It's not really clear why this movie was necessary %u2013 it does not reinvent the 50's movie so much as do a highly faithful cover version of it. (Gus Van Sandy's shot-for-shot remake of Psycho is a similar pointless academic exercise.)
Alien Trespass (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:60
Fresh:21
Rotten:39
Average Rating:4.8/10
Consensus: An earnest attempt to parody campy 1950s sci-fi films, Alien Trespass eventually loses its charm among tedious dialogue and cheesy special effects.
Runtime: 90 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis:
Coming soon to a theater and drive-in near you: Alien Trespass, a thrilling sci-fi adventure from three-time Golden Globe winner and five time Emmy Award-nominated director/producer R.W. Goodwin...
Coming soon to a theater and drive-in near you: Alien Trespass, a thrilling sci-fi adventure from three-time Golden Globe winner and five time Emmy Award-nominated director/producer R.W. Goodwin (The X-Files) and brought to you in glorious color!
Alien Trespass is an exciting and entertaining homage to the great science-fiction movies of the 1950s, the post-war boom period when the country was filled with great hope and prosperity and, at the same time, lived under the threat of nuclear annihilation.
The story begins in 1957 in the star-filled skies above California's Mojave Desert. It is a special night for noted astronomer Ted Lewis (ERIC McCORMACK), who is preparing a special dinner for his beautiful, adoring wife Lana (JODY THOMPSON) to celebrate their wedding anniversary. In another part of town, Tammy (JENNI BAIRD), a waitress at the small local diner with big plans for the future, looks out her window and is excited to see a shooting star, which she takes as a good sign for her dreams.
But what Dr. Lewis and Tammy assume is a shooting star, is really an alien spaceship. The fiery ball hurtles toward earth and crash-lands on a butte in the desert. The only witnesses are Dick (ANDREW DUNBAR) and Penny (SARAH SMYTH) who are necking in a nearby lovers' lane.
A tall, metallic alien named Urp emerges from the craft unharmed, alarmed to discover that the monstrous Ghota, who was also on board, has escaped. The menacing one-eyed creature's unquenchable appetite could mean the end of civilization as we know it.
Urp is the only one who knows how to stop the hideous extra-terrestrial, but to do so he has to take over the body of Dr. Lewis and enlist the aid of Tammy, the only human in town willing to believe and trust in his mission. The local police - including police Chief Dawson (DAN LAURIA) and officer Vernon (ROBERT PATRICK) - are confirmed skeptics and offer little help. Together, Urp and Tammy must hunt down the Ghota and neutralize it before it consumes all the local inhabitants and uses the human fuel to multiply and conquer the world!
Alien Trespass stars Eric McCormack, Jenni Baird, Dan Lauria and Robert Patrick. The co-stars are Jody Thompson, Aaron Brooks, Sarah Smyth, Andrew Dunbar, Tom McBeath, Vincent Gale, Jerry Wasserman, Jonathan Young and Michael Roberds.
The film was directed and produced by R.W. Goodwin from a screenplay by Steven Fisher and a story by James Swift and Steven Fisher. The producers are James Swift and R.W.Goodwin. The line producer is Warren H. Carr. The associate producer is Crawford Hawkins. The director of photography is David Moxness, CSC. The production designer is Ian Thomas. The editors are Michael Jablow, A.C.E. and Vaune Kirby. The music is by Louis Febre. The costumes are designed by Jenni Gullett. The visual effects supervisor is Eric Chauvin. The U.S. casting is by Susan Edelman, CSA. The Canadian casting is by Lynne Carrow, CSA and Susan Brouse, CSA. --© Roadside Attractions
Starring: Eric McCormack, Jenni Baird, Dan Lauria, Robert Patrick
Starring: Eric McCormack, Jenni Baird, Dan Lauria, Robert Patrick, Jody Thomson, Aaron Brooks, Sarah Smyth, Andrew Dunbar, Sage Brocklebank, Tom McBeath, Vincent Gale, Jerry Wasserman
Director: R.W. Goodwin
Director: R.W. Goodwin
Screenwriter: Steven Fisher
Story: James Swift, Steven Fisher
Producer: James Swift, R.W. Goodwin
Composer: Louis Febre
Studio: Roadside Attractions
Reviews for Alien Trespass
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, It Came From Outer Space should be blushing like a schoolgirl, because this deadpan recreation of 1950s sci-fi movies is a tribute to its low-budget, high minded charms.
...gently wacky. Although breezy and sketchy on the easy laughs at times, Alien Trespass does promise to entertain for the sole purpose of its campy off-kilter makeup.
If the film succeeds perfectly in its aim, to recreate exactly a genre of films noted for how shoddy and boring they were, is it then fair to complain when the film is itself boring?
Neither legit parody nor loving sci-fi homage; a movie with no firm reference point, [and] lacking the breezy wit or clever execution that might otherwise provide a reason for its standalone existence.
Alien Trespass won't let our knowledge of the stereotypes it incorporates do the work and make the critique.
It doesn't want to be camp, but it inevitably becomes so, because the very effort to replicate its models is so knowing that it comes across as insufferably arch.
If you're willing to check your brain at the door and to suspend a lot of your disbelief, Alien Trespass manages to be a delightfully zany and campy satire best experienced at midnight with a group of friends.
The filmmakers have an obvious love for their work and its source material and it shows.
A true love letter to genre days gone by, Alien Trespass delivers on its promise to bring back a slice of the good old days to horror cinema.
While it never rises to the level of Galaxy Quest, my gold standard for funny sci-fi films, Alien Trespass consistently delights and amuses.
A highly entertaining retro Sci-fi blast from the past that is loads of fun, an endearing tribute to all those bad movies we just loved.
Not a spoof, not a satire, just an imaginary story with echoes of It Came from Outer Space and other 1950s drive-in classics, Alien Trespass is a paragon of dry humor.
Not a spoof, not a satire, just an imaginary story with echoes of It Came from Outer Space and other 1950s drive-in classics, Alien Trespass is a paragon of dry humor.
... once those warm, fuzzy feelings of nostalgia start to wear off, all you are left with is a tedious movie that is full of wooden performances, campy dialogue, cheesy and outdated special effects, eerie music and space beings in rubber suits.
This lazy effort gets points only for truly loving -- perhaps to a fault -- the cheapo creature flicks of the 1950s.
Alien Trespass, with a rating notice that mentions 'brief historical smoking,' is at least better than last year's official remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still.
It's a satire without laughs, a parody without punch lines, a careful copy that replicates everything except the original's life.
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