Review by Guido Henkel

I was approaching “Progeny” with mixed feelings. I had read a few things about the production in a number of other publications, and despite the fact that two established horror icons, Bryan Yuzna and Stuart Gordon, were attached to the film, the story reminded me too much of a cheap alien invasion set-up, used for cheap thrills. Boy, was I wrong! “Progeny” actually turned out to be a truly challenging horror-thriller about alien abductions that is a far cry from the in-your-face horror you would expect from the creators of gore-fests like “Re-Animator”. It is actually a film that helps manifest the horror in your mind, making you wonder all the while whether this whole abduction thing is true or just happening in the imagination of the film’s characters.

relaxation therapy he seems to recollect what happened. He remembers witnessing aliens abduct his wife while he was helplessly watching in a state, unable to move. Weeks later his wife turns out to be pregnant and as she tells him it must have happened that very night, Craig’s fears grow. Could it be the aliens impregnated his wife during the abduction? His sperm count proves that chances are one in a million of him being able to impregnate her, so what happened. He urges his wife to go through hypnosis to find out what happened that night. Hesitantly she agrees, and soon the couple learns that horrible things seem to have occurred. The baby she is carrying seems to be indeed an alien offspring!

he completely fails and becomes a pale shadow of the reputation that precedes him. Dourif manages to characterize this change in personality perfectly, showing us the slightly snobbish, but always timid, pseudo-scientist when first introduced, who is eventually scared so incessantly that he literally runs off.

There are many scenes where you would expect the filmmakers to pull out the huge blood tank and splatter the screen red  but they don’t. They tackle the issue seriously  so much unlike Re-Animator  and never give in to the cheap thrills. It is a sign of maturity and the fact that they trust their story and cast enough to know that they don’t need to viscerally

“Progeny” is the second release in Sterling Home Entertainment’s new “Millenium Series” of Special Editions. The disc features a non-anamorphic transfer of the film in its 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio. The image is rather soft and the transfer doesn exhibit the kind of overall sharpness and level of detail you would expect from such a new film. Red is also slightly too dominant throughout the film and it almost seems as if the black level hasn’t been set correctly for the transfer. There is never a really black spot in the entire film. All blacks are a murky gray, making the image look overly flat. While his is tolerable for the most part, it becomes quite obvious and distracting in a number of scenes. A solid transfer could have helped to make this disc stand out, I’m sure, with vibrant colors and a strong

The disc contains a number of supplements, although limited in number by comparison to some other special editions in the market. The disc contains one-on-one interviews with cast members and some crew members. These interviews are rather crude however and neither convincing nor enlightening. The same is unfortunately true for the interviews with two true abductees and an alien abduction specialist. I don’t want to question their credibility, but their testimonies are neither convincing, nor relevant in any form. To be all honest with you, these supplements almost appear superficial to give the disc some leverage as a special edition. It is nothing a fan of the film or the filmmakers is truly interested in, I’m afraid. Not even the alternate ending that director Brian Yuzna reportedly shot can be found in this section. On the other hand the disc contains some DVD-ROM features, like additional cast & crew information, as well as the film’s full screenplay with direct scene access.

Fortunately the disc also contains two commentary tracks, both of which are much more what we’d expect from such experienced filmmakers. The first one features director Brian Yuzna together with the films’ producers Henry Seggerman and Jack Murphy. The three of them make an interesting team discussing many elements of the film’s creation quite animatedly. The second commentary track is with writers Stuart Gordon and Aubrey Solomon. Again, this is a

I was very pleasantly surprised by “Progeny”. Expecting a down-and-out horror flick in the line of “Re-Animator” and “From Beyond”, I was surprised to find that the film set up its narrative without gore sequences. When finally the blood starts to flow during the last few minutes, the viewer is so caught up in the actual story that the gore never appears superficial or put on. It becomes part of the story and we knew all the while, it had to happen! “Progeny” is a great film that is highly recommended, so make sure to put this disc on your shopping list and give it a look.

Learn more about this and other horror films at the

April 1999