Not of This Earth (1988)

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Jim Wynorski directed this remake of a '50s Roger Corman movie about an alien from a dying planet who comes to Earth in search of blood. Corman also produced this one, which should be evident by the shoddy use of footage from other Corman movies in the opening credits and sprinkled here and there throughout the movie. Other than these added bits, this is pretty much a scene-for-scene remake of the original, with updated effects and nudity. The star of the movie is former porn star Traci Lords, who appears naked here for the last time on screen. Her body is certainly a sight to behold. Her acting is a little stiff at times but she still does the best job of anybody in this. Her delivery of the many sarcastic lines her character has seems more at home in a film noir parody but it keeps things interesting in a movie where they were using a script from the 1950s. Backing up Traci is forgettable Arthur Roberts as the alien, future "Blind Date" host Roger Lodge as her cop boyfriend, and Lenny Juliano as the ex-con chauffeur who has more chemistry with Traci than Lodge does. It's an enjoyable enough movie of its type, helped some by the campy tone and the nudity.

A nurse is assigned to help a strange man (Arthur Roberts) requiring regular blood transfusions at his home. He is really an alien checking out humans for harvesting their blood, since his race is dying out because of intergalactic nuclear wars.While this movie may not be a great one, it has that 1980s Wynorski sensibility that I so very much enjoy. Cheesy dialogue, a silly science fiction plot (a remake of a classic Roger Corman film, no less) and some crazy fashions (including a gang that looks like a vampire version of The Misfits).The general idea of aliens coming to earth for nutrients is a pretty decent plot, and when done in a silly way like this, it is even better. A similar story could be told that is actually scary, but I much prefer the approach they went for here.

Remakes can't be all that bad… as in 1957 Roger Corman brought us the b/w low-budget sci-fi classic "Not of this Earth". Director / writer Jim Wynorski would convince Corman to allow him remake it (and just under a decade later another remake of this tale came on the scene). Where the film would gain much attention for and eventually become a cult favourite would be the bold casting of the highly delectable Traci Lords in her first major feature film. Don't let it fool you that she started off in porn films (and infamously being underage too), because even here she shows how much of a talented "actress" she was. Truly committed to the material (despite the daft nature), but Wynorski also took advantage of her risqué image to show off her titillating body and she wasn't shy of it either. She truly played it up for the camera. Lords is excellent in her portrayal as headstrong nurse Nadine Story who's hired by the very strange Mr. Johnson to perform his blood transfusions. There's something that's not quite right, so Nadine begins to investigate as secretly her boss is a space being looking to see if his dying race could survive while harvesting off the fresh blood of the human race.This snappy, sexy contemporary late-night b-flick revamp is a complete blast from start to finish. Even though its low-budget restraints show up, it doesn't get in its way and director Wynorski keeps it economical, without losing any of the old-fashion enthusiasm (just listen to that spaced-out music score). Even with its sleazy jabs (leering topless female shots) and jarring jolts (some ghastly attack scenes with some slasher traits to them), beneath (just remember what decade it was made) it still had the spirit and atmosphere of those old-school sci-fi horror outings Corman was churning out early in his career. Special effects are cheap, but crisply done for its minimal approach and so were the optical effects. The silly material keeps it rather tongue-in-cheek, plenty of wisecracks with biting dialogues and some amusingly noticeable in-jokes especially regarding Lord's porn past. The acting fairs up. Arthur Roberts is effortlessly good as the expressionless Mr. Johnston --- with those glowing blue eyes under the shades and the sensitive hearing. Lenny Juliano, Ace Mask and Robert Lodge are amusingly acceptable. Other than Lords, there's plenty of buxom ladies showing up; Monique Gabrielle, Ava Cadell, Cynthia Thompson and Rebecca Perle. Also the perky Becky LeBeau is quite memorable and furthermore looking good in a nurse outfit is Kelli Maroney.I was amused by the oddly placed collection of clips from Corman produced features that showed up in the film's opening intro.Gimmicky, but fast-moving and campy b-fun.

I rented this out of curiosity to see how they remade the 1957 version which I saw several times as a youngster. The remake was fun to watch even though there is quite a bit of T & A which has very little to do with the plot. They retained much of what I remember from the original including a lot of the dialog, Johnson driving a 50's boat-tail Cadillac, his 5-phase mission, the metal case where Johnson first put the blood of his victims, Nadine's boyfriend being a policeman, and, of course, the ending. One notable omission was that the doctor wasn't killed.It would be great if the original could be successfully transferred to DVD.