Something Is Out There

This 3-hour-long made-for-TV movie is actually a thoroughly entertaining sci-fi/horror hybrid. Two cops are on the trail of a ghastly urban serial killer which turns out to be a villainous alien xenomorph creature. A beautiful human female alien, also stuck on earth, is out to hunt it down. Joseph Cortese is the capable lead and Maryam d'Abo pulls her (sexy) weight alongside him. The pacing of the story is a bit off-balanced at times, but the ride remains consequently entertaining. Along the lines of Jack Sholder's "The Hidden" (1987), though a bit more largely scaled, with some great special effects and vintage creature designs by Rick Baker.

Detectives Jack Breslin (Joe Cortese) and Frank Dileo (George Dzundza) are investigating a serial-killer, who slaughters his victims and removes their internal organs. While in the crime scene, Jack notices the constant presence of a beautiful young woman, Ta'Ra (Maryam d'Abo). He finds her and is convinced that she is a doctor from a prison in the outer space. She explains that the murderer is a powerful alien, who is able to change his appearance, that escaped from prison, and she is chasing him. They join forces trying to eliminate the menace to planet Earth. "Something Is Out There" is a good sci-fi B-movie, using a similar storyline of "The Hidden" (1987). The story mixes crime, horror, sci-fi and action, and has in the beauty of the British Maryam d'Abo one of its greatest attraction. There are some good lines, and the movie is a good entertainment. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Criatura Infernal" ("Infernal Creature")

Recently was on Encore again. Vintage Maryam D'Abo. Why the owners refuse to release this on DVD given the large cult following I will never know. Some years ago I suggested another movie on DVD. The studio didn't think there would ever be a market for it. They have made more on the DVD than they made in the theaters by several times. (A Kelsey Grammar film)

Something is out there was released in Australia on a rather pathetic VHS tape. This film deserves digital re-mastering and the DVD treatment. This made for NBC mini-series was outstanding. The later series...

The movie could have been better if it had been done as a theatrical release instead of TV. D'Abo is a much better actress than she ever gets credit for.

Whoever needs to get them to release this film for serious collectors.

Its a shame this piece of 80's goodness went virtually unnoticed. You had a very sexy alien, a hard jawed and jaded cop, and a shapeshifting alien all brought together to do battle in Los Angeles. Sure, other movies have had similar plotlines but what set Something is Out There apart from the overall premise, was that the characters had weight to match their looks and agenda. Its not enough that the jaded cop is uninterested of all the grisly murders going on in LA, it turns out that they are caused by one alien trying to assimilate into a lifeform suitable for earth, but he doesn't believe in aliens. Until, he meets Ta'ra who is the sole survivor of her crew, duty bound to stop the alien unwitingly released on Earth. And before that happend she was a simple med tech on board her prison ship, interested in doing her job well, the occasional romantic interlude with a male crew member and catching up on the captured broadcast of "Crime Story". Suddenly their lives intertwine into a life or death battle with the unstoppable. It did well enough to become a series and most of the episodes were really decent, but the demographics just weren't there and most viewers probably were turned off that the hunt to stop the orignal alien never was completed. SciFi channel sometimes airs this series but it deserves better, at least a run on home video if not DVD.

I heard my parents talking about this TV movie that they felt was a little too violent and scary to have been shown on national TV. According to them, it would have been better for cable. That TV movie was 'Something is Out There'. They had taped it so they could watch some dumb sitcom instead. I felt a nagging urge to see what it was they were talking about.

Man were they ever right. Not only was it really gory and freaky to boot, but it was one of the coolest TV films I've ever seen. You've got the mysterious killer mutilating NY residents, the hot chick who claims to be from from outer space, the drunk/loser detective, and one of the nastiest villains to ever grace the small screen.

#1, I was taken for a loop. I thought the killer was jsut an ordinary psycho who loved to eviscerate joggers... but when it turns out to be an psychopathic alien fugitive that can disguise itself as anyone it wants, I was put into a mild state of shock.

#2, For a TV film, the FX are awesome (for the time period). This was before the computer FX revolution, so they look 'real'. The alien villain is actually a very sweet looking puppet that is frighteningly insectiod-like.

#3, The characters are fleshed out completely making the viewer actually care about them. The acting is impressive as well (especially the luscious

Maryam d'Abo).

#4, Man is this thing sick. I have to give credit to the director, he's got balls. People get ripped apart from the inside out by the alien constantly in this flick. Not only that, but we get some nasty views of the alien's early victims that it was studying, plus some gross after the fact corpses.

In the end, this is probably one of my favorite TV movies... or movies period. Where is this on DVD dammit! It was actually turned into a short lived television series featuring the same characters and actors, but the cool alien killer was nowhere to be found, thus making it pretty worthless.

If it's ever shown on TV again, watch it... you won't regret it!