EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL VISITORS (1983)
aka The Pod People
aka The Unearthling
Aka Return of E.T.
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 84 Minutes 18 Seconds
Audio: English or Spanish DTS-HD MA Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Juan Piquer Simón
Cast: Ian Sera, Nina Ferrer, Susan Basques, Sara Palmer, Maria Albert, Emil Linder, Concho Cuetos, Manel Periero
From Juan Piquer Simón – the director of Pieces, The Rift and Slugs – comes a screwy French/Spanish co-production that is clearly looking to cash-in on the family friendly mega-success of Spielberg's E.T. while awkwardly attempting to maintain a bit of it's creature-in-the-woods DNA. The flick is set in a fog-drenched wooded area where we have three disparate groups that eventually cross paths. We have a trio of poachers; Burt (Frank Braña, The Rift), Bruno (Emilio Linder, Christina) and Matt (Guillermo Antón, Iguana), a pop rock singer Rock (Ian Sera, Pieces) and his back-up singers Sharon (Nina Ferrer), Cathy (Sara Palmer) and Tracy (Maria Albert), plus a groupie named Laura (Susana Bequer, Hostel II) who Rick invited, much to his girlfriend Sharon's displeasure; and young boy named Tommy (Oscar Martin) who lives nearby with his mother Molly (Concha Cuetos, Slugs) and his grumpy uncle Bill (Manuel Pereiro, Satan's Blood). The event that leads to their convergence is a meteor strike in the woods that unleashes a furry, snorkel nosed alien creature that lays eggs in a nearby cave. One of the poachers Matt discovers the alien-eggs in a cave after investigating the meteor crash site, realizing that alien-eggs are bad he destroys all but one of them, spilling open the alien fetuses inside, before being killed by the mother alien. Young Tommy, an avid lover of bugs and critters, who also witnessed the meteor strike ala the kid from Invaders from Mars, later ventures into the forest and finds the lone surviving egg. Taking it home he hides it in his room, nurturing the egg until it hatches a furry, blue-eyed, snorkel nosed alien he dubs "Trumpy". He then continues to hide the creature in his room while sneaking him junk food.
Meanwhile the aforementioned ‘80s pop band are staying nearby in an RV, and groupie Laura is attacked by the other Alf-looking alien creature who's roaming the woods. The rockers don't know what happened her, believing it to be an unfortunate accident, and take he to Tommy's family's house for medical help, but the phone lines are down. As the screwy flick unfolds the non-Trumpy alien continues its kill- spree, dispatching the band's entourage and poachers, with all three parties ending up at Tommy's parent's place. It's there that Tommy's alien-pal Trumpy is revealed and the adults believing it to be the killer-alien attempt to kill it, but Tommy protects him as best he can.
The flick is wildly uneven in tone, at times it wants to be a goofy family friendly E.T. knockoff with Trumpy entertaining Tommy using telekinesis to make clothes, shoes, furniture and random shit to fly around the room mixed with scenes of the snorkel-nosed alien attacking humans, none of which is gory or bloody in the least. It's an uneasy cornucopia of goofball kiddie-friendly camp and neutered creature-in-the-woods shenanigans, and it all comes together quite poorly. It doesn't help how shit the special effects are - the alien creature hair-suits and seemingly wood-carved heads are laughably bad.
Most of the characters are quite obnoxious as well, and while the kid playing freckle-faced Tommy probably isn't that annoying the voice-dubbing bestowed upon him will grate on your nerves, it's right up there with Bob from The House By the Cemetery. It's a movie that feels like its meant to be one thing but the kid-friendly E.T. thing is being crowbarred into it, and as a result none of it works.
Reversible Artwork
Audio/Video: Extra-Terrestrial Visitor (1983) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Severin Films in 1080p HD widescreen (1.85:1) sourced from a 4K scan from the 35mm negative. It's a solid scan offering organic looking grain and well-saturated color. Fine detail and texture at times are pleasing but more often the finer points of detail are sapped by diffused lenses, compounded by a heavy blue-tint and fog-shrouded night scenes. This is all going back to the source and are not an issue with the transfer, it's just how it was meant to look. Audio options include both English or Spanish DTS-HD MA Mono with optional English subtitles. Dialogue sounds fine, as does the synth score from Librado Pastor (Satan's Blood).
Severin's release is loaded up with solid Spanish-language bonus content, starting off with a feature-length documentary The Simón's Jigsaw - A Journey Into the Universe of Juan Piquer Simón. The doc spans the directors entire career with loads of interviews from actors, FX crews, and cinematographers who worked with him through the years as well as film critics, peers, and academics who slather on the love on for the director, getting into his love of fantasy, how he was a hard-driving director who expected everyone on his set to pour their love into every film, as well as archival interviews with Simón himself. It's a wonderful tribute to his body of work, plus we gets tons of behind-the-scenes video footage and images of the practical make-up, special effects and creatures seen in his films, particularly Mystery of Monster Island, The Rift, Supersonic Man, Cthulhu Mansion, and Slugs.
We also get the 14-min A Weekend In Hell – Interview With Actor Emilio Linder; wherein the actor recounts making six films with Simón, with specific memories of shooting The Rift, memories of E.T. Visitors, and shooting films with Jess Franco, including one that ended up having hardcore inserts added to it without his knowledge. The 19-min of Composing The Cosmos – Interview With Soundtrack Composer Librado Pastor features the composer speaking of attending music observatory in his youth, beginning to work for Simón on Satan's Blood, then getting into the synth driven Extra-Terrestrial Visitors, talking about creating atmospheres of fear and tension using music, and actually being seduced by his own music during ETV'S screening. He ends by recounting writing and recording the score for The Dirty War in 48-hours. A nice addendum to this is the 8-min A Private Concert From Librado Pastor in which the composer sits down at his Korg keyboard and plays selections from the score of the film. The last of the video extras is the Alternate Pod People Opening Credits. That's not all though, we get a Soundtrack CD Single containing four songs from the film, offering a selection of eerie synth score plus the mind-melting 80's pop-rock song "Rugen Los Motores" sung by actor Ian Sera - you'll have that ear-worm of a song stuck in your head for days! I think that even if you think the film's a bust, or just a lesser curio from Simon's filmography, the Juan Piquer Simón doc is worth picking this up for, as well as the CD soundtrack. The 2-disc BD/CD arrives in a dual-hub black keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork featuring two movie poster illustrations.
Special Features:
- The Simon's Jigsaw - A Journey Into the Universe of Juan Piquer Simón (01:41:23)
- A Weekend In Hell – Interview With Actor Emilio Linder (14:24)
- Composing The Cosmos – Interview With Soundtrack Composer Librado Pastor (19:02)
- A Private Concert From Librado Pastor (8:42)
- Alternate Pod People Opening Credits (2:17)
- BONUS DISC: 4-Song Soundtrack CD Single
If like 'em bad, weird and offbeat this sort of kid-friendly sci-fi creature-in-the-woods baffler should satisfy your schlock-tooth. I didn't much like it myself to be honest but you have got to give up to Severin for coming through with another wild headscratcher from the cinema dustbin and loading it up with extras, their dedication to trash is heroic.
Screenshots from the Severin Films Blu-ray:
Extras:
