Mysteries from Beyond Earth

Once upon a time, my sister used to work at a mom and pop video rental store (remember those? LOL) and every so often, she'd bring home some old tapes that the store no longer wished to carry. One of these tapes was a little documentary, maybe made for television, called "Mysteries From Beyond Earth". Having always had an interest in the unknown, I took a look at it and since then, it has become one of my favorite productions on the subject of strange. Hosted by Lawrence Dobkin, this lovely documentary gives you a basic look at such subjects like UFOs, Bigfoot, psychic energy, ghosts, ancient aliens, black holes, lost civilizations, even the morals of cloning before it was scientifically possible. Through interviews, you will meet the people who have experienced such things as alien abduction, hauntings, UFO encounters, and even a woman who claims to be a witch. While the movie might be a little dated, it is no less interesting, especially for those who wonder whether or not aliens have visited this planet or whether ghosts and physic energies are real. After all, although its been over thirty years since this movie was made, people are still encountering things that cannot be explained. So, if you're one of those folks who has a passion for the unknown and you like to see old, vintage docs on the subject, check this out. I believe it may even be on you tube.

This was shown on some American channel several years ago as part of its "100% Weird" series of movies. Essentially its an ineptly assembled assortment of various topics related to the "Unexplained" including UFOs, Black Masses, and (I don't remember specifically, but how could it not?) the Loch Ness Monster.

It begins with a quotation of the opening lines of HG Wells' War of the Worlds spoken over what seems to be some footage of the special effects from Plan 9 from Outer Space. Things fail to pick up thereafter.

Typical '70s miscellany of paranormal subject matter: some of it worthwhile, most of it junk, and so hopelessly muddled together that it renders even the halfway interesting stuff pointless. Kinda-sorta based on Ralph Blum's "Beyond Earth: Man's Contact with UFOs," this film steps outside the bounds of the book to embrace a jumble of nonsense from black masses to psychokinesis to the hollow earth theory. A good example of the film's utter indifference to accuracy: narrator Lawrence Dobkin yammering about Tiahuanaco (and its alleged link to Atlantis) over dark, grainy footage of Teotihuacan (i.e., not Tiahuanaco). Folks who have read Blum's book should see "Mysteries from Beyond Earth" for its brief--but interesting--excerpts of Blum's chat with scrupulously honest UFO abductee Charles Hickson. Otherwise, I can't recommend this.

Mildly amusing if you're in the right mood; irritating if you're not. Dobkin wasn't doing himself any favors by appearing on-camera in that ridiculous toupée and ascot.

This film is just ok. It's trying to be a documentary about strange phenomenon on earth, but it comes away looking more goofy than anything else.

First of all, it has some pretty dumb hypotheses about Atlantis. It says that aliens are from Atlantis.?? And that space ships must be from Atlantis, too. Then it suggested that stonehenge and the pyramids and those other strange structures on earth might have been built by Atlantian aliens so that when they're up in their space ships they will have something to look down at from the sky as a way to map where they are.

But the good parts of the movie were the interviews they had with real people who had supposedly gotten abducted by aliens or lived in haunted houses. The people seemed believeable. The scientists, on the other hand, were quite hokey.

For example, the film had some funny before and after alien space ship landing soil shots that didn't really seem that remarkable. And they interviewed this scientist who worked with "auras" and besides the fact that she herself seemed like she was receiting lines and was a little too hyper to be taken seriously, the shots of the auras were so lame! They photographed the tips of people's fingers with this fancy aura camera while the people were kissing. (why the tips of their fingers, I don't know - all it looked like was random circles) then they said to watch how the auras changed and did stuff, but I watched it, and they weren't changing! It was so bad! It was laughably bad!

And funny how the main writer of the film is later "interviewed" about his scientific expertise regarding psychic phemonenon, or something. His interview was so staged, it wasn't even funny.

And THEN the part about devil worshippers was so incredibly awful and stupid! It was so not legit and very staged. It looked like a Halloween party! I think there were even people with face paint on! Then the narrator of the film comes back on the screen and tries to act like he is offended by the devil worshippers by slamming some papers down and it's just really funny and lame.

Lastly, the narrator himself is really quite annoying and not very credible. I found his ideas and stories and emotion hard to take seriously. Especially the sexist language he kept using to try to sound more scientific about "man" and all that lame business. It was very outdated and I believed nothing in the film except the actual people they interviewed who claim to have been abducted. They are the only real part of this whole movie, as far as I'm concerned.

All in all, it's quite fun to pick on this movie, but if you want real facts about strange and unexplained happenings on Earth, this is the wrong thing to watch.

This is a classic 1970's cult film, and therefore must be viewed in that context. Attempting to review the film from a current day perspective is unfair. Viewed from the proper perspective, this film is a wonderful and delightful, and fun adventure into the unknown of UFO's, ghosts, clones, telepathy, Atlantis, ancient astronauts, witchcraft, the Bermuda Triangle and more. This film is an journey into the mysticism that was so prevalent during the 1960's and 1970's. For those who long for a good ride in the "way back" machine, this is your film. People were much less cynical and had a greater zest for mystery and adventure. This film provides that vehicle.