Most people who head out on vacation never think they will be battling for their lives, yet that is exactly what happens in this movie as three teens who take a trip to Spain find themselves fighting to the death against alien parasites. While there, they team up with a scientist who thinks he has a cure for the infestation, and while they do eventually find it, the makers leave it on a cliffhanger, leaving the audience to wonder whether what those teens went through was all for naught.

Many will probably call The Falling a waste of time, but when there is nothing else on the boob tube, it makes for an entertaining aside. Deran Sarafian, the man responsible for bringing it to life, does a decent job, though you can easily see some budgetary concerns, all things considered. The cast was able but inexperienced, and there are no award-winning performances here. Factor in a script that could have used more polish and a story that slipped here and there, and you can see why the actors might have struggled. To compound things, the pace is slow, with events moving at a lackadaisical pace, which is slightly infuriating because it tests the viewer’s patience. The movie does have some tension, so it is not completely intolerable, but a tighter story and tighter editing might have made a huge difference in how the film was presented, possibly resulting in a far more thrilling product.

Some horror is present, though most of it comes at the very beginning of the picture, depicting a cow being overtaken by one of these alien parasites. It is a gruesome bit of cinema that turns the stomach a little and promises a ghastly ride for its audience. Sadly, that is as horrific as things get, though there is some blood and such later on. If only the makers of this effort had peppered in more aliens, or at the very least more bodies to amp up the blood and gore and make the horror a little more visceral, it would have made a huge difference.  As it is, viewers do get to see the alien parasites later on, making this film a little reminiscent of Alien, a comparison that cannot help but be made. The special effects are not all that bad, but you can see why the filmmakers never focused on the aliens as much as they could have. Again, factoring in the tension and atmosphere, which stayed dark throughout, the mood was clearly established and made those alien reveals matter even more when they did happen.

Overall, there is little to recommend it; it is somewhat dull at times and not very scary, but it does have a bit of charm. The main actors, Dennis Christopher, Martin Hewitt, and Lynn-Holly Johnson, are not Shakespearean thespians, but they are not all that bad either. This film has a certain charm that pushes all the negatives aside. Better films exist, but The Falling is the kind of late-night B-fare that satisfies that yearning for uncomplicated, hokey horror.

2.5 out of 5