from the base by an alien spacecraft (which had homed in on the same signal Julian was studying). In the aftermath, the government mounts a

cover-up A cover-up is an attempt, whether successful or not, to conceal evidence of wrongdoing, error, incompetence, or other embarrassing information. Research has distinguished personal cover-ups (covering up one's own misdeeds) from relational co ...

campaign by claiming that an experimental

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nu ...

at the base went into melt-down, destroying all of the facilities and killing everyone. The film ends with the alien spacecraft, still carrying the human survivors, leaving the solar system.

Cast

as Julian Rome * Janine Eser as Dr. Kate Brecher * John Lynch as Dr. Michael Straub *

Nikolay Binev Nikolay Binev ( bg, Николай Бинев; 5 July 1934 - 8 December 2003) was a Bulgarian theater and film actor. During most of his career he was the soul and history of the Mladezhki Theater, Sofia and remained devoted to it until the end ...

as Dr. Alexi Gierach *

as Nyla Olson * Aimee Graham as Shelly Klein *

Stuart Charno Stuart Charno (born September 29, 1956) is an American actor. He has been a stand-up comic and has starred in film and on television. His first role was in the 1981 horror film ''Friday the 13th Part 2''. Other notable appearances of his include ...

as Abell *

as Grisham * Svetla Vasileva as Dacia Petrov *

Anthony Crivello Anthony Crivello (born August 2, 1955) is an American actor who has appeared in the original cast of several Broadway shows, including ''Les Misérables'', '' Kiss of the Spider Woman'', '' Golden Boy'', ''Marie Christine'', and '' The News''. ...

as Pilot * Kaloian Vodenicharov as Co-Pilot * George Stanchev as Airman * Rufus Dorsey as Navigator *

Roy Dotrice Roy Dotrice (26 May 1923 – 16 October 2017) was a British actor famed for his portrayal of the antiquarian John Aubrey in the record-breaking solo play ''Brief Lives''. Abroad, he won a Tony Award for his performance in the 2000 Broadway re ...

as Dr. John Bachman * Woody Schultz as Sam * Ron Krauss as First Man * William Ladd Skinner as Second Man * Franklin A. Vallente as Third Man * Hristo Aleksandrov as Fourth Man * Ross W. Clarkson as Falkland Man # 1 * Willie Botha as Falkland Man # 2 * Tyrone Pinkham as Kitt Peak Man #1 * Atanas Srebrev as Kitt Peak Man #2 *

Joel Polis Joel Polis (born October 3, 1951) is an American television, film and stage actor. Polis has appeared in over one hundred television programs and films during his career. Career Polis' first film role was the character Fuchs in the 1982 scienc ...

as Copeland *

Keir Dullea Keir Atwood Dullea (; born May 30, 1936) is an American actor. He played astronaut David Bowman in the 1968 film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' and its 1984 sequel, '' 2010: The Year We Make Contact''. His other film roles include '' David and Lisa ...

as Secretary Bayer * Bert Emmett as Gordon Osler * Marianne Stanicheva as Reporter * Dobrin Dosev as Captain Sokolov * Atanas Atanasov as Executive Officer Volkov *

Hristo Shopov Hristo Naumov Shopov ( bg, Христо Наумов Шопов; born 4 January 1964) is a Bulgarian actor. Shopov's father, Naum Shopov, was a famous Bulgarian actor as well. He is most noted for his 2004 portrayal of Pontius Pilate in Mel Gi ...

as Navigator Petrenko * Harry Anichkin as Army General * Velimir Velev as Alien

References

External links

* * * * {{YouTube, B5x9XnRP2FE, ''Alien Hunter'' film at

Crackle Crackle or crackling may refer to: Foods * Cracklings, the tissue remaining after lard and tallow have been extracted from animal fats ** Pork rinds in American English, pork scratchings in British English when served in small pieces as a snac ...

2003 films 2003 science fiction action films American science fiction action films Bulgarian action films Bulgarian thriller films English-language Bulgarian films Alien visitations in films Films about viral outbreaks Films set in Antarctica Films set in California Films set in New Mexico Nu Image films Films shot in Bulgaria Films set in 1947 American science fiction thriller films Bulgarian science fiction films 2000s English-language films Films produced by Boaz Davidson Films with screenplays by Boaz Davidson 2000s American films

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links