Alien Trespass
Billed as a real film from 1957 (with excellent lobby cards and generally good print advertising), one that was lost to studio politics and the vagaries of time, Alien Trespass is a love letter to the ’50’s sci-fi films of yesteryear. They even go so far as to justify their recognizable lead actor as M. Eric McCormack, grandfather of (and dead ringer to) Eric McCormack. The tone, style, design, script, sets and props, acting style, and some of the lighting is dead on. The accidental triumph of homage is also that most or all of the comedy is unintentional, or at least accidental. We laugh at the skewering-through-mimicry of a character archetype, or the poor science knowledge of that generation’s moviemakers, or the reactions to the alien castaway; the humor is “oh yeah those movies really did that,” and not so much “what a great satire/spoof.” Unlike other movies lampooning a whole film style (Young Frankenstein being a timeless example), Alien Trespass is relying on our recognition and acknowledgement of their mastery of the style to win our hearts. This does not carry a 90-minute feature.
Many sci-fi/horror movies of the McCarthy era were thinly veiled allegories of the fears of the enormous white Boomer families of the time, from Communism to the Bomb, with xenophobia and nervousness of technology thrown in. Alien Trespass forgets to imbue the movie with that layer (Showtime’s musical Reefer Madness is a good counter-example) and so we’re left with a perfectly accurate reproduction of a mediocre old movie that we might only see on MST3K. Sure, we have a smart gal who’s held back by cultural expectations find her inner woman. Granted, we get to enjoy all the best elements of the original The Day The Earth Stood Still and It Came From Outer Space and This Island Earth in one slow paced film, in Color! They do it all – teensy “outdoor” sets on cramped soundstages, projecting backgrounds while in vehicles, shooting heavily filtered day for night, you name it.
However, it’s not really clear why this movie was necessary – it does not reinvent the 50’s movie so much as do a highly faithful cover version of it (Gus Van Sandt’s shot-for-shot remake of Psycho is a similar pointless academic exercise.). Fido took the genre and dropped in a zombie apocalypse and social commentary. Reefer Madness mocked the overblown marijuana panic and dropped in a raunchy musical. Alien Trespass made another one just like the rest, complete with wonderful newsreels explaining its disappearance from the cinema firmament. It’s so painfully earnest, so faithful, and reproduces the flavor so well, it ends up being less fun than its aged low-tech counterparts. The remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still, while not fabulous by any means, tried to tell the story from a modern perspective and jazz it up with awesome, state-of-the-art effects (proving that that alone does not justify a movie either). Alien Trespass, with its brilliant posters and deadpan duplication, desn’t even give us the vicarious pleasure of “back when they just put a little person in a papier mache suit” appreciation. As always, story is all. Everything here has literally been done before, purposefully of course, but it gave us no hook to hang the hat of the recreation on. I was disappointed. If you’re into design work though, definitely make the effort to see it.
MPAA Rating PG-13
Release date 4/2/09
Time in minutes 90
Director R. W. Goodwin
Studio Roadside Attractions
