People From Space
with Marc Berlin, Cindy Klayman, Stephen Sheffield
Directed and written by Marc Berlin
(Elite)
by John Bikowski
Elite Entertainment is known for its dedication to the release of uncut cult films such as The Evil Dead and I Spit on Your Grave. They also have a knack for finding some really strange titles that often prove to be quite entertaining… even in a lowbrow way. Case in point: People From Space. I’d never heard of this 1999 unrated feature-length low-budgeter, but having just seen it, I must say it’s the type of film that grows on you. Depending on who you screen it with, you may find yourself laughing out loud at the total inanity of the characters and the soundtrack and the whole point of the film. Elite packaged the film with some catchy extras and has proven that even a film with no word-of-mouth whatsoever can be fun. Along with the 98-minute film you get a still photo gallery and an audio commentary track by the director/star Marc Berlin and co-star Cindy Klayman.
The movie itself strikes me as a spoof on the Fox reality alien shows mixed with The Blair Witch Project. Basically, a middle-aged adventurer named Bob and his oversexed wife Felicia are looking for something to do. Bob is pretty hilarious… he’s a closet pervert, actually likes Schlitz beer, whines about everything, says “fuck” a lot, and believes in aliens. Bob’s brilliant idea is to invite their friends, Missy and Sean, on a trip to locate a crashed alien spaceship. It seems there’s a $100,000 reward for anyone who finds it. The clueless foursome take off for the woods, and we as helpless viewers are brutally treated to what an actual car ride with these morons would be like. They reach their destination soon after asking a blind man for directions, and then we enter Blair Witch territory. There are endless wanderings, missing maps, and impromptu interviews. Along the way to the “shocking conclusion,” the poor schmucks wrestle with relationship issues, encounter a trail that produces instant orgasms, toy with lesbian fantasies, and run into the Twig Man (a top-hatted random guy with an eye patch and an accordion). We also are reminded of some old, long-forgotten cheesy jokes such as “How does a Cub Scout become a Boy Scout? He eats a Brownie.”
What holds the thin storyline together and ultimately makes the film enticing is the way the characters play off each other. This is certainly not Academy Award stuff, but the way Bob treats people and the things he says provide a good dose of humor. This guy is like a neurotic Eugene Levy who you want to strangle before too long. Unfortunately, he reminds me of several people I have dealt with. Watch People From Space and feel pity for me.
(www.elitedisc.com)
