It Came from Somewhere

My first impression was how adorable the actors were, all doing their best to mimic teenagers from those old education films and of course, the scifi genre of the fifties. (I know I am stating the obvious, but what the heck) Yes it is Ed woodian. (Roger Coreman had slightly better production value) My favorite cheesy special effect was the ray gun that distintegrated flesh. When I was a kid and I saw Teenagers from Outer space on TV, I thought it was the coolest movie ever, giant lobsters and all! (I was seven years old) The movie also reminded me of The Invasion of the Saucer Men. Again, small town teenagers saving the earth from cabbage headed martians with their car head lights! And who can forget the crawling hands equiped with eye balls ! ICFS was great fun to watch and I applaud the homage to bad cinema. If only MST3000 were still around!

Well, it ain't the "Lost Skeleton of Cadavra." That one was smart -and- funny.

Some movies are accidentally bad.

Some movies are bad on purpose.

Some movies are bad by design and therefore good.

Some movies lampoon bad movies, and triumph.

Some movies are designed to lampoon bad movies, badly, on purpose, and manage to miss the mark so hard they fall all the way back to accidentally bad.

This movie came from somewhere, all right. Somewhere dank and grainy and crawling with clueless film students, like that weird kid who not only sings the wrong lyrics to every song, but then goes on to unironically make a brain-rot video with the wrong lyrics, on purpose, but instead of being brilliantly funny, it comes off a bit like a commercial jingle for a really cringe local pest-control service.

Things that were over-the-top-stupid might have even hit the mark if done intelligently. Take the flying pie pan saucer, for example: calling for "evasive maneuvers" and then re-using the same scene? Just... why? Why not really yank that thing around, make it seem like the creators were actually in on the joke? Instead we get a dry and "faithful" attempt at an homage that feels like some aliens wanted to make their own "moving picture film" because they knew it was important to the war effort, or something. I wish I could give this a fair shake, but the first 15 minutes were so unrelentingly painful that I just couldn't. Like giving yourself a tonsillectomy with a slotted serving spoon and a rusty mirror.

This is such a fun idea for a movie so it definitely drew my attention. Most modern movies try to bedazzle the audience with special effects and complicated stories and dialogues. "It Came From Somewhere" stands out from the crowd as a very refreshing change of pace. It is filmed in the old 4:3 aspect ratio in black and white. The footage has also been dirtied up to make it look like you are watching an old creature feature from the 1950s. Obviously, to complete the illusion, it is filmed using the typical 1950s filming techniques of cheap sets made with discarded materials, cheesy dialogue and only one or two takes before calling it a wrap.

Now, this style of filming is not for everyone. Objectively, the story makes little sense and, very clearly, some of the models of the UFO could probably have been filmed better. Likewise, occasionally the shots catch filmmakers disappearing off the side or corner of the frame as they didn't get out of the way in time.

If this is all you see in the movie however, you are entirely missing the point. This movie is a faithful tribute to the pioneering works of great directors and visionaries from the classic 1950s creature features. Watching this movie, it is very clear that they were influenced heavily by the works of Roger Corman such as "The Day The World Ended" or "It Conquered The World", Edward Wood's "Plan 9 From Outer Space" or Jack Arnold's "It Came From Outer Space"

When you compare "It came From Somewhere" to these earlier movies that led the charge on modern sci-fi, you will see that the team at Acrostar have written an original story that faithfully reproduces all the little quirks that made these old movies the cult classics they are. Every little wart you see in the movie is a direct nod to previous work of all these sci-fi titans of filmaking from the 1950s. And this is the point when it comes into focus the absolute genius and masterpiece that "It Came From Somewhere" is. These "flaws" were clearly intentional and all written in and carefully filmed and edited to duplicate stylistically those flaws in the original inspiration. It thus is an absolute love letter to the works of Corman et al.

Without spoilers, the basic plot is that an alien spacecraft gets shot down outside a small midwestern town. A group of teenagers decide to investigate and get caught up between an escaped alien monster and the UFO pilots trying to recover it.

Everything seen in the movie is period accurate for the 1950s from the classic cars on the streets, through the costuming to the houses and furniture. The language and idioms used by the teenagers (for the most part played by older actors as was common in the 1950s) is also period appropriate. It is very tongue in cheek of course and very much makes fun of itself.

Although most of the actors do a wonderful job of recreating the feel of a 1950s creature feature, a couple of perfomances are noteworthy. Beth Metcalf plays the trigger happy alien "Quasar" and steals most of the scenes she appears in with her dry, monotone and alien delivery of her lines. One funny nod that had me chuckling was when the actress is seen briefly playing one of the panicked villagers, gets shot by Quasar and then we see Quasar doing a weird double take before moving on to "business as usual". I love little hidden, easily missed, jokes like that and this movie has lots of great little easter eggs if you pay attention.

The other scene stealer was Delilah Hefner who played the younger sister "Mary". Honorable mentions also have to go to Magdalena Conway who played "Patty" and Bill Russell who did a fine job as the narrator "Grimwell".

Also of particular note is the incredible score from Tony Parsons. The music feels exactly like it escaped from the 1950s and enriches the movie in a way that is impossible to put into words. It has to be felt to be understood.

What the team at Acrostar achieved is made even more incredible by the miniscule budget and timeframe it was filmed within. My understanding from chatting with a couple of the cast is that it was filmed in it's entirety over the course of just four days with a total budget of about $4000. That is absolutely insane and a true testament to the incredible film making skills and dedication of the crew.

In summary, this movie is not for everyone. However, if you love the old 1950s sci-fi classics, you will absolutely love this movie. As a movie in it's own right, I rate it as a 7/10 for entertainment purposes. However, as a love letter to all these old movies and tribute to the era, it is absolutely spot on and a work of absolute genius that I would rate 12/10.

It Came From Somewhere is a '50s style science fiction/teen movie. Two alien beings crash land on earth. They are transporting a dangerous creature that gets loose. The alien beings force a group of friends to help them look for the creature. Meanwhile the creature is making the rounds and kills a couple of the townsfolk. One of the alien beings is rather trigger happy, meaning that she enjoys killing. She kills plenty of towns people. The other alien being falls in love with one of the girls in the group, Patty.

It Came From Somewhere is a fun throwback film. It's done in the 1950's style. I liked the old style intros before the film too.

I'm a huge MST3K fan. I love watching old B-movies, love Svengoolie...all of it. It Came From Somewhere is so well done that if I hadn't known it was only made this year I would have believed I actually was watching an old movie. Everything about it, from the classic drive-in ads at the beginning to the "expert" (who kind of reminds me of the guy at the beginning of the old Inner Sanctum movies), to the campy special effects just had that 50s feel. Even the way the actors spoke. That just shows me how talented and dedicated the entire cast and crew were. While this isn't a comedy, I will admit that I did chuckle in a few places, just because some scene was so perfectly spot-on with the movies this paid homage to. It Came From Somewhere truly is everything that is great about 50s sci fi movies.