Xtro (1982)

This is certainly a bit of a slow burn, but once it gets it's stall set out it turns into quite a menacing little low-budget affair with some half decent visual effects, too. Unfortunately, to get to that part of the film we have to wade through some less that distinctive drama to discover the plot. It seems that ''Rachel'' (Bernice Stegers) has been bringing up her young son ''Tony'' (Simon Nash) for the past three years after ''Sam'' (Philip Sayer) did an unexpected bunk. Now we have some idea where he has been all this time, but of course she hasn't a scooby. By now, she has also moved on and hooked up with American photographer ''Joe'' (Danny Brainin) and so the reappearance of her ex on the scene is not universally welcome. The youngster is delighted to have his indulging dad back on the scene, though, and so she tries to play along whist genuinely intrigued by his purported ''amnesia''. What really is his agenda, though? Aside from ''introducing'' Maryam D'Abo as the aupair there isn't much at all to be said for any of the casting nor the writing, and there are certainly similarities with some 1970s editions of ''Dr. Who'' but eventually it does manage to create a sense of tea-time menace and it also capitalises on the inclusion of the always suspect clown in the proceedings, too. It just goes to show what can be achieved with some haunting music, a spinning top, some old condoms and liberally applied toothpaste and it's nowhere near as bad as it might have been.