| Director | Joe Cornish |
|---|---|
| Genre | action film, alien invasion, comedy film, comedy horror, coming-of-age film, hood film, monster film, science fiction film |
| Runtime | 88 min |
| Country | France, United Kingdom |
| Budget | £8 million |
| Box office | $6.2 million |
On Guy Fawkes Night, trainee nurse Samantha Adams is mugged and violently attacked by a gang of teenage hoodlums from South London: Pest, Dennis, Jerome, Biggz and leader Moses. When a meteorite falls from the sky into a nearby car, Samantha escapes. As Moses searches the wreck of the car for valuables, his face is scratched by a dog-sized alien creature. The creature runs away, but the gang chase and kill it. Hoping to gain fame and fortune, they take the dead animal to their acquaintance, cannabis dealer Ron and his boss Hi-Hatz, a local gang leader, who instead recruits Moses to work for him.
More objects fall from the sky. The gang arm themselves and go after them, however, these aliens are much larger and more threatening. After one kills Dennis's pet pitbull Pogo, the gang flee but are intercepted by two policemen accompanying Samantha, and Moses is arrested. The aliens kill the officers, Samantha and Moses escape. A henchman of local drug lord Hi-Hatz is killed by aliens. The gang try to flee and Biggz hides in a recycling bin, though he is later saved by a pair of their young neighbours who manage to kill the alien. An alien bursts into Samantha's flat and Moses kills it with a samurai sword, so she joins them.
The gang move upstairs to the flat where Tia, Dimples, Dionna and Gloria live, but 2 aliens attack from outside, smashing through the windows and decapitating Dennis. Samantha kills an alien, saving Moses in the process, while Tia and Dimples manage to kill the other one. The girls believe the boys to be the focus of the creatures and kick them out of the flat. Hi-Hatz and two more henchmen arrive to attack the gang, but are attacked by aliens; only Hi-Hatz makes it out alive.
The gang run into more aliens, but use fireworks as a distraction, Jerome becomes disorientated in the smoke and is killed by an alien. Entering Ron's flat, they find Hi-Hatz waiting, who prepares to shoot Moses but he is then suddenly attacked and killed by the rest of the aliens who break in through the window. The group flee and are joined by Brewis, one of Ron's customers and a zoology student. Moses, Pest and Samantha retreat into the weed room, while Ron hides in the flat.
In the weed room, Brewis notices a luminescent stain on Moses's jacket under the ultraviolet light. Brewis theorises that the aliens are like spores, drifting through space on solar winds until they chance on a habitable planet; after landing in an area with enough food, the female lets off a strong pheromone to attract the male creatures so that they can mate and propagate their species; Moses has been carrying scent since he killed the female, which is how the males have always been able to find them. Moses persuades Pest to return Samantha's stolen ring and together they form a plan. As Samantha has not been stained with the alien pheromone she can go to Moses's flat and turn on the gas oven.
Samantha successfully bypasses the aliens and turns on the gas in the flat. She leaves the tower block, and Moses, with the corpse of the small female alien strapped to his back, runs to the gas-filled flat with all of the big male aliens following him. He throws the corpse into the flat; with a firework he ignites the room and leaps out of the window. The resulting explosion kills all the aliens but leaves the high-rise flat in flames. Moses survives by grabbing onto a flag hanging from the balcony.
A crowd of residents from the block congregate outside after the explosion including Tia and Dimples. Moses, Pest, Brewis and Ron are arrested as the police believe they are responsible for all the deaths that have happened. The police question Samantha and ask her to say Moses and the gang are responsible for all the mayhem, but she tells them they are her neighbors and they protected her, showing her respect for Moses.
Biggz shows up within the crowd, telling the cops Moses saved the block. He then gets everyone to begin chanting Moses name in a triumphant chant. As Moses and Pest sit in the back of a police van, Pest tells Moses that chanting is for him, and they both smile.