Matty takes a bite out of Peakviewing Transatlantic’s second sturdy monster flick.

Commissioned by exec producer Robert E. Baruc as ‘Grim 2’; produced as ‘Rampage’ when the project started to become its own thing; and today found across various streaming platforms under press screening title/international aka ‘Deadly Instincts’, BREEDERS’ best-known moniker frequently leads to it being called a remake of porn auteur/B-peddler Tim Kincaid’s 1986 romp of the same name. Not true — but not entirely false either.

While carrying trace elements of intended predecessor Grim (1995) (specifically the portions that unfold in a subterranean lair), Peakviewing Transatlantic’s second monster flick boasts several similarities to Kincaid’s amusingly grubby quickie. Given the magpie approach to genre material employed by the family run shingle’s creative chief, Paul Matthews, I’d wager he appropriated a few ideas, narrative touches and set pieces. However, the ‘official’ influences cited by the writer-director were the then-upcoming Alien Resurrection (1997) (which was just about to wrap when Breeders started shooting in January ‘97) and the box office and home video success of Species (1995). The eroticism cribbed from the latter was certainly something the British tabloids picked up on, albeit passively. During the making of Breeders, the Daily Sport and Daily Star went wild when they learnt that Game On babe Samantha Womack (nee Janus) and ‘it’ girl Kadamba Simmons were going to be clad in skimpy outfits and slathered in goo in a sexy sci-shocker. 

As you’d expect from a film lensed on the Isle of Man but set in Boston, Breeders struggles with its faux Yank posturing (a la Grim). That said, horrific mall rat accents and awkward pacing aside, this serviceable caper — about a college terrorised by a horny extraterrestrial creature and the whacked-out zombie babes it spawns — kills time nicely. Nu Image regular Todd Jensen — the token real American — is a decent if conceptually creepy hero; Womack and Simmons do indeed provide a dollop of eye candy; and seeing dippy Gavin & Stacey matriarch Melanie Walters playing a full-blown bitch is a nice exercise in contrast.

Atmospherically lit and shot by Matthews stalwart Peter Thornton — a cinematographer whose subsequent work includes such ‘00s TV staples as Jonathan Creek, Daziel and Pascoe, and Waterloo Road — Breeders is also buoyed by an excellent central beastie. Like Grim, the Pumpkinhead (1988)-esque behemoth is designed by Neill Gorton (alongside the FX veteran’s fellow Image Animation alum, Steve Painter). Unlike Grim, Breeders’ gorgeously tactile-looking mass of rubber is brilliant top to bottom. 

Released on U.S. tape by Baruc’s A-Pix Entertainment in October ‘97 and issued on British cassette by Third Millennium.

UK ● 1997 ● Sci-Fi, Horror ● 94mins

Todd Jensen, Samantha Womack (as ‘Samantha Janus’), Kadamba Simmons ● Wri./Dir. Paul Matthews