WFG RATING: B+

Gravitas Ventures presents a Mahal Empire Productions film. Written and directed by Brandon Slagle. Produced and story by Michael Mahal and Sonny Mahal. Cinematography by Michael Su. Edited by Wayne Kent.

Stars Richard Grieco, Jolene Andersen, Douglas Tait, Robert LaSardo, Paul Gunn, Gerardo de Pablos, Clay Trimble, Robert Donovan, Johnny Huang, King Jeff, Rich R. Rendon, Dennyann Giambrone, and Tara Reid. 

A SWAT team meets their match in the unlikeliest of forms in this film from the team who brought you Bloodthirst and Arena Wars. 

In Los Angeles, a SWAT team prepares to finally capture Hades, a notorious crime lord, after having one of their own infiltrate his organization. After a struggle, the SWAT team successfully stops and arrests Hades. However, their celebration is short-lived when the undercover was shot in the melee and is deemed dead. And to make matters worse, team leader Vernon has learned he has been diagnosed with an early stage of a blood cancer and he decides to keep it a secret.

After putting Hades in jail as they wait for trial, things are about to go from bad to worse. The team encounters a strange creature that begins to hunt them down one by one. As the creature begins to attack the police station, Hades recognizes the creature and is willing to warn the team. The creature is an alien known as a space vampire who drains its victims of their blood. Hades had witnessed it before and knows L.A. is next unless it can be stopped. It is up to the survivors to put an end to the threat before it’s too late. 

From Mahal Empire Productions comes this sci-fi action thriller that can be said to meld Assault at Precinct 13 and the likes of Predator or even Independence Day. However, what writer-director Brandon Slagle does is smartly tease the film by starting the film as a police action thriller that will soon segue into sci-fi territory. What’s great about Mahal Empire’s works are that they are reminiscent of the 80’s and 90’s B-movies that used to be in your mom and pop video stores. 

Richard Grieco leads the way as Vernon, the SWAT team leader who keeps a secret about his illness as both a sense of pride and fear about his team’s reaction. Jolene Andersen gets major kudos as Hannah, a tough-as-nails team member who throughout may have a soft spot for Vernon in terms of loyalty, but has a sense of badassery when it comes to the action. Robert LaSardo is also great as crime boss Hades, who at first is clearly an antagonist but holds the key to who the team is facing when he reveals a flashback to an encounter he had with a space vampire, which leads to a cameo from Tara Reid and going from rivals to allies when it comes to Hades and the team.

As mentioned, this brings back the good ol’ days of B-movies and straight to video as the creatures in the film are suited actors rather than CGI. This leads to some pretty fun and wild action scenes that show the heroes’ attempts to stop the monster and while some do end up falling prey to the creature, others attack and evade. There is a nice twist in the final act of the film and the ending could have led to a sequel, which after seeing this, I would be all for. 

Attack of the Unknown is definitely a fun throwback to 80s and 90s B-movies in the vein of police thrillers and alien invasion films. Brandon Slagle shows why he is one of the top talents as a writer and director with his intricate twists all driven by a pretty fun cast of veterans and newer talents.