Blood Suckers from Outer Space

Blood Suckers from Outer Space is listed on IMDb as a comedy/horror. If it was a comedy, then it would be funny, right? Well it's not. And if it was a horror, then it would be scary, yes? Nope, not this sucker. The best description I can come up for this low budget oddity is 'wacky', the makers chucking in everything they can think of regardless of how dumb it is. It's another one of those inexplicably strange movies that seemed to proliferate in the '80s, but have since disappeared into obscurity, only to be seen by those who actively seek out z-grade trash.

Written and directed by Glen Coburn, the film sees an energy field from outer space causing problems for the people of a Texan farming community. Manifesting itself as a strong gust of wind, the extraterrestrial force causes massive internal haemorrhaging before reanimating the corpse. Those affected go on to attack the living. Investigating the phenomenon is reporter Jeff Rhodes (Thom Meyers), who is accompanied by Julie (Laura Ellis), the pretty woman who gives him a lift when he has car trouble.

The craziness that ensues includes a group of scientists (one of whom wears enormous spectacles) conversing with a corpse strapped to a gurney (reminiscent of the following year's far superior Return of the Living Dead), Julie offering to share the tank of nitrous oxide in the back seat of her car with Jeff, a bizarre argument between General Sanders (Dennis Letts) and the guard at the gate of top secret lab Research City, a janitor called Norman (Big John Brigham) who says the word 'weird' a lot, an indoor sex scene shot entirely from outside the house, a woman screaming hysterically when the film's title is mentioned, a scene in which America's president has a blonde dolly bird perched on his knee (in hindsight, perhaps not that ridiculous), and a couple of meta-jokes (such as when one character comments on the film's scary incidental music).

As far as the 'horror' is concerned, make up for the 'zombies' comprises of a coat of light blue paint (that ends at the neckline) and some darker blue lines for veins, which is far from convincing, but what budget was saved on the look of the undead was at least spent on a few semi-decent gore effects, including a severed arm, a fun decapitation, and the liberal splashing of fake blood whenever someone haemorrhages.

The ending -- once again eerily similar to Return of the Living Dead -- sees General Sanders dropping a nuclear bomb to solve the problem, although he is 60 miles off-target, allowing the zombies to go about their business.

I think there's one thing that a guy who reviewed this before me didn't realize -- this wasn't supposed to be a serious film. At least, I hope it wasn't supposed to be a serious film...

I'm sorry if I'm evil for saying this, but I *LOVED* this movie. There were so many bad things about it: the actors were horrid, a lot of things didn't make any sense (like how nitrous oxide did *NOTHING* to the main character), the music itself and the fact that none of the four cameras actually moved come to mind. And yes, I believe it was intentionally supposed to be humorous. But still, it's a zombie movie, and you can't expect zombie movies to be serious masterpieces.

If you're one of those people who enjoys quoting bad films, seeing obviously fake blood and/or gore or you just have a 'different' sense of humour, pick up 'Blood Suckers from Outer Space' if you can find it -- you'll probably enjoy it. But if you are a straight on serious zombie freak, pass it over -- you'll hate it.

From the blood-spewing opening, to the incredible theme song, to..., well, everything else, BLOOD SUCKERS FROM OUTER SPACE is an ultra-low-budget spectacular!

Jeff Rhodes (Thom Meyers) is a small town reporter investigating a series of strange deaths. He soon becomes entangled in a zombie onslaught, brought on by extraterrestrial means. When a group of idiot scientist and the military get involved, things go from bad to worse.

If you enjoy movies made entirely of cheeeze byproducts, you'll be in ecstasy! BSFOS makes the best of its nonexistent budget. It features: Sinfully bad "acting", ludicrous dialogue, and the world's most insane, house-destroying love scene!

PLUS: The beautiful, banjo-enhanced fight to the death sequence!

AND: Nothing can possibly prepare you for the headless farmer dance routine! Nothing!

Gorehounds are guaranteed a gloriously gushy good time!

Give this juicy gem a try, and fun will surely follow!...

The question you have to ask yourself is this: how much slack are you willing to cut this? You have to be aware that this is like an amateur hour kind of thing. I don't mean this necessarily in a bad way. We all have different tastes, some like big budget extravaganzas, others like movies that seem to have been made by a couple of friends.

Having said that, you can tell by the humor not much time went into the script. Maybe even every other idea that sounded good to whoever was responsible for it got thrown it - maybe some of the so called actors contributed. Again, all a matter of taste. No pun intended - though I will assume you are not into human flesh.

Jokes aside, the movie knows what it is and everyone involved probably had a hoot and a blast making it. Doesn't mean you will have too ... but you might.

Hilarious "so-bad-it's-brilliant" amateur 80's horror with a stupendously outrageous storyline, delightfully atrocious acting performances, totally retarded dialogs ("I'm not going anywhere. Does that mean you're going nowhere?" or "This is the greatest medical discovery since cancer") and masterful tacky effects. But the absolute greatest aspect about "Blood Suckers from Outer Space" is undoubtedly the gigantic amount of nonsensical "WTF"-moments in the script. There's a young couple inhaling gas in a car, a completely random screaming interlude, a rough sex sequence filmed from outside the house, crazy bearded janitors spotting "weirdoes" everywhere and that sort of things! There's this wind – yes, WIND – that turns people into bloodsucking zombies. Absolutely nothing indicates that this wind comes from outer space (is that even possible?) but it does sound catchy as a horror title, doesn't it? The setting is this small Texan town where the people couldn't be more redneck-like even if they tried. Even when these farmers are turned into zombies, they still talk and behave like inbred hillbillies. Understandably, the debut feature of Glen Coburn (who?) is quite uneven and silly. "Bloodsuckers …" is sometimes intended as a parody and sometimes seemingly trying to be an ambitious B-movie. The intentional bits of comedy are often painfully embarrassing, but the clumsy execution of the film is genuinely entertaining. This is a totally incoherent product of the cheesy 80's, with demented situations and messed up characters, that actually belongs more in the category of rancid 70's exploitation. Probably best watched with a couple of friends whilst intoxicated and make sure to always keep one finger on the rewind button in order to re-watch all the crazy little details.