Santoro was a senior visual effects artist on movies like Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem and Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer. But Offline looks like it has the potential to be way better than either of those films, thanks to its weird, off-kilter visual style. Here's the trailer, which Santoro told Slashfilm he made to raise interest (and money) for a feature-length film:

Here's the plot synopsis for Offline, which I'm really hoping does get made into a feature film:

"The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating."

In this future, the world is dying a slow and ugly death. In an effort to cope or perhaps out of pure denial, humanity has become increasingly obsessed with mass media.

The Internet has evolved into an all-consuming visceral experience where every one's perception of the world around them is fully customized. The brown smog in the sky can be easily ignored when a beautiful sunset is projected through your optic nerve, courtesy of the Naneuron Corporation.

But like all systems there are glitches. Someone or something is disrupting the feed; a Ghost in the machine. A group of extremists have risen up, led by young man named Maro. Defiant and charismatic, he has seemingly endless promise until he unexpectedly surrenders.

All enemies of the state are processed for reprogramming. Those like Maro who are physically and mentally gifted enough are transformed into counter-terrorism soldiers. His memories are erased. His body is enhanced. His humanity is destroyed. Maro has become the perfect weapon.

Until he begins communicating with the glitches, hearing whispers that lead him on a journey through the depths of his own subconscious. Trapped in the midst of a hellish nightmare, he must find a way to regain his identity and take down the system once and for all. But at what price comes freedom?

WHEN A MAN'S MIND BECOMES ONE WITH A MACHINE... WHAT HAPPENS TO HIS SOUL?

The movie's official website is here.

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Moviehole says the movie is "a headache-inducing nightmare that thankfully only lasts a couple of hours", and Yahoo Movies calls it "a dull actioner that looks like a bad video game." Ouch, indeed. Hopefully polarized silicon and acid for blood means you really have a thick skin for these kinds of things.

However, that wasn't the worst of the bunch. Bloody Disgusting really didn't like the movie, and this is only a small part of their playa-hatah review: "Tonight I was left in shock, and still haven't gotten over how terrible Aliens vs Predator: Requiem was. Not only did I waste $47 (I took my family), but I have to go and edit my Top 10 Worst Films of 2007 list. Thanks. After the abysmal AVP I figured nothing could be worse, so I was pretty pumped to give this one a chance. Unfortunately when the film was over I was perplexed at how terrible the film was... it's almost as if it was done on purpose. How can a movie be this bad - AGAIN?... please, please, please save your money."

Double ouch, especially since this sort of movie is supposed to be right up their alley. The movie has only hit 14% on Rotten Tomatoes so far, although expect things to drop down once the tomatoes start hitting the fan. Let's stop the hate, people! Do you really think AVPR is worse than Fred Claus?

Probably the best thing about AVPR is the lone cop Predator who comes to the small Colorado town to clean up the mess left by the crashed Predator science ship. We see Cop Predator on the Predator home world playing what looks like a Predator video game, hanging out in his Predator apartment and drinking Predator beer. Then he gets a signal or message or something, and takes off on his badass Predator motorcycle so he can get to the ship that will take him to Earth. He's got cool weapons, he punches out an Alien (dude, seriously awesome), and he kills some of the more annoying human characters too. Once this badass hits the screen, the flick basically becomes a Mexican wrestling movie crossed with Halo. In case you are wondering, that is Totally Fucking Awesome

Also, there's this Predator-Alien hybrid called the Predalien — sort of the turducken of monsters — but it isn't really that important to the movie. In fact, most of the fight scenes are so swishy and dark and shiny that you can barely tell who is fighting whom. It's just double-mouth fu, and spines and claws and "screech!" In fact, there's even a hint about what audience these fight scenes are aimed at. When the surviving humans all run to the local ammo store to hide, the two guys behind the counter start babbling about conspiracies and aliens. "Are you stoned?" asks a cop. They both nod, along with half the people in the movie theater.

What's amazing about this zippy little 87 minute flick is that despite its B-movie simplicity, it manages to slip in a few subversive messages. The army reaches the remaining townspeople via radio, telling them to head to the center of town "for rescue." But the one character who is actually military says, "No — they're lying." She says that the army is probably trying to herd everyone together in order to nuke the town and contain the threat. Only a few people believe her, insisting, "The government wouldn't lie to us!" (This line got the whole theater yelling and laughing.)

Like many recent monster flicks influenced by 28 Days Later's dim view of military intervention, the characters in AVPR are caught between two angry monsters and the army. The question this movie seems to ask is: Who would you want on your side? Predator or army?

I know my pick.

• Is Sarah Michelle Gellar's new movie Possession science fiction? Her character's husband and brother-in-law both wind up in comas, then the brother-in-law wakes up thinking he's the husband. Telepathy or mysticism? We'll find out in February. [Shocktillyoudrop]
• The Russian trailer for Cloverfield showcases some previously unseen sequences of soldiers fighting the monster, plus women with fake sweat on their chests. [BloodyDisgusting]
• Similarly, new clips from Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem show battle scenes in a sewer, a hospital and a pool party, plus a soldier doing the whole "you go on without me" martyr dance. [IESB]
• Coming (eventually) in Heroes: more of "badass" future Hiro, Hiro's dad's secret powers, the long-promised Jessica Collins super-spy, and a cop and crimelord in New Orleans. Oh, and Monica will dress up as Saint Joan, that cheesy comic book character, more often. [Ohnotheydidnt]
• Screencaps from the Torchwood season two trailer reveal Martha Jones in bondage! [FreemaAgyeman]
• The new KITT from the Knight Rider relaunch has all-wheel drive, laser weapons, a "mini-KITT drone" and other features that the original lacked. But no grappling hook. [Popular Mechanics, via SFSignal]
• Chuck has two more episodes in the can, which reveal more backstory on Adam Baldwin's character. [SpoilerTV]

The Aliens are just what the name advertises: truly, creepily alien. We never know what they want, other than to use our bodies as hosts to breed, though it's pretty obvious that they have some form of intelligence. We see them doing things like using battle strategy, and protecting their young. And they don't need tools like those wussy Predators because their entire bodies are weapons. Who is to say that they aren't a race of super-ultra-mega-warriors who genetically engineered themselves to become weapons? That makes them even more advanced than Predators.

Aliens aren't just out to get us - they are out to become us. One of the hallmarks of a hardcore freakshow monster is that it wants to make babies with you, or create versions of itself using your body. That's the Alien all over. It wants to get you pregnant and use your genetic material to create offspring. And the Aliens are so sexy that other species want to do the same thing to it: that's how we got the human/alien hybrid in Alien: Resurrection. Even the Predator-boosting Colin Strause has to admit the superiority of the Predalien hyrid (pictured here) in his new flick. Hybrid vigor!

Nobody will ever mistake the Aliens for a racial stereotype. One of the sort of cool/sort of lame parts of Predators are their dreadlocks, suggesting they're a species of Rasta warriors. Aliens, to their credit, never veer into JarJarism.

And finally, the Aliens are always a pleasure to gawk at. All too often, monsters in horror movies are all bite and no show. Predators are of that variety, which is why the first Predator movie worked the best - the Predator was invisible, so we didn't have any time to feel disappointed that he looked so half-Klingon, half-Rasta boring. The Alien, however, got more intriguing the more we saw. That long, shiny head with its double-mouth dripping acid? The skeleton body like something from an Iron Maiden album cover? Dude. Plus, when the Alien starts to wear thin, just create a cool hybrid! Sure, Alien: Resurrection was total crap, but my inner FX gore geek was totally satisfied by the final scene with the creepy naked Humalien getting sucked out of the teeny hole in the spaceship wall.

In short, Alien kicks Predator's ass on all fronts: it's creepier, better-looking, and wants to make babies with us. What else do you want?

• X-Files 2 takes place partly at a hospital, and involves organ transplants, judging from new set pics. [XFilesNews]
• The new Knight Rider's car will have a supercomputer that "can hack into any system." Ohhhkay. [SliceofSciFi]

• You'll see an eco-friendly Predator — who is willing to kill unarmed prey — in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. [IESB]
• A rescue crew may not be what it seems in Lost season four, judging from the trailer. [SeriouslyOMG]
• Hellboy will have a really big gun in Hellboy 2, and here's a pic. [Slashfilm]
• Garret Dillaunt (The 4400) will play the bad Terminator in the Sarah Connor Chronicles, replacing the pilot's Owain Yeoman. [SyFyPortal]
• It's official: the Romulans are in the new Star Trek movie. [UGO]

Sadly, after our action-packed opening, AVP-R shifts to a boring Midwestern town. And after that, we catch our first glimpse of the Predator homeworld, as a Predator sees the ghastly fate that has overcome his (her?) brethren. The first five minutes are online, but we've got the best minute here.

• We'll learn the origins of those one-breasted psycho killers, the Daughters of the Amazon, in the movie version of Y: The Last Man movie. [Comics 2 Film]
• Steven Spielberg's Interstellar, about explorers who travel through a wormhole to another dimension, will come out in 2009 and won't violate any laws of physics. [Not Even Wrong]

• Terminator incest alert! Summer Glau's Terminator in the Sarah Connor Chronicles will impersonate John Connor's sister, but may also kindle a romance with him. [Spoiler TV]
• The Justice League movie may have the dumb-ass title American Heroes. [Cinematical]
• Next summer's Hancock is about an alcoholic superhero, not just a has-been superhero. [MoviesOnline]
• Jane Seymour will return to Smallville in the final episode, in a flashback that explains why her character was such a bitch. [TV Guide]
• Next week's Journeyman will feature "major ripples" in Dan's private life, and move the show towards a "soft ending" in two weeks. The show still isn't officially canceled, but it has been shut down. [BuddyTV]