Beyond the Rising Moon

Watching this on Netflix streaming, within ten minutes I could tell that this film is exactly what young filmmakers should be watching to see what can be done with very little. Excellent because People today have forgotten what "suspension of disbelief" really means. It has become code for accepting the unacceptable. Instead, what it really means is allowing the story itself to shine through limitations or handicaps. The story here shines to an extent, but it is really the genuine talent that produced this film that remains a worthy object of attention.

It looks older than it is, mostly due to the film stock, and maybe that adds to the appeal.

Note, from the beginning, that I gave this film an "8". That's because it was shot on a shoestring budget and limited resources by a guy who took it seriously and worked hard on it. Low-buck effort it may be, but it used that tiny budget to best effect, and the result IS a nicely done piece of sci-fi that, although technically dated today, will still hold up well if you overlook the fact that CGI, which is second-nature today, was something which this film did not have the advantage of enjoying.

Most of the F/X filming was done with miniatures, and I mean miniatures, along with stop-motion film work to depict the characters on "large" sets which the production simply did not have, which DID come off pretty well when you consider the limitations they were working with. Some of the F/X models of vessels were hardly larger than a human hand. Other models/sets were assembled from carefully selected ordinary consumer hardware and old military/NASA surplus items that were arranged and configured to good effect.

It was a fine effort that actually does have a decent story line that makes it interesting to watch, particularly considering that it was such a low budget film where innovation, hard work, and dedication helped to make up for the lack of Star Wars style F/X and major studio facilities, with much of this film having been shot in farmland not very far from where I live.

I had a chance to meet and speak with the director/writer at an expo/screening here in town, and he talked about many of the obstacles he and the crew had to overcome while making this film, particularly with doing the sets and F/X, interesting stuff and all in all an enlightening lecture for independent movie makers and/or anyone involved with film.

This film doesn't show up often, but when it does, you should take a look. It's made the way movies used to be made before current day standards turned many small film maker's dreams and labors of love into multi-million buck big-wheel efforts glitzed with fla$h and "kewl 'splosions an' stuff". This film is not too far removed from being a bit of an icon of how it used to be done... with some decent visuals combined with an interesting story.

I applaud it not because it's a great film, but because it turned out as well as it did with such a small amount of resources to work with. I thought enough of it to seek out and purchase a copy on video, took a while but it was out there. Check it out, and give credit where it's due.

I saw this on TV as Outerworld. The special effects seem dated, but were actually decent for a 1987 low-budget movie. The story involves an "artificial human" engineered for "corporate warfare" including stealing, killing and seducing. However, Pentan (Tracy Davis) decides she is tired of killing for the corporation's profit, and wants to be free. She obtains information very important to her employer, but doesn't turn it over. The rest would be spoilers.

This was apparently Ms. Davis' first big role, and she was apparently out of the business eight years later. She is well-suited for this character, and has a striking appearance, in a good way. Later roles were as "sales clerk" and "store manager" which is too bad; I would have enjoyed seeing her in something substantial.

I happen to like miniature F/X when done well and while this movie sort of tips its hand that you're looking at miniatures, I liked the overall visual feel. I think some of the F/X were probably handled with very early CG mixed in (if anyone knows I'd be interested to know). There are some decent "dog fights" between the spaceships and a few good action sequences.

Overall, where the movie's lower budget showed through in my mind, was with the audio and acting. The one thing that can'e be chalked up to it having been done over 20 years ago is the acting. At times it just screams "B-movie!", but as another reviewer said, that adds to the charm. If you like older sci-fi and movies with their own stylized atmosphere, you'll probably enjoy this film.

Pentan (Tracy Davis) is a genetically-modified, lab-grown assassin working for one of the mega-corporations that rule the known galaxy a hundred years from now. When an alien artifact is discovered on a distant world, she goes rogue to try and secure it for her own and try to win her freedom. Also featuring a bunch of people you've never heard of.

This film was made on a shoestring independently by people who seem to have really cared about it. Visually it lifts a lot of its style from Blade Runner and Dune, while the script borrows heavily from the works of William Gibson and Frederik Pohl. The extensive miniature work is both laudable and laughable, and it has a certain charm. It's a shame that the pacing and the performances couldn't have been better, though. Apparently this was re-released in the mid-00's under the title Outerworld with extensive editing and effects work being replaced with CGI, to the film's detriment. That's only what I've read though, as I haven't seen that newer version, nor am I inclined to.