Almost Human (2013) **1/2

Almost Human (2013) is a decent debut feature from director Joe Begos. The story (or lack thereof) and shots, which are highly derivative of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978) and John Carpenter (both the credits font and elements of The Thing (1982) (my review here) and Halloween (1978) (my review here))—along with the amateur acting—ultimately hurt the film, but the fun gory makeup f/x from Rob Fitz are a highlight. I also can't help but appreciate the effort and spirit behind low budget horror films when the cast and crew clearly care about the outcome (even if it's mostly mediocre). I'll admit I'm pretty interested in Begos's upcoming film VFW (2019) though because it has a cadre of recognizable genre actors (William Sadler, Stephen Lang, David Patrick Kelly, George Wendt, and Fred Williamson) and I'd like to see how his filmmaking has improved over four films.