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Simultaneous parody and homage, the 50s sci-fi spoof
Alien Trespass sets a consistently amusing tone somewhere
between sentimentality and satire, though with less emphasis
on the latter. A slick compilation of the best and the most
campy awful vintage space invader screen hysterics of that
period, Alien Trespass sustains a kooky, always good-natured
balance between reverence and ridicule.***
Eric McCormack is Ted in Alien Trespass, a nerdy Mohave
Desert astronomer who witnesses a strange object falling
from space near his home, and heads off to investigate what
turns out to be a spacecraft from another planet. The lone
robot passenger on board, Urf, snatches Ted's body for a
bit to go capture some of his insatiable eating disorder
space monsters called Ghotas, that escaped from the ship
upon crash landing on planet earth. And they're now running
around town dining on humans.***
Meanwhile, Ted's doting sexpot wife Lana (Jody Thompson)
is frantic to find him, while Tammy (Jenni Baird), a moody
waitress at the diner downtown, picks up Ted/Urp wandering
along a desert road, and gets his dormant extraterrestrial
hormones raging. With the area residents being devoured
by the one-eyed creatures and their remains turned into
mushy leftovers, local cops and horny teens alike get on
the case. And with an eventual movie theater showdown during
a Blob screening, pitting humans and table salt against
awesome alien appetites.***
The film is directed by R.W. Goodwin (TV's X-Files)
and based on a st ory by retro sci-fi bakery owner, James
Swift. And while audiences today weaned on grossout fare
may find the movie a tad to tame in comparison, transgressions
abound that might have given the Hays Code movie censorship
cops back then a couple of coronaries. Including far too
anachronistic bawdy dames with flirty libidos, and married
couples - gasp! - sleeping in the same bed at night.***
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