City of Aliens

Who's to say space aliens aren't pursuing bloody vendettas on the streets of L.A.? 1987's The Hidden offers such an explanation for a series of crime sprees throughout the city perpetrated by previously peaceful citizens. Kyle MacLachlan plays the agent sent to stop the killer. It's a surprisingly decent action film, though generically shot. There are two future Twin Peaks stars in the film. Along with MacLachlan, Chris Mulkey also appears in the film, though briefly. He plays the first in a series of hapless human hosts the alien uses for its crime sprees. The film opens strong, with Mulkey walking into a bank with a shotgun, slaughtering folks before stalking off to his ferrari with sacks of loot. There's a good car chase, the likes of which cgi has made extinct, before he's gunned down by the cops. But this is not the end. Thomas Beck (Michael Nouri) is the detective in charge of the case. He's ruffled when a man claiming to be an FBI agent called Gallagher (MacLachlan) strolls in and starts giving orders. But the two become grudging buddies throughout the film as Beck can't help coming to the conclusion that there is one killer using multiple human hosts. The film also stars Claudia Christian, who I know mainly from Bethesda games (I've been playing a lot of Skyrim recently, by the way). She plays the most interesting of the evil alien's hosts, a stripper whose breasts the alien can't stop playing with. You can't fault the alien for its taste. It also blasts most of Concrete Blonde's debut album from car stereos over the course of the film. I'd have expected Guns N' Roses or something but I dig it. The Hidden is available on The Criterion Channel.