Le Météore de la nuit II

Despite its poor reputation, I really wanted to see this sequel that's actually a remake. I'm a big fan of the original It Came from Outer Space. I missed this when it originally aired and these days it's hard to find streaming. Finally I got a copy of an old dvd set that has a bunch of 90s sci-fi tv movies on it. Having just finished the film I can say it's nothing great but also not the compete dud its ratings would suggest. It's a perfectly watchable time-passer. I don't regret watching it.

The cast is nice even if many of the notable character actors that make up the supporting cast aren't given much to work with. Of the main cast, Elizabeth Peña is the best. Brian Kerwin does fine. He's just a little vanilla and the wide-eyed expression does start to remind you of the kazoo kid meme after awhile. The child actor in this is annoying but tolerable when onscreen with Peña. The stock music and poor 90s CG effects are strictly no-budget. The script is nothing special. Not a lot happens in the movie until the final third. Still, I was never really bored which is a testament to the actors I think. They're a mostly likable bunch who did well with what they were given.

The opening was a steal from "Eight-legged Freaks", a film that is everything this one isn't. Stilted and pedestrian are the words that apply - along with others that can't be repeated..! Drifter type returns to his home(?)town, meets up with old friends etc.... the usual annoying kid, single mother,local loudmouth and so on..Bad special effects, alien ship, atmospheric disturbances, (hey, didn't the Director see "Close Encounters"?). Good acting? Good story? Good camera angles? Good cutting? Not here! Do not rent, unless you are sharing the cost and have a lot of beer handy. Do not watch on TV, go and drink a lot of beer instead - you'll enjoy it more!

I've seen this movie more than once. It isn't the greatest scifi flick I've every seen, but it is not a bad movie. The acting is good and the characters are more "real" than most in low budget sci fi. (At least it isn't full of dumb bimbos like so many other low budget scifi.) I especially like Elizabeth Pena. She is a good actress and she does worried single mother as well as any and better than some.

Don't let the nay sayers run you off. See it for yourself and judge it for yourself.

They picked good actors and went through the motions well. If you did not see the original Based on a Ray Bradbury story, it could hold its own as a standard "blob from space" movie.

Basically, something comes from space and holds a small town at bay. You must ask why and how this could happen. Maybe you will still not get a clear answer. However, it is mostly "stay in the car scenes."

You may recognize Elizabeth Peña who plays the mother Ellen Fields. She is well known for major films such as "Jacob's Ladder" (1990) and "Vibes" (1998).

The filming locations may also look familiar: San Gabriel Mountains, California, USA Antelope Valley, California, USA Littlerock, California, USA.

This is a pretty pointless remake. Starting with the opening title shots of the original was a real mistake as it reminds the viewer of what a great little period piece chiller that was. The new version that follows is an exercise in redundancy.

Brian Kerwin plays a 'city boy' photographer who returns to a semi-abandoned desert town populated by a scattering of underdeveloped clichéd stock characters: the lollipop sucking Daby-Doll Lolita, the 'ornery old coot prospector, the crippled vet and his Asian wife, etc...

Kerwin's character witnesses the crashing of 'something' into a hillside and shortly after strange things start to happen as pieces of weird blue rock are scattered around. The temperature starts to rise, all the water in the area vanishes, people start to act weirdly, things explode. Kerwin's character gets in and out of his car more often than is humanly possible in one movie. The film develops no sense of place, no character development, no humour, no tension. Everything that made the Jack Arnold's original a creepy little Cold-war paranoia classic has been abandoned. It just runs through its minimal hoops and then just ends.

The special effects aren't very special - the interior of the ship looks like bits of cling film wrapped round some ropes which were then dangled in front of the camera to frame some of the most uninspired and clumsy wire-work ever put onto the screen. The script is repetitive - everyone says everything at least twice, Kerwin gets to say "let's get out of here" at least three times during the movie, twice in one scene. Loads of things are left unexplained at the end - why do the aliens need all the heat and water for example? - not that anyone watching would care; if the film makers didn't care why should we?

The acting is adequate - better than the script, which at times, has an under-rehearsed improvisational quality, deserves. Though often the actors look like they just want to get the thing over with as quickly as possible - a notable example of this is when Elizabeth Peña registers the briefest, token moment of "frustrated despair hands to face gesture" before following sulking son Stevie outside to watch him do "angry sulky teenager smashing something off a table" gesture.

Continuity errors include the (GB) sticker on the back of Kerwin's jeep appearing and disappearing, a double action of the gas in the exploding car, a towns-person being in two places simultaneously - once in the Alien Stevie's POV shot then immediately afterwards in a reaction shot, Elizabeth Peña appearing to shut a car door twice... you can tell I was gripped can't you? The movie commits that greatest of errors. It's boring.