Coming of age stories, a classic. Usually about falling in love for the first time, maybe losing your virginity. Sometimes it's about discovering what it truly means to be a man or woman. Rarely is it about fending off an alien attack. Despite that, Attack The Block seems to be a coming of age story about a ragamuffin teenagers who attempt to make it as thieves.
The film starts with our gang, led by Moses attempt to rob Samantha. They manage to get her ring before she escapes and alerts the police. A meteorite falls from the sky and catches their attention which lets Samantha get away. They find an alien cocoon in the crash site. When a creature bursts free they chase after it and kill it. The boys take the creature to Hi-Hatz, a local drug dealer and ask him to lock it in his weed room. Hoping that they'll find a way to make some money from it.
More cocoons start to fall from the sky and the boys go out to kill more aliens. This time the aliens are full grown and catch the boys off guard. The aliens force the boys to free killing the dog in the process. The boys are captured by the police that Samantha alerted earlier. Luckily for them, but unluckily for the police the officers are killed by the aliens. This leaves Moses and Samantha stuck in the police van until Dennis can steal it and help them escape.
They crash into Hi-Hatz who doesn't believe them about the aliens until his gang is attacked. The group tries to get to the apartment complex they lived in but get attacked again. Biggz runs and hides but Pest gets bitten. Moses fends off the aliens with his samurai sword. Samantha sticks with the gang and they giver her the ring back. They attempt to hide with their friend Tia and her roommates but the aliens follow and the girls decide to kick them out
Hiding in Hi-Hatz grow room they discover under blacklight that they discover the aliens are tracking Moses who got their queen's pheromones on him when he killed her. He comes up with a crazy plan to lure the aliens into an explosion at his apartment and they set things in motion for the final show down.
Attack The Block is a small film with an alien invasion sustained to one block. Admittedly the aliens don't exactly look terrifying but with the small budget you can't expect much. However, what they lack in appearance they make up for with brutality. That's the scariest part about them, they're always tracking you and when they find you they're brutal.
The fast pace of the film adds to that fear. It's not going to be a movie that keeps you up at night unless you really hate scary films. There's going to a be a few moments that might get a jump out of you. One thing I love about the kids is their ingenuity. Sure, they're a bunch of thieves, but they aren't exactly dumb. Moses is their fearless leader. Dennis will always find a way to complete whatever task he's given. Being contained to a single block also allows us to see that they know everything about their block and will defend it.
Most of the cast found their roles through online ads or school drama class so at the time, most of these people weren't big name actors however many of them did go onto star in other films and TV shows. Most notably John Boyega who went on to star as Finn in the new Star Wars films and Franz Drameh who went on to star as Firestorm in The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. Others have gone on to join the casts of Doctor Who and Into The Badlands.
It's a short film, so if you've got about an hour and need some good sci-fi horror then you want to watch Attack The Block because it'll check all the boxes. There's not a lot of side plots so all the focus is on the main characters. If they don't get a name the first time you see them, don't even worry about them. It's the perfect Saturday Night film.
Download a free copy of Darrell's book Phantasmagorical, read some of his other work at 12AMFiction.com and hear him on the Powerbomb Jutsu Podcast
