True Alien

A US Navy cargo plane hurtles through the night sky, transporting a caged alien creature. While being fed a bucket of eels, the creature escapes, causing the plane to crash near a suburban housing development. Over dinner, we meet the Talbot family: remote rocket enthusiast Tobe, 16, his sister Maureen 14, their younger brother Charlie, 6, and their parents, Roy and May, the family settling in, still unpacking in their new home. We learn that although the family has only recently moved in, a funeral for a distant family member now necessitates a three-day return to the East coast. Afterward, scanning their neighborhood through a telescope, Tobe makes out the crash site a few miles away, and goes to investigate. There he makes a new friend, Adam, who is likewise scouting the area. The boys find the cage. When Adam insists on taking it with them, Tobe, arguing they should leave it be, returns home. That night, Adam pays a late-night call, has something to show Tobe. He’s hauled the cage to the Talbot’s garage. Meanwhile, the alien has vacated its cage and crawled into the attic, leaving behind only its outer shell. Deciding the shell is too fragile to mess with, the boy’s fashion a paper mache duplicate to present to their high school classmates later that day. Unimpressed, their biology teacher, Mertz, grades the boy’s project and wildly impossible story of having found a True Alien an F. Indignant, Adam storms from the school and returns to the Talbot house to bring back better proof. As for Tobe, he’s punished with detention. Late arriving home that afternoon, he narrowly misses seeing his parents departing on their trip. Over the course of the next three days… That evening, Maureen hosts some new girlfriends, during which the alien disturbs their party. Having laid eyes on it, Maureen is mortified, Carlie merely curious. Unaware Adam is dead, Tobe assures his siblings the thing is harmless. Still, Maureen insists on phoning their parents, but Tobe, determined to capture the alien without interference, stops her. Now Tobe has a brainstorm. Long a fan of a hokum UFO themed cable show hosted by con man Cy Brogan, he contacts the huckster, claiming an alien has invaded the Talbot home. Skeptical, but expecting payment in return for his expertise, Brogan cynically agrees to have a look. Soon after arriving, also seeing the creature with his own eyes, Brogan becomes a firm believer. The next day, armed with rigged equipment, the two attempt to trap the alien. But nothing goes as planned and mayhem ensues. Teacher Mertz, dropping by the Talbot home to find out why Tobe wasn’t in class that day, sees the alien and is likewise convinced it’s harmless. Soon after, the alien kills him. Maureen, furious with Tobe for placing she and Charlie in danger, shelters them with an elderly couple living across the street. Soon the four are likewise under attack. Tobe, accompanied by Brogan, goes to their aid. There follows a deadly game of hide and seek, during which the neighbors are killed. Maureen and Charlie take refuge in the attic. A fight to the finish ensues, during which Brogan is also killed. Tobe defeats the alien using his rockets and is able to rescue his siblings. Their parents return as their kids emerge from their neighbor’s house into the new day.