Aliens in the Attic is a live-action/CGI-animated science fiction comedy released in 2009 directed by John Schultz and starring Carter Jenkins, Austin Butler, Ashley Tisdale, Gillian Vigman, Andy Richter, Doris Roberts, Robert Hoffman, Kevin Nealon, Tim Meadows, Henri Young, Regan Young, Josh Peck, J. K. Simmons, Kari Wahlgren and Thomas Haden Church and Ashley Boettcher.
The movie was filmed in New Zealand but is set in Michigan. It takes place mostly in and around the Pearson's holiday home as they try to protect the Earth from an alien invasion, whilst keeping the whole ordeal a secret from their parents.
Plot[]
Four glowing pods are seen flying through space. They make a hard right and head towards earth.
Arguing in the car to Michigan
15-year-old Tom Pearson (Carter Jenkins) is hacking into his school website and changing his grades. He gets startled by his sister, 17-year-old Bethany (Ashley Tisdale) climbing in through his window after sneaking out to go on a date with her boyfriend, Ricky Dillman (Robert Hoffman). Tom is caught by his mother Nina (Gillian Vigman) and father Stuart (Kevin Nealon) trying to change his grades and 7-year-old Hannah (Ashley Boettcher) comes up to warn him that his father is coming. They have a short argument before Stuart tells him and his sisters to get some rest to be ready for the road trip to Michigan in the morning.
Tom and Bethany argue about Bethany’s boyfriend in the car, and they arrive at the holiday home. Not long after arriving Tom’s Nana, Rose (Doris Roberts), uncle, Nate (Andy Richter) and cousins, 14-year-old Jake (Austin Butler) and 12-year-old gamer twins Art (Henri Young) and Lee (Regan Young) arrive with illegal fireworks. Tom and Jake argue about the room choice before Tom gets called down to unpack. Bethany’s boyfriend arrives pretending his car has broken down so that he can stay the night. Tom tries to prevent this but is unsuccessful.
Seeing the aliens for the first time.
As the family settles in, the four glowing pods from the opening scene crash land onto the roof taking out the TV dish. Ricky offers to go up and fix it bringing Tom with him. In the attic Ricky reveals that he has been lying to Tom’s father and is actually a senior in college 4 years older than Bethany. Ricky then locks him up onto the roof to fix it by himself Jake joins him on the roof, and they discover the aliens made up of mean general Skip (J. K. Simmons), weapons specialist Tazer (Thomas Haden Church), martial arts expert Razor (Kari Wahlgren), and peaceful engineer Sparks (Josh Peck). Ricky emerges from the attic and is shot with an alien mind control dart which the aliens then use to make Ricky attack the boys. They escape into the attic thanks to Hannah and the twins, but the aliens break the skylight and follow them in. They escape down the Attic stairs and Jake and Tom are shot with darts but they fall off because they don’t work on kids.
The kids try to call 911 but Razor cuts the phone line in the middle of Sheriff Doug Armstrong (Tim Meadows) scolding them for trying to prank the station. They overhear the alien’s conversation about the mid control device only working on adults and decide not to tell their parents in order to protect them from mind control.
Sparks playing music for Hannah.
The Pearson’s discover that what the aliens are here for is in their basement so they head down to search. Finding nothing Jake suggest they go back upstairs and fight the aliens and he and Tom have a disagreement over the plan. When the aliens retreat into the attic after the fight, they leave behind the controller they were using on Ricky. They orchestrate a plan to get their parents out of the house using Ricky. After they leave Jake begins setting off fireworks in the air ducks causing the Aliens to retreat and Sparks to become separated from the group and fall through a vent. He meets Hannah and they quickly become friends. Sparks explains to the Pearson what they were looking for was not in the basement but under and agrees to help them stop the invasion.
Bitten by a mind-controlled Nana.
Their Nana, who they’d forgotten to remove from the home is now under alien control, and during a short fight they manage to get a hold of her controller and capture Skip. He escapes and takes Ricky's controller using him to capture sparks and Jake. Ricky and Nana then fight Nana winning and kicking Ricky down the stairs removing his mind control dart in the process.
Bethany walks in and sees skip. The rest of the Pearson children then explain to her what is happening. They rescue Jake in the basement, and Ricky wakes up insulting Tom and his cousins and breaks up with Bethany.
After successfully stopping the invasion.
The children attack the aliens and rescue Sparks, but Skip succeeds in using the enlarging machine, and sticks beacons into the ground which call the invasion ships. They defeat him and shrink him again and the machine implodes into itself making him extra small. Sparks calls off the invasion and returns home after saying goodbye. Tom reconciles with his father.
Skip angrily witness’ The Pearsons fishing in the lake, but is scooped up by a crow to be eaten.
Concept Art[]
Trivia[]
- The lake house that the movie was filmed at did not actually have a roof top garden so all rooftop scenes were filmed on a set with green screen.
- The film was previously titled They Came from Upstairs, which is instead used as the film's tag line.
Additional Releases[]
Aliens in the Attic also has a movie tie-in game released on PlayStation 2, Nintendo Wii, PC, and Nintendo DS. The game follows the same events of the movie but from the perspective of the Aliens.
On the DVD Extras there is a animated prequel comic showing the aliens as they are recruited and trained for the Earth mission.
Soundtrack[]
Aliens in the Attic's soundtrack features twenty-six tracks from American composer and conductor, John Debney
| No. | Title | writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Opening | John Debney | 1:43 |
| 2. | Main Title | John Debney | 3:17 |
| 3. | Nate And Family Arrive | John Debney | 1:07 |
| 4. | Aliens On The Roof | John Debney | 2:33 |
| 5. | Roof Fight | John Debney | 3:32 |
| 6. | Aliens In The Attic | John Debney | 0:53 |
| 7. | Anti-Gravity | John Debney | 3:04 |
| 8. | Aliens in the Vents | John Debney | 1:15 |
| 9. | Remote Control Ricky | John Debney | 0:43 |
| 10. | Hannah Meets Sparks | John Debney | 1:35 |
| 11. | Kids Meet Sparks | John Debney | 1:58 |
| 12. | Interrogation | John Debney | 2:10 |
| 13. | Nana Barges In | John Debney | 2:57 |
| 14. | Sheriff | John Debney | 1:00 |
| 15. | Jake After Assassin | John Debney | 0:25 |
| 16. | Kung Fu Fight | John Debney | 2:52 |
| 17. | Let's Go Save the Planet | John Debney | 1:55 |
| 18. | Building Sizematron | John Debney | 1:00 |
| 19. | Mentos Attack | John Debney | 1:07 |
| 20. | Giant Skip | John Debney | 0:50 |
| 21. | Kids Swing Into Action | John Debney | 1:18 |
| 22. | Beacons ... Fireworks | John Debney | 0:43 |
| 23. | Tom Shoots Skip | John Debney | 0:44 |
| 24. | Fight of the Giants | John Debney | 2:15 |
| 25. | Sparks Waves | John Debney | 2:27 |
| 26. | The End?? | John Debney | 0:33 |
Behind the Scenes[]
