Sil (Natasha Henstridge) is an alien/human hybrid that is the primary antagonist as well as the main protagonist of the 1995 sci-fi film Species. Technically she is not a true villain in the sense of being "evil" but is rather an amoral and highly dangerous life-form that seeks to mate with a suitable human at any cost; human life is meaningless to her and as a result she is extremely violent and murderous by human standards.
Due to her childlike lack of understanding, Sil can be viewed as rather sympathetic. As far as conscious immoral actions and decisions are made by the film's characters, Dr. Xavier Fitch is more of the story's villain.
Personality[]
Sil ages at a fairly rapid rate; despite looking to be in her twenties she is, in fact a few months old. Because of this, her personality is somewhat childlike. Though she is violent, cunning and aggressive, there is a certain innocence and lacking of understanding about the world. She does not quite comprehend how society works, often doing things such as giving merchants too much money or blatantly telling men that she wants to have a baby. Her lack of understanding also gives way to her questioning her existence and purpose in the world.
Appearances[]
Sil generally appears as an adult, human female in her twenties. She is considered attractive to human males and uses this to lure them to mate with her. However, she also has a more alien form that become prominent when she is pregnant and under attack. Her skin turns silvery and metallic, her eyes are large, black orbs and she has spikes on her back.
Biography[]
After the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Life project receives a pair of messages from outer space, the second containing a DNA sequence along with directions on how to mix it with Human DNA, the project's scientists attempted to put the sequence to use, injecting the DNA into one hundred human ovum. Of which, seven divided; with four of those seven dying out to leave three active hybrid eggs. Two of those three were frozen for storage and the third, designated S1L, was allowed to grow and mature.
Within 2 hours, the egg began to diffuse and multiply. Within one day it began to gain form; achieving a fetus within 2 days. By 1 week Sil was a full fetus and was birthed as a human child in one month from her conceptions.
Kept within a quarantine chamber for observation, after three months Sil began experiencing dreams that caused her erratic spasms while sleeping. Unnerved, the scientists decide to terminate her with cyanide gas, however, she escapes from facility and manages to hitch hike on a train where she has her first dream of performing a mating ritual in her natural form. Waking up just as a drifter was about to assail her, she fends him off, bending him in half on instinct. After she loots his sack for clothes she stays on the train to Brigham City where she gets off as the train stops.
Sil enters a convenience store and observes customers as they pay for items. But, as she is unable to buy food, she attempts to, but fails to steal any food. Instead, she manages to steal some luggage and board a passenger train.
Exploring the luggage, Sil finds and watches a portable television set. Finding a bar on the train, she rips open the cashier draw and takes the money found within. Still exploring the train, she discovers the kitchen and begins "acquiring" various items from scrubbing brushes to bananas.
While sleeping, Sil has another dream of an alien train running her down. When she wakes up, tentacles start emerging from underneath her skin and mass to form an organic cocoon around her.
While transforming within the cocoon, Sil kills a train conductor Angela Cardoza before emerging as a blonde, twenty-something adult woman.
Acquiring Cardoza's clothing, Sil disembarks at Los Angeles. Fully grown but still innocent, she buys a wedding dress to wear and, while interacting with the cashier, learns some words. While walking through the city, she encounters many children and pregnant women.
Renting a room at a motel in Hollywood she discovers and watches more television before changing into other clothes she had bought and seeking out a club to meet a man.
While initially meeting random guy, he is quickly "taken" by another woman. Adopting the woman's policy of "whatever it takes", Sil kills the woman by ripping out her spine while in the bathroom. Adapting her clothing to match yet other woman in the club and manages to convince another man, Robbie Llywelyn, to take her to his house; watching and learning how to drive as he takes her. While on the verge of being seduced, she senses that Robbie was a diabetic, rejects him and attempts to leave. However, he refuses her request and attempts to rape her, resulting in her stabbing her tongue through the back of his head when he forces her to make out.
Avoiding the motel after discovering the SETI tracker team at swarming the area, she has a further dream of mating with a male alien underwater.
Leaving the car after running out of fuel, Sil is hit by a car but is saved and taken to a hospital by a good Samaritan, John F. Carey. After consciously healing herself, she convinces John to take her to his house where, discovering a hot tub, she undresses in an attempt to seduce him in the water so that they may copulate. Sil kisses him but her attempt is interrupted by Dr. Laura Baker and Preston Lennox. While attempting to keep John from alerting them, she rapidly transforms into her natural form and attempts to restrain him with her tentacles, forcing one of the tentacles into his mouth to keep him from screaming. This inadvertently kills him.
Escaping the trackers, she reverts back to her human disguise but she has no time to reclaim her clothes forcing her to flee into a forest naked and, acquiring a car and clothes from a woman named Marie Keegan she kidnaps, uses lip reading to learn the trackers' next move and follows them to their motel and rooms.
After setting up a rouse, Sil lures the team into a chase and purposely crashes the car, using Marlo's body to act as a decoy. Managing to convince the team's management of her "death," she changes her hair color and stalks the team members as they celebrate at their hotel. As far as anyone is concerned, her alias is now Nicole.
Following Dr. Baker and Lennox to their room, Sil eavesdrops on their lovemaking and becomes aroused. When Dr. Stephen Arden walks in on her eavesdropping, she immediately undresses in order to seduce him into sex. Sil succeeds in seducing him and they copulate, successfully inseminating and impregnating her. Sil remorselessly kills Arden as the rest of the team discover her being still alive and chase her into the sewer. There, she manages to kill Xavier Fitch before being forced to hide to have her baby.
The remaining team follows Sil into an oil-filled cave and kills the baby. Enraged, Sil attempts to kill Lennox but is shot into the oil lake which was set aflame by the baby's corpse. Attempting to escape the flames, she is shot by Lennox point blank with a grenade launcher and thrown back into the fire, successfully killing her.
Powers & Abilities[]
Strong animalistic instinct of survival and procreation, Transform to alien form, rapid regeneration, Sense genetic flaws in potential mates, breast-tentacles, long tongue is tipped with sharp spines, Incredible ability to assimilate knowledge just by touch, Incredible intellect, and able to hang upside down on ceilings.
Biology[]
Because she is a hybrid, Sil possesses several powers that make her more powerful than most humans. She has the ability to quickly heal injuries. She is also stronger than the average human. In addition, she has tentacles and a projectile tongue that she uses to grab, pierce, and strangle those who threaten her. During the process of finding a mate, she is shown to be able to detect if someone has genetic issues that would be given to her offspring. Sil is shown to also have the ability to control the minds and actions of humans. Due to her alien biology, Sil is able to conceive a child shortly after mating, as seen when Stephen Arden finishes in her causing her to be impregnated with their son.
Victims[]
- Unnamed homeless man (head snapped)
- Angela Cardoza (head snapped when she discovers Sil's cocoon)
- Unnamed woman (backbone snapped due to Sil's jealousy)
- Robbie Llywelyn (punctured his skull with her tongue after Sil senses that he is diabetic and he tries to rape her)
- John F. Carey (forcing one of her tentacles into his mouth after he refuses to mate with Sil)
- Marie Keegan (burned as a stand-in for Sil's own body due to Sil trying to fake her death by destroying the car)
- Unnamed hotel housekeeper (attacked due to Sil wanting the key of Stephen's room)
- Stephen Arden (attacked after he copulates with Sil and realizes who she is)
- Unnamed man (attacked during Sil's escape to the sewer)
- Xavier Fitch (attacked when the team hunts Sil)
Trivia[]
- This was Natasha Henstridge's debut film role.
- Sil is ranked #78 in Eccentric Brit's Movie Villainess 101. The video also includes a segment on the Alien Queen from Aliens (1986) (technically not a villainess, but receives an honourable mention).
- Natasha Henstridge went on to play villainous gold digger Linda Dupree on 2005's Widow On The Hill, villainous assassin Carol Hall on the CW's Beauty and the Beast, and the evil Valerie Stennil in the 2016 Lifetime film Deadly Ex.
Videos[]
EvilBabes Unfiltered[]
Full gallery: Sil (Species)