Astronaut and Osteopath, Dr. Ivan Hood and his companion Kelly return to Earth after a 40-year space mission with two other astronauts. They are soon captured by human bounty hunters near the ruins of Portland, Oregon and one of their team is killed after sustaining a sprain; Dr. Hood pointed out that it would have healed in a few days. They are taken to a work camp, which to their surprise, is run by giant termite-like aliens. These aliens had arrived 20 years ago to feast on the wood and used E.M.P. bombs to cripple earth before their invasion. The other member of their team is eaten alive by one of the aliens after refusing to work. The camp is supervised by human bounty hunters; they are treated better. After seeing how illiterate and savage humans have become due to the aliens, Dr. Hood and Kelly plan to make an escape the next day after hearing rumors that the President has survived and has an army waiting to strike back.
The escape plan goes off without a hitch, but Kelly is recaptured by the bounty hunters. Dr. Hood travels to find the president and meets other humans who believe the President has survived. Dr. Hood and his convoy reach a secret headquarters to discover remnants of the American government and the President, who is now a shell of his former self. Extremely ticked off, Dr. Hood decides to rally the escaped slaves himself and plan an attack on the bug camp where Kelly is still being held. The attack begins successfully and Kelly (who has lost one of her fingers as punishment for trying to escape) joins in. Things seem hopeless when the bugs bring in heavy artillery, but the President's group arrives and pulls off a sneak attack that blows up the bug's tanks. The other slaves join in and defeat the bugs. Dr. Hood and his rebels then went on a quest to continue killing the bugs and gather more followers from the camps. "In time he (Dr. Hood) became known as The Great Exterminator".
This film was shot in Bulgaria (as with Man with the Screaming Brain, also starring Campbell). According to the DVD commentary many of the actors in the film were Bulgarian and spoke little English so most of the dialogue was dubbed or "looped" in post-production.
Reception
Alien Apocalypse received mixed reviews from critics and audiences. David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews said "By the time the Spartacus-inspired finale rolls around, it's clear we're not meant to take any of this seriously."[2]
See also
Planet of the Apes, a film with the same premise (Earth conquered/ruled), but with regard to talking apes.
Android Apocalypse, a film with the same premise (Earth conquered/ruled), but with regard to androids.
