Alien Factor 2: The Alien Rampage

Director Don Dohler's frenzied follow-up to his brilliantly hokey ALIEN FACTOR is another example of ultra-low budget filmmaking done right.

The cyborg creature is well-realized and somewhat menacing in a rubber monster sort of way. There's a high body count, since the hideous marauder traps an entire town in its forcefield, leaving no one able to escape its death ray!

ALIEN FACTOR 2: THE ALIEN RAMPAGE is a worthy sequel that stands on its own inexpensive -yet fun- merit...

Alien Factor 2: The Alien Rampage (2001)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Disappointing sequel has the FBI and a small town sheriff investigating some strange activities and before long they realize they're dealing with a deadly alien.

Director Don Dohler made THE ALIEN FACTOR in 1978 and somewhat remade it in 1982 as NIGHTBEAST. I found both of those movies to be a lot of fun because the director manages to have a nice throwback to the 1950's drive-in era but he mixed in sex, gore and nudity. Twenty-three years after that original film he returned with this sequel but sadly the charm has pretty much warn off and you're left with a rather boring movie.

I must say that on a technical level this here is probably the best film I've seen from the director. The film was obviously shot with a very low-budget but I thought the look was quite professional and there's no question that it was technically well-made for what it was. The problem was the fact that there just wasn't anything fun going on. The two films I previously mentioned at least gave us decent monsters as well as some very good gore scenes but that's not the case here. The monster looks extremely bad and I'd argue that the death scenes were boring and not very creative.

The film has the bad performances that you'd expect but these here really weren't a major issue. The budget allowed for some cheap special effects but they certainly weren't interesting enough to draw you into the picture and it's really too bad that they got away from what made the original work so well.

I'd have to say that, out of all Don Dohler films, this one is the most techno-advanced! It just goes to show that using CGI, good miniatures and some good pyro effects, you can make a quality film on a low-budget.

Story-wise, it could have been better, but hey, it's sci-fi fun! THe creature or cyborg, was the weakest part. The suit should have had more skin texture and the mouth should have had drool. Other than that, good low (or no) budget fun for all!

I especially liked the shots of the ship fly-bys and the lavish forest set. The ship corridor was really nicely done also!

Baltimore's own Don Dohler has been crankin' em out since the late seventies beginning with THE ALIEN FACTOR. In 2001, Dohler finally answered his legion of fans (all 10 of 'em)and filmed ALIEN FACTOR 2:ALIEN RAMPAGE. And while I must admit that Dohler has improved a little in his film-making technique, he is still hampered by micro budgets which especially show during the special-effects scenes.

As usual,the acting in this film ranges from decent to strictly amateur. A special nod goes to actress Ann Firths way over the top performance as an elderly bag lady;it borders on caricature.

But throw in a neat monster,cheesy special-effects plus a- let's make a movie, gang!-atmosphere and you have a new millennium spin on the old Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland films of the 1940's where a group of friends put on a show in the barn for the local townsfolk.

Amateurish,yes. Good? Not hardly. In fact, I wouldn't want to watch ALIEN FACTOR 2 again anytime soon. But in it's own homemade, shot in the backyard way, it's rather cute and endearing. A cinematic version of The Little Engine That Could.

This unrelated sequel to Don Dohler's sci-fi/horror schlock "The Alien Factor" features an alien invader,who traps an entire town within it's time-warping forcefield.The local police and FBI agents try to stop the killing spree."Alien Factor 2:The Alien Rampage" is an ultra low-budget horror movie with pretty high bodycount and a little bit of blood.The action is fast paced,the special effects are solid and the rubber suit of an alien looks great.The cast is made up of some old friends of sadly deceased Baltimore film-maker Don Dohler including George Stover and Anne Frith.If you are a fan of "The Nightbeast" or "The Galaxy Invader" you can't go wrong with this vastly entertaining cheapie.7 out of 10.