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Now a reader tries to warn you guys off of ALIEN TRESPASS!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. You know, this type of wink-wink filmmaking is dangerous. It's damn near impossible to strike the right balance of respect and playful poking fun while at the same time telling a story that's worth telling. The ALIEN TRESPASS guys showed up to WonderCon and I didn't have the heart to write up how bad their presentation looked.
I get that it's a fake "lost movie" from the era, but they shot it in color, on an obvious digital format (or at least so badly lit that it looks like bad HD), so they weren't willing to go the extra mile. Also, director RW Goodwin (X-FILES) seemed full of contradictions and I'm not sure he knew what he wanted out of this movie. For instance, he told a story about how he rewatched all these "bad" sci-fi films he grew up loving and pulled moments, like a shot from THE EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS where the characters are obviously running on a treadmill with rear screen projection behind them. So he took that and put it in the movie, even having the actors stop before the scene cuts, with the background still moving.
The very next question he fielded was about how much winking at the camera he does and he quickly responded "None at all." So, what does he think that treadmill stuff is?
I don't get how people play up loving homage and then spend the majority of their movie making things look as bad as possible. That's not how the original films were made, trying to be stupid.
Anyway, that's my rant. I was disappointed with the footage, but thought Robert Patrick and Dan Lauria (Wonder Years FTW!) looked like they were trying to have fun. Here's another reader review, this time from Capone's Chicago screening. Enjoy!
Hello,
My name is Steven Meierkord and I just got back from the Alien Tresspass screening that I was fortunate to win through Capone's contest (thanks again!). I thought I would write a review to share with other AICNers that have any interest in this film. If you use this please come up with some creative alias :)
To put it simple, many people left during this screening but I, being the fool, stayed until the bitter end.
The movie was half baked and boring. It only received a handful of chuckles out of me and a longing for it to end. The premises of the file is that it is set in the 1950's and a UFO crashes near a small town in Nevada. The alien with one eye (Gota pronounced goat-ah) runs out of the ship and begins eating animals and people leaving only puddles that resemble cat hairball juice behind. He also has the ability to turn invisible which he does a lot, trying to mimic the low budget/simple special effects of the era. The other alien, Urp, is the silver dude (that is a rip off of Gort's look) who has to stop the alien before it eats too much and "splits" and ends up eating all the people in the world. In order to conceal his true form he takes over a doctors body played by Eric McCormack.
The problem is that this movie is supposed to be a cheesy/funny spoof of 1950's sci-fi horror movies. Cheesy, yes...but not cheesy enough to be funny. After watching the first 20 minutes you have seen all the movie has to offer. It doesn't get any funnier nor does it get any more interesting. The entire movie is predicable and the only shock of the film to me, and a mild one at that, is that a kid gets turned into a puddle. The acting is hard to judge since everyone is supposed to act like amateurs and the lines are stereotypical and recycled "Only two days to retirement and this happens." says the police chief. The ending was a let down and it never built up to anything. In fact when I got to my car I had to think about when the climax took place. I think it was a good thing that the director didn't show up because he would have just got in the way of all the quite people hurrying out of the theater as fast as they could after it was over.
I have no true talent for writing reviews of films, nor do I want to take the time out to develop one on this this film. All I can say is that if you have any interest in this film then rent it on DVD when it comes out....which should be real fast.
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whoa, weird coincidence quint, just watched 9 1/2 weeks and lauria was in it for a few seconds as a janitor at basinger's art gallery. craaazy...
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"I don't get how people play up loving homage and then spend the majority of their movie making things look as bad as possible. That's not how the original films were made, trying to be stupid." You nailed it, Quint.
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Mar 07, 2009 5:26:38 AM CST
IT'S CALLED ALIEN TRESPASS, THAT'S YOUR FIRST CLUE THAT IT'S SHI
by 1978creepythinman
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Mar 07, 2009 5:27:02 AM CST
SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT
by 1978creepythinman
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They nailed the old low budget scifi feel yet also had their own decent story. Lot Skeleton is an entertaining funny little film.
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What is this "For humans only" D-9.com crap that's all over the site now? I clicked it cause i have nothing better to do tonight but it just goes to more BS. What movie/game is it connected to?
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Lost Skeleton of Cadavra rules! So many quotable lines. You hear any word on the follow-up, "Trail of the Screaming Forehead?" I sleep now.
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(for these kind of flics)
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and that's the point, both in novels and in movies. What we've done since is to refine them, that is all. Case in point: 'Alien' is a combination of the artwork of 'Planet of Blood' (that's where the Pilot design was stolen from) and 'It, the Terror From Beyond Space' (where every plot point of 'Alien') was stolen from, right down to Dallas being ambushed in the air shaft. So making fun of the most fertile period is simple a sign of our decadence, not intelligence.
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it really is as bad as you've heard.
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alientrespass.com
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I was among the winners in Chicago who saw it a few days ago. It's a satire of those older films, complete with super-imposed passing scenery prominently displayed in car windows during driving sequences. The starry night sky looking just a bit uniform to seem like they're outdoors.
It wasn't great, I'll give you that, but you have to at least look where the filmmakers were aiming. Ultimately, it just wasn't silly enough, like Fido was. -
"Lost Skeleton" nailed it. My first exposure to this film was last night, when I caught the trailer on Quicktime. It doesn't look promising.
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"The problem is that this movie is supposed to be a cheesy/funny spoof of 1950's sci-fi horror movies."
Um...that's actually not what it's supposed to be. AT ALL.
I TOTALLY disagree. I've seen this movie and I LOVE it. It's not for everyone, that's for sure, this film is as cult as it gets. But come on, to post a review panning a movie that this guy CLEARLY doesn't get, when the entire marketing campaign is a bunch of sweet, talented guys, asking the world to give them a chance?
Ick. Poor form. -
"Lost Skeleton" is funny but it still does the same crap as this review says "Alien Trespass" does, which is make fun of something a little too much with too much winking. In fact, I'm kind of sick of people making "1950's style" B movies and focusing solely on the bad parts and thinking that that's all that make those movies great. Well, that's NOT IT, people! No one making those movies at the time were trying to make them bad. Sure, some of those old filmmakers were just trying to make a quick buck but you can't tell me every one of them didn't secretly want to make the next "The Day the Earth Stood Still," even though they ended up making "The Beast with 1,000,000 Eyes!"
Anyway, if you've never heard of indie filmmaker Christopher R. Mihm, he's made four features and all are done in the classic 1950's style and he seems to GET it. There's no real wink-wink-nudge-nudge bullcrap going on (well, a little in his first movie, "The Monster of Phantom Lake"). In fact, the first one of his movies I saw, "Cave Women on Mars," showed on a Madison public access "horror host" show and I thought it was actually FROM the 1950's. Couldn't believe it when I saw the credits and it said 2008! If you're looking for someone who gets it and seems to be trying to keep those old movies alive, check out Christopher R. Mihm's stuff. Google him, it's worth it. -
If I had missed the point totally don't you think that it reflects on the director? I never heard of this film before I won the contest and the only knowledge of the film I had was the trailer that I watched after I had won. After seeing the trailer I thought "Cool, it looks like a movie in the same theme as Mars Attacks!" While I won't sit here and say my review is going to reflect everyone's opinion who sees it, I will say that most of the people there were not impressed. In fact when the movie ended a woman in front of me started to clap thinking everyone else was too and about 2-3 soft claps she realized that no one else was clapping and stopped. When I left the theater and got into the elevator a lady asked me if I had just seen Alien Trespass and I told her yes and she grimaced and shook her head. I am sure there are some who will like it, there always is. Just not me and I know I am not alone.
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I typed that in a rush, sorry for the broken english type sentences.
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Apparently an alien/apartheid movie. There was a teaser/test short on YouTube a while back... Done by the same folks who did the Halo shorts to demonstrate a live action Halo film was possible.
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