Remaking old sci-fi films has become kinda common place. More often than not, these films lack the heart of the original work, mainly because there's no real love for the material and the director/writer rarely can match the sensibilities of the time period. A way around this is simply spoof some of those old classics, like in the 1996 film, Mars Attacks. While it was fun, I always thought the attempt to transfer the 1950's style cheesiness into a more modern setting didn't quite work out. Better to just set the film during a time when it makes sense for people to be so....simple. Alien Trespass, which draws it's inspiration from those old 50's classics, decides neither to spoof or modernize. It's spaceboots are firmly planted in the days of poodle skirts and Ford Fairlanes(not the Andrew Dice Clay movie!), and it's all the better for it.
The plot is delightfully simple, much like the best sci-fi films of that age. A ship crash lands in an eyeblink of a town near the Mojave Desert. Of course this is mistaken for being a falling star, and the event becomes the "most happenin'" thing to occur in like, ever. Out of the wreckage emerges an evil, cyclopean creature known as a Ghota, with an unquenchable appetite. But also emerging is a thin, silver-clad being known only as Urp(as in Wyatt Earp). Urp is a galactic marshall who was transporting the creature to a prison. Urp, needing to blend into society, takes over the body of local celebrity and scientist Ted Lewis(Eric McCormack) in order to recapture the Ghota. Only in the 1950's would a scientist be a celebrity by any means. As can be expected, Lewis's behavior draws the attention of the local sheriff, who of course was just about to retire, played by The Wonder Years' Dan Lauria. Also adding to the mix are a gang of teenagers who are just trying to do something exciting for once. And then there's Tammy(Jenni Baird), a waitress who has a crush on the very married Ted, and is the only one at first who knows what is really going on.
At the Q&A following the screening, director R.W. Goodwin expressed his deep love for the films of the 1950's, and it shows. Everything from The Thing from Another World to The Day the Earth Stood Still is referenced in some way, but at no time does it become a bland mash up of former movies. What I enjoyed most is that, much like those older films, it felt like it was taking itself seriously. Like the people making this thought they were making something great, and did the best with what was at their disposal. There's none of the thinly veiled jabs at how naive people must've been fifty years ago. Nor is there a deconstruction of the era, which is usually the case when dealing with this type of movie. No, this is a straight up story, and it's obvious that they are having a ton of fun.
In order to make the look and feel as accurate as possible, Goodwin replicated many of the practices of the time that helped give those movies such a distinctive personality. There's an especially funny scene in which Tammy is driving in a truck alongside Ted who happens to be walking. If you've ever seen those old Looney Tunes cartoons where the background keeps repeating itself, then you can imagine how it must've looked, not to mention that the truck was going....oh, about ten times faster than Ted seemed to be moving. Little touches like that give the film charm, but it never feels forced.
Not everything works, even though it may sound like it. Not all of the actors seemed able to play their roles without trying too hard to seem authentic. The teenagers I found especially painful to watch. Eric McCormack, who I haven't really like in anything except Free Enterprise, was clearly having a good time but he too sometimes fell into an overly mannered rut. But Dan Lauria, as the perpetually grouchy teenager harassing sheriff, was absolutely dead on brilliant. Not to mention Robert Patrick, who worked with Goodwin on the X-files, was also a ton of fun to watch. He seemed so out of place in comparison to everybody else, and it made his scenes all the more hilarious. Plus it's impossible to see him in a film like this and not think of him as the T-1000 from Terminator 2.
It might not be for everyone. I think you have to have a real love and appreciation for the time and the genre to truly get it. I'm one of those people. And I hope there are enough out there like me to get more stuff like this out there. 7/10
