Anchor Bay, I’m learning much to my chagrin, is not the invincible supercompany I once thought it was.  Back when they were focused on doing remastered old movies, pulling up corpses from the seventies and eighties and giving them a whole new life, they were an amazing company that could, as far as I could tell, do no real wrong.

Then they started releasing originals, and it became something of a mixed bag. There were excellent pieces, and some less than excellent pieces.  Today we’re going to be talking about Inalienable, which Anchor Bay sent me, and I’m going to tell you right up front–this thing is one of the excellent pieces.

Inalienable is the surprising story of a scientist, and grieving father, who finds himself in the unlikely position of being the father–and the mother!–of an alien baby.  More specifically, an alien / human hybrid.  Naturally, the government’s very, VERY interested in getting their hands on this baby–but you’ll be surprised at what just might stop them.  Yes, it’s the legal system!

The concept that this is like some kind of horrendous hybrid of Alien and Kramer Vs. Kramer, which is exactly what Sci-Fi Weekly called it, is an excellent description, and thus I cite it myself.

But it’s also rather simplistic.  See, Inalienable has elements of comedy, drama, science fiction and thrillers.  There are funny bits, and there are sad bits, and there are downright creepy bits.  There is a little bit of everything in this movie–to call it a chick flick might be just as accurate as calling it a courtroom drama or a sci-fi movie.  It might be one of those very few movies that is all things to all people.

It’s hard to believe how well put together this movie actually is, and how well it manages to execute its various components.  All these little bits and pieces are actually coming together in one clean and easy package.

Perhaps the only real problem with the movie is its somewhat abrupt ending.  It doesn’t really explain much of anything, though inferences can be made.  Perhaps the worst form of storytelling is to require the audience to guess what has happened, and that’s exactly what this does.  There are reasonable inferences here, but again, nothing definitive.

But apart from literally the last five minutes, Inalienable is an excellent film with a whole lot going for it and something for just about everybody.  The Screenhead Ten Scale responds by handing it a nine out of ten, with that last five minutes preventing it from a perfect score.