Customer Reviews

Alien From L.A.

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I remembered seeing this on Mystery Science Theater 3000 a long time ago, so I thought it might be interesting to get the original movie and see how it stands up.

It doesn't.

We start with Kathy hanging out on Malibu Beach (wearing a big oversized T-shirt), getting dumped by her boyfriend. Then she gets a letter informing her that her father (who she hasn't seen in 10 years) has been killed. He was an archaeologist working in Africa. He had a theory that Atlantis was a giant spaceship that sunk to the center of the Earth after a volcanic eruption. So, Kathy goes to Africa and ends up falling down the same bottomless pit her father fell into. (It's about 30 feet deep, all the way to the center of the Earth!). Anyhow, she finds Atlantis and the government puts a price on her head - they don't like "aliens" from the surface. So various people chase her around while a couple of guys she meets defend her.

Overall, this movie is just silly and boring. Imagine "Space Hunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone", except instead of being done for a teen audience it's done for an audience of nine year old kids. You can't take any of the action the least bit seriously because it's all done in such a silly way. Really, this would make a great double-bill with "The Goonies". What the heck is the point in hiring a supermodel to star in a film for little kids?

Overall, very disappointing. If you wanna see Kathy, but one of her exercise videos instead. They're much sexier than this silly thing.

So I know it's got really bad acting and big glasses, but I love this movie. It's one of those films you can put on and laugh at, but still be intrigued with where the writer and director were trying to go with it. Sure, they could remake it and have all the special effects and crap, but the idea is a good one and it's fun.

Alien from L.A. stars Kathy Ireland (National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1) as waitress/social misfit Wanda. She is dumped by her boyfriend Robbie, played by Don Michael Paul (Robot Wars), because she has no sense of adventure. She easily gets car sick and has a fear of flying. Just to debunk him, Wanda heads out to Africa to find her explorer father. Before long, she finds herself in a bizarre underground world where she meets a variety of characters, including Gus (William R. Moses), Charmin' (Thom Matthews, The Return of the Living Dead), Shank (Janet Du Plessis, who also plays General Rykov), and Mambino, the boss of bosses (Deep Roy, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.)

While this movie will not be receiving any Oscars, or even an MTV Movie Award, it still manages to be quite enjoyable. This was also shown on Mystery Science Theater 3000, and while I will eventually check out that version, since I am a fan of that show, this movie is still worth watching on its own, thanks to a groovy soundtrack, and of course, Kathy Ireland.

Recommended.

DVD EXTRAS: Just the trailer for the film and a full frame presentation.

I watched this movie for the first time many many years ago, and liked it then, and I still like it, although it's definitely very cheesy. An underground world called Atlantis (the legendary one) with all the technology of the above ground world, including the same language, is a little hard to swallow. But if you watch it for the sheer fun of it, I think you will enjoy it. It's kind of like Total Recall in a very vague sense; the scenery reminds me of Mars in Total Recall. The makeup and costuming is interesting, and I have a feeling they wanted to do a whole lot more with this movie but either budget cuts or editor cuts made this impossible. So if you want to escape from reality for an hour and a half, I'd say go for it. Kathy Ireland's voice is really annoying in this, but that was on purpose, and they turn it into a running gag. So don't expect a great movie, but if the storyline and characters don't do much for you, hopefully the scenery will. I liked it.

I watched this as a teenager with friends, and we liked it, even though it was trite and had horrible special effects. I bought it out of nostalgia, and WOW, it is really a BAD movie. Kathy Ireland is still pretty, and there are still passages that are cute and make me smile, but I had to fast forward through parts of it because I couldn't stand to watch it. Plus, she plays up the squeekiness of her voice, and it is sort of painful to sit through.
It was recommended in other reviews to buy the Mystery Science Fiction Theater 2000 version, and I REALLY wish I had.

One of Kathy's first starring role. Follow her throught her change from beach bunny to women, even her voice changes. Lots of sexy Kathy, lots of plot, sort of, and her hero. Pick this one to see how Kathy use to sound and where she got her start from. This is a must for any Kathy fans.

I really like Alien From L.A. Maybe It's because I like Kathy Ireland's sweet little voice? They used to show this often on HBO/Cinemax & Showtime in the early 1990's. It was a fun way to waste 90 minutes on a summer afternoon.

Sure, Alien From L.A. is a complete fantasy and way over the top but it has a certain charm to it that I really love. It often has that Roger Corman B-Movie "cult atmosphere" going for it. Personally I wouldn't change a thing about this movie. It is so much better than similar types of films released in the last few years.

Most people probably don't like this film because it seems so unrealistic and cheesy. I think that it was really meant to be satirical comedy, and only a limited percentage of viewers will actually "get" it. You don't have to really believe the things happening in the story could really happen...after all, it is only a fantasy movie!

As for the new DVD from MGM...They've done yet another admirable job on this release. It is in full-screen format, but that may possibly be it's original format. This is actually the way many movies are shot, some are later "matted" for theaters. The Picture quality and Dolby 2.0 Surround track are just about as good as could be hoped for on the DVD format. It is vastly superior to the old VHS video I used to have of Alien From L.A. THANK YOU MGM!!!!!!

I'm adding my rating here to help balance out the overall high current rating for this movie. I agree with the reviewers here that find this a very poor film, except I rated it a one star instead of two. It is just too silly for my taste. I have not seen the MST 3000 movie noted in some other reviews, but I can imagine that this movie is ripe for making fun of as MST 3000 does so well.

Considering the high pitched voice of Kathy Ireland and a B-class plot line, this movie ranks amoung the top in my cheesey B-class movie collection. In another time, another place this was a great movie.

If you like B-Movies, like Kathy Ireland or both then you will like this movie. Except for Wanda's (Kathy Ireland) high pitched voice, I thought it was kind of cute. It is a funny, science fiction adventure with a little romance thrown in.