It Came from Somewhere was a little gem that took its audience back to the low budget films of the 1950's. Everything from its 4:3 ratio, film imperfections, bad acting (on purpose) and bad effects, it worked cause it succeeded on what it sent out to do, pay homage to cheesy B sci-fi films of the 50's. Unfortunately, its sequel got lost along the way.
They Came Back from Somewhere loses some of the originals charm by moving more into a sometimes silly comedy, which at times works, like the over the top Supreme Leader (Bill Russell), how two new characters walk and a few other scenes that had me laughing out loud. Then there are scenes, interior spaceship scenes in particular, that had me rolling my eyes and asking, why? There are glimpses of what made the first one special sprinkled throughout the film but not enough of it.
The plot is straightforward. Luma (Jake Yanko) is resurrected by his mother (Ann Myrna) and returns to Earth to find his love, Patty (Magdalena Conway) who is mourning the loss of her true love. Quasar (Beth Metcalf), Starfire (Miranda Kilpatrick) and Nova (Mia Katz) are sent to eliminate Luma. Oh, and they bring another creature to create havoc on the town. Along the way they are pursued by government agents Jack and Daniels (clever) played by Wes Melton and Dave Krostal. For me, those two characters were the highlight of the film.
The cast from the first film returns, minus a character or two, and do an admirable job with the script they had to work with, which given writer Steve Hermann's resume, is his weakest to date.
They Came Back from Somewhere is not a bad film and my major gripe is that I wished they would have stuck to the same formula that made the first one a treat to watch where the humor was unintentional while still giving love to a bygone era of bad films.
5/10.
