This movie essentially begins with some astronauts on the space shuttle who are in the process of conducting experiments on spiders while in space. Suddenly a solar flare hits the space shuttle and causes an emergency situation prompting an immediate return to earth. However, since the experiments they were conducting were highly classified, the space shuttle is reported to have been burned up upon reentry--when in all actuality it has crash-landed in the Californian desert. Then, as luck would have it, a college reporter named "Marci Eyre" (Lana Parrilla) and two of her friends by the names of "Jake" (Nick Swarts) and "Slick" (Oliver Macready) just happen to be at the same location investing possible aliens when they observe the space shuttle's descent. Rushing to the site they see three dead astronauts with injuries incompatible with the crash and another astronaut who is clearly suffering from some kind of severe illness and on the verge of death. All of a sudden some government agents arrive accompanied by military personnel and the three reporters subsequently hide in a truck to avoid detection. They are then transported to a secret government facility which is located underground. Upon quietly exiting from the truck they investigate this facility and discover all kinds of evidence pointing to some really horrific experiments. But the worst is yet to come. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I had hoped for a film containing some good suspense and horror. A key component of that would also include some good CGI. Unfortunately, although the suspense was adequate enough, the horror and special effects were not very sharp at all. Additionally, the attempts at humor weren't very effective either and only served to give the movie a rather cheap quality. In short, I was somewhat disappointed in this film and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.
