Sci-Fi Flicks A-C

A-C

ALIEN AVENGERS (1996)

D. Lev L. Spiro. W. Michael James McDonald

Aliens George Wendt and Shanna Reed are on holiday, taking in the sights Earth has to offer and experiencing the exciting things about being human beings, such as murder and incarceration! Wacky sci-fi/comedy produced by Roger Corman has a few amusing moments and a cool soundtrack.

ALEN CONTAMINATION (1980)

D/W Luigi Cozzi (as Lewis Coates)

First official ALIEN rip-off is still one of the best. An evil astronaut returns from Mars with a strange egg. He travels down to South America and hatches a giant, slobbering Cyclops monster. The Cyclops monster then hypnotizes South American people into harvesting more eggs and shipping them throughout the world in crates full of coffee beans. Two scientists and another astronaut race to thwart the alien geek’s plan. Awesome stuff has humans exploding like gore filled pressure cookers when they come in contact with the eggs. A full fledged barf classic! With Ian McCullogh. Music by Goblin. AKA ALIEN II and TOXIC SPAWN.

ALIEN PREDATORS (1986)

D/W Deran Sarafian

A chunk of Skylab with an alien hitchhiker on board crashes to the Earth and begins infecting all living creatures. (One incredible scene has a dog scarfing on a road-kill cow that has been infected and the cow actually sucks the dog inside its chest cavity and consumes it!) Enter a trio of young Americans on vacation that discovers a Spanish town totally infected by the alien intruder. Overall, the flick is rather slow moving but worth a watch for some really cool, mushy special effects and another great performance by Dennis Christopher. AKA MUTANT II.

THE ALIEN WITHIN (1996)

D. Scott Levy W. Alex Simon

A patchwork of ideas from such flicks as ALIEN, LEVIATHAN, and THE THING mixed with scenes culled from BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS, LORDS OF THE DEEP and GALAXY OF TERROR tell the story of an underwater outpost that discovers an alien vessel at a nearby Russian outpost, bring it back, then have an alien life-form to battle. Although empty headed, it’s still dumb fun produced by the drive-in movie king himself, Roger Corman. With Roddy McDowall.

BAD CHANNELS (1992)

D. Ted Nicolaou W. Jackson Barr

Aliens zap down to Earth via radio airwaves and attack a small town. The alien geeks terrorize the locals by trapping them in their bizarre music videos and shrinking down certain babes to keep in glass jars. It’s up to the loser DJ to save the day. I actually enjoyed this Charlie Band produced flick, which is an unofficial sequel of sorts to Nicolaou’s earlier TERROR VISION. With Charlie Spradling.

BAD TASTE (1989)

D/W Peter Jackson

Outrageous “alien attack” pic has big assed extraterrestrials disguised as humans coming to Earth to stock up on human flesh for their intergalactic fast food chain. A group of alien hunters make the scene and try to blast the baddies back into the cosmos. Flick may not be for all tastes, the over the top gore is non-stop and there are a couple of gross-out scenes that are sure to turn your stomach. Director Jackson appears as both a bumbling alien hunter and as one of the evil, alien horde. Check it out.

BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS (1980)

D. Jimmy T. Murakami W. John Sayles

Roger Corman’s STAR WARS clone is actually a fun and enjoyable romp in its own right, thanks mostly to Sayles’ deft handing of the script. A group of mercenaries are brought together to help defeat the evil Sador. It was a major hit when first released. This was a big production for Corman and Co. and every dollar is up on the screen. (It was still made for a fraction of what STAR WARS cost.) With Richard Thomas, George Peppard, Robert Vaughn, Sybil Danning and John Saxon.

THE BEING (1983)

D/W Jackie Kong

Tongue-in-cheek creature feature has a toxic waste monster preying on the local citizens of Pottsville, Idaho. Semi-effective monster and gore effects and lots of ham acting from Martin Landau and Rexx Coltrane. One great scene takes place at Pottsville’s local passion pit. AKA EASTER SUNDAY.

THE BLOB (1988)

D. Chuck Russell W. Chuck Russell & Frank Darabont

Incredible monster basher is so fast paced and filled with effects and action you might have to check it out a second time to make sure you saw everything. Our intergalactic space goo rampages through Small Town USA and consumes every living thing that gets in its way in some truly exciting monster attack scenes. Highlights include a “Blobed” boyfriend, phone booth Blob attack, man sucked down Blob filled sink drain, bum “Blobed” in half, astonishing attack on a packed movie house showing a dumb teen slasher flick and Shawnee Smith doing the “Rambo-boogie” and saving her town. The script puts a neat twist on the goo’s origins too. A monster movie must see!

BLUE MONKEY (1987)

D. William Freut W. George Goldsmith

Uneven, bizarre story has an alien spore contaminating a hospital and creating a giant insectoid creature that munches on the hospital’s patients and staff. Cop Steve Railsback races to destroy the creature before it mates. The creature effects are great but the plot is lame, the pace is slow and I’ve never figured out the meaning of the film’s funky, silly title.

BODY SNATCHERS (1993)

D. Abel Ferrara W. Stuart Gordon, Dennis Paoli & Nicholas St. John

A ‘90s updating of the ’56 and ’78 versions of Jack Finney’s INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. This time the pod menace has moved to an Alabama military base and it’s up to a handful of teens to save the day. Not bad. With Meg Tilly.

THE BRAIN (1988)

D. Edward Hunt W. Barry Pearson

Giant, alien brain is in cahoots with positive thinker Dr. Anthony Blake to hypnotize the populace and rule the world. Juvenile delinquents discover their dastardly plan but nobody will believe them so it’s up to the teeners to rely on their brain power to save the planet. (Now there’s a scary thought!) It’s worth a watch for the cool, giant brain monster and the terrific, over-the-top performance by the late David Gale.

BRAINWAVES (1982)

D/W Ulli Lommel

Suzanna Love plays a coma victim who receives a radical new procedure in which her comatose brain is “jumped-off” (like a car battery) with brain waves from another person. The process is a success but soon Suzanna is suffering violent hallucinations and becomes the target for an unrelenting killer. This enjoyable sci-fi thriller offers plenty of twists and surprises. With Tony Curtis and Vera Miles.

BREEDERS (1986)

D/W Tim Kincaid

Ultra-cheap, ultra-sleazy tripe has virginal New York women falling prey to horny alien creepazoids. Cheaply made and poorly written and directed, the film’s only saving grace is the avalanche of disgusting effects by Ed French at the film’s end. Buddy up with the fast forward button on your VCR remote and enjoy the gut-spilling finale.

BREEDERS (1997)

D/W Paul Matthews

More horn-dog alien rapists breed with human women to create disgusting, hybrid offspring. Better production values and effects than the previous effort of the same name, with lots of outer space monster mayhem.

THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET (1984)

D/W John Sayles

Sayles’ offbeat tale concerns a mute, black E.T. that lands in Harlem, befriends an under-privileged family and tries to escape the clutches of two white, intergalactic bounty hunters (one played by Sayles himself). As with all of Sayles’ work, the story is clever and works on a number of different levels. The characters are real, the dialog is honest and the film is poignant and compassionate. Joe Morton is terrific as the E.T. and the late, great Steve James shows up as a Harlem bar owner. Highly recommended.

C.H.U.D. (1984)

D. Douglas Cheek W. Parnell Hall

Homeless folks living in the subway tunnels below New York City encounter barrels full of Contaminated Hazardous Urban Disposal and transform into disgusting Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers! Off kilter monster flick sports some great creatures and a couple super performances (especially from Daniel Stern as a soup kitchen messiah). TV prints show some sequences in a slightly different order. Watch for John Goodman as a cop in the diner siege. Loads of fun with lots of gory effects courtesy Ed French. Definitely check it out!

CLASS OF NUKE ‘EM HIGH (1986)

D. Richard W. Haines & Sammuel Wiel W. Richard Haines, Mark Rudnitsky, Lloyd Kaufman & Stuart Strutin

Troma flick that required two directors and four writers to concoct the story of straight A students smoking tainted pot and transforming into violent, punk rock freakazoids. One young couple produces an atomic mutant baby that must be destroyed with a laser beam. Some of the gross-out jokes work but most are simply lame and fall flat. As with most of Troma’s output, it is definitely not for every taste.

CREATURE (1984)

D/W Bill Malone

On Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, a crew of American space explorers answer the distress call from a nearby German ship. Exploring the wreckage, the Americans find all but one of the German crew slaughtered and signs of an “un-earthly” presence on the ship. Before you can say “ALIEN spawn” the Americans are up to their space helmets in rampaging outer space monsters. Great rip-off flick is chuck full of top-drawer action and special effects, impressive costumes and sets and a butt load of space zombies, alien monsters and intergalactic gore. A great flick. AKA TITAN FIND.

CREEPAZOIDS (1987)

D. David DeCoteau W. Burford Hauser & David DeCoteau

When the acid rains come, a group of post apocalyptic soldiers seek refuge in an abandoned government research facility. Soon, the soldiers are ambushed by a number of grotesque, genetically altered creatures. A great Grade B drive-in flick from Big Dave DeCoteau, who fills his film with lots of nasty monsters and curvy female soldiers taking showers in between scenes of gore. With Linnea Quigley.

CRITTERS 2 (1988)

D. Mick Garris W. D.T. Twohy & Mick Garris

The Krites are back, those little fanged-toothed fur-balls with a taste for human flesh. Alien eggs left behind from Part 1 hatch and soon the town of Grovers Bend is back up to their munched-on backsides in carnivorous creatures. This is fast paced, silly sci-fi fun with a couple truly gruesome scenes thrown in to keep folks from confusing it with one of those GHOULIES films.