SXSW 2011: Aliens Ready to Attack the Block in the UK

Steve Barton |

Feb 28, 2011

Another alien invasion flick is on its way, this one written and directed by Joe Cornish (actor; Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) and featuring an urban slant. Which is far better than a suburban slant, but not quite as cool as a sharp ninety-degree slant. What the hell was I talking about again? Oh, yeah! Aliens!

Nick Frost, Jodie Whittaker, Luke Treadaway, Maggie McCarthy and Danielle Vitalis all star in this latest slice of extraterrestrial terror from the UK.

Check out the first stills below courtesy of the official Attack the Block Facebook page and the first art and detailed synopsis from Twitch Film.

Attack the Block premieres next month at the SXSW Film Festival.

Synopsis
Attack the Block is a fast, funny, frightening action adventure movie that pits a teen gang against an invasion of savage alien monsters. It turns a housing estate into a SCI-FI PLAYGROUND. A tower block into a fortress under siege. And weapon-wielding teenage thugs into heroes. Think ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 only with monsters and a tower block. Or LA HAINE crossed with ALIENS. It’s inner city versus outer space.

Trainee nurse Sam is walking home to her flat in a scary South London tower block when she’s robbed by a gang of masked, hooded youths. She’s saved when the gang are distracted by a bright meteorite, which falls from the sky and hits a nearby parked car. Sam flees, just before the gang are attacked by a small alien creature that leaps from the wreckage. The gang chase the creature and kill it, dragging its ghoulish carcass to the top of the block, which they treat as their territory.

While Sam and the police hunt for the gang, a second wave of meteors falls. Confident of victory against such feeble invaders, the gang grab weapons, mount bikes and mopeds, and set out to defend their turf. But this time the creatures are bigger. Much bigger. Savage, shadowy and bestial, they are hunting their fallen comrade, and nothing will stand in their way. THE ESTATE IS ABOUT TO BECOME A BATTLEGROUND. And the bunch of no-hope kids who just attacked Sam are about to become her, and the block’s, only hope.