I’m going to put this movie somewhere else so nobody else has to watch it. – Will
There’s karate aliens, nuclear waste, the worlds laziest sheriff and some poor guy who gets shot a lot. I don’t even know what the hell else is going on.
Directed by – Howard Hassler
Written by – Patrick V. Johnson
Starring – William Vanarsdale, Don Aldrich, Robert Buckley, Allen M. Johnson, Richard Speeter, George Carlson, Paul Zdechlik, Jane Rudowski, Terry Royalty, Larry Sutin, Mike McDonough, Joseph Hautman, Robert L. Speeter, John Bruhn, Jerry Trigg, Scott Babcock, Karen T. Johnson, Jacqueline Casey, Michael Degen, Mary Cordell, Steve Flannery, John Powers, Diane Degen
Have you ever seen one of those films that’s ‘so bad it’s good’ and wondered what it is that makes it that way. I guess Howard Hassler had that same question and his answer was It Came From Somewhere Else. That’s also the biggest problem with this movie. When you try to make a good movie and wind up with Troll 2 then you have a ‘so bad it’s good’ flick. It Came From Somewhere Else is trying to be ‘so bad it’s good’ which leaves it with the ‘so bad’ part and nothing else.
Maybe I was in the wrong frame of mind for this movie but pretty much every moment of the film was driving me nuts. From the terrible, terrible acting to the complete lack of a coherent storyline to the bad special effect. Yes, I said effect because there’s really only one in the movie when a guy gets shot in the stomach which boils down to a guy squeezing a balloon or something full of blood so it squirts into the air. They’re just trying way too hard to make a bad movie that you’ll enjoy, which I don’t think can really be done. It just sort of happens.
The Sheriff is one of the better parts of the movie.
There are some entertaining moments in the film though. They usually involve the Sheriff (William Vanarsdale) or there’s one moment with a woman, who just happens to be a man in drag, that was pretty funny. Other than that the jokes are more lame than a two-legged horse and about as effective as a beach party in a Canadian winter. A perfect example of trying too hard takes place when the Sheriff is talking to the local doctor. Seems residents of the small town have been spontaneously combusting for an unknown reason. The doctor reassures the Sheriff that they were fine when he saw them the day before and he took 100 x-rays of them. The doctor goes on to repeat how he gave everyone hundreds of x-rays over and over again, trying to drive home the joke that would have been a lot more funny if they had only said it once.
In a sudden burst of colour the aliens descend on the town. Yeah, that's the aliens!
I just found the entire film to be so stupid that I wanted to smash my own head in. I had obviously picked the wrong day to watch this movie. After spending 6 hours with a frozen mouth from the dentist and then another 4 with throbbing pain in my face, I don’t think that I was in the right frame of mind for this. Maybe one day I’ll come back and check this one out again and find a new appreciation for it. I’m not sure my opinion will change though and it’ll be a long time before I dare to find out.
Under the marquee – Will
I’m thinking today might have been the *best* day to watch it due to the novocaine probably numbing some of the movie as well, but if that didn’t help then it’s more than likely a lost cause, bud.
Was this a “Epic Movie” or “Meet the Spartans” of the 80′s? (P.S. I think your opening paragraph was the best part of the review. “I don’t even know what the hell else is going on.” made me laugh out loud, and I’m glad I wasn’t sipping on tea or anything or that surely would have waterfalled my monitor.)
You may be right there. Maybe all that numbing in my head caused the film to be even better than it was. If that’s the case I’m glad I didn’t watch it on a normal day or I’m sure I would have ended my life by bashing my head against the coffee table!
I think it may be fair to call this the Meet The Spartans of the 80′s! HAHA!
It goes without saying that the 80′s produced some of the greatest horror (and horror-comedy) films ever made, but alas they cannot all be gems. So sad. After re-watching and compiling all those freaking 80′s films a few months back I realized there was a lot of stuff from the decade that sucked pretty hard. I’m not sorry I missed checking this out!
They don’t make them like they used to! Unfortunately they do still make the bad ones like they used to though!