Ejecta (UK Rating: 15)
For the uninitiated, ejecta is matter thrown out of a crater by an erupting volcano or during a meteorite impact. So far, so straightforward - except, as far as Ejecta the movie is concerned, it also has something to do with aliens invading earth. How? That's just one of a whole ejecta of questions left unanswered. With the movie out on DVD today - 19th January, 2015 - Lights, Camera, Action! uncovers the truth behind whether this is a must-watch or not.UFO enthusiast Joe (Adam Seybold) pulls off a coup when a reclusive blogger replies to a speculative email and agrees to meet him. He arrives at Will's (Julian Ritchings) house, armed with his video camera to film the whole experience, but bigger things are happening - a solar ejecta, which results in an alien craft crash-landing nearby. Will is convinced the aliens invaded his mind some years before and is desperate to re-establish contact. However, the aliens are aggressive and a group of soldiers is taking a dangerous interest as well.
In all honesty, the storyline isn't quite as linear as that. It jumps backwards and forwards, starting with the amateur documentary style, supposedly shot on Will's camera, then forwards to Will being interrogated by the military, then back to the documentary, and so on. It takes a bit of getting used to, and when the story threatens to move in a straighter line, it comes as something of a relief. This is short-lived, though.
The film has clearly been made on a shoestring. That doesn't have to be a disadvantage, but in this case it most certainly is because the effects are decidedly not special - the noises the alien makes in the dark are a cross between a grotesquely rumbling stomach and the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park - and, to keep expenditure down even further, there are moments of complete darkness on the screen. The alien is never seen in close-up and, when the audience gets a glimpse, it looks remarkably humanoid - hardly creative or imaginative.