ALIEN COPS FROM LA | Offscreen
The buddy cop film – you know, that subgenre in which two cops with clashing characters have to work together – was at its most popular in the 1980s with films such as "Lethal Weapon" and "48 Hrs". In this month’s B to Z, we present to you two examples of the genre with an original twist: one of the cops is an alien.
"Alien Nation" is a futuristic neo-noir from 1988 with a contemporary theme: migration. Years after a spaceship with alien slaves from Los Angeles had to make an emergency landing, the city is still working on the assimilation of these newcomers. This is not to the liking of the local population who looks down upon the aliens’ strange habits (they drink sour milk and eat raw meat) and who fear that these slugs (their head resembles that of a slug) will take their jobs.
In "The Hidden", an LA cop and a mysterious FBI agent hunt an alien parasite with a preference for fast cars and loud heavy metal music. The malicious alien takes over the bodies of innocent citizens in order to make them commit the most horrible crimes. Kyle McLachlan, here in his first non-David Lynch movie, is linked to "Flashdance" star Michael Nouri.
ALIEN NATION
Old school cop James Caan and his alien partner investigate a murder in this futuristic neo-noir featuring the problems that plagued large American cities in the late 1980s: migration, racism and drug trafficking.
THE HIDDEN
Efficient and entertaining b-movie in which two police detectives (one of them isn’t from this planet) chase a serial killer from space who takes possession of the bodies of innocent people and trasforms them into bloodthirsty killers.