Alien from L.A. (1988)

How sad is this?

Fresh and Exciting

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This movie has one of the most misleading titles I've ever heard. We don't get to see a single alien in this entire movie! What the title means is that it features these people who live underground. They believe that the people on the surface are aliens. I mean, I guess you could argue they mean an alien in the sense that it's someone from another country. Come on, this is a sci-fi film! Nobody ever uses the term "alien" like that here! Anyway, the main character's voice in this movie is very annoying. They do point it out, but the rest of the film is so bad it doesn't matter.This also featured very little of LA at all. What's amazing is how boring this film was. There were some fight scenes, but they were all done horribly. The makeup in this film was just laughable. I don't know why these characters look so ridiculous. It just ends with one of the villains becoming good for absolutely no reason. I have never heard of Kathy Ireland before, but I didn't get a good first impression of her here. *

Golan Globus, you've done it again!Done it as in found a highly effective means of inducing a coma through viewing. I've seen Alien from L.A. before and, I will kid you not, rewatching this one had me under the anesthetic TWICE in the same viewing. The dark Atlantean decor, faux Aussie lingo, and Kathy's lulling vocal quality make it very tough to pay attention when you have no idea what's going on and have little or no concern for anything or anyone in the film.Perhaps the film would have fared better if Wanda just hung out in L.A. and never bothered looking for her dad. Then, the movie title would have been way out of context. I guess there's no saving this one. Still, much less painful than Loaded Weapon.

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.

A California valley girl named Wanda Saknussemm (Kathy Ireland), desperately searching for a means to make a new start and escape her nerdish tendencies, goes to Africa in search of her absentee archaeologist father following reports he may have fallen into a bottomless pit only for her to stumble and fall down the same hole. She winds up in a bizarre and strange underground city named Atlantis which just might be at the center of the Earth. There she befriends a miner she calls "Gus" and continues searching for her long lost Papa. However those dwelling in the underground city have heard rumors of there being aliens from the surface world hidden amongst them and despite the government's constant denial that aliens exist on television, they still offer rewards for the capture of anyone who might be thought an "alien" making Wanda a target for many unscrupulous types.This is a relatively harmless fantasy time-waster. In fact, the non-discriminating fantasy viewer may actually enjoy this one. This is kind of like a California Valley Girl version of ALICE IN WONDERLAND with a bit of THE WIZARD OF OZ thrown in filtered through a BLADE RUNNER-esquire setting with the train of events playing out rather like SPACEHUNTER but this movie isn't anywhere near as good as any of those. I have to admit I actually had fun watching this though it's just so outrageous and outlandish in its approach. The sets too prove surprisingly effective for a low budget movie. Plus I always get a kick out of the state controlled television announcements which prove incredibly transparent in their intent. While this is definitely not for everyone (it stars Kathy Ireland who's really no actress, borrows most of its plot from other movies and things always feel a little too safe and sure for our leads), there are those who might find enjoyment here although it's a little tough to explain why exactly. Just the harmless fun of it all I guess.