Review of Los extraterrestres (1983) by Alex C — 12 Oct 2011

Los Nuevos Extraterrestres (or Pod People, or The Unearthling) is stupid, but an entertaining stupid. The dubbing is terrible, but I liked the alien character and actually found him kinda cute.

Pod People is basically an attempt to make "E.T." into a horror movie, with an alien crash landing on Earth. It lays a bunch of eggs that all but one are destroyed by an unneeded extra. The last egg is taken home by Tommy, a boy living with his abusive aunt and uncle in the middle of nowhere. He names the baby alien Trumpy, officially the best name you can give to an alien, and teaches it things a human kid would find important while its enraged mother kills multiple people looking for its offspring.

The human actors are terrible in this movie, maybe not Ed Wood Jr. bad, but they're still awful. The film can't decide to be a horror film or a whimsical kids' film. The effects are decent for a film of its budget, but that doesn't amount to anything. It's not extremely interesting, and seems to run too long for it's own good. The only thing that makes this movie somewhat tolerable is Trumpy and the kitten, the best actors in this movie.

If you want to check out this movie, check out the MST3K riff of this, since it's a ton better than this movie. It's a stupid movie through and through, but it is sort of entertaining in its odd way. Most will dislike this film, but if you're into movies like "The Unearthly", "Manos: Hands of Fate", and "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" you'll probably enjoy this film. (Real rating: *shrug* I don't know. Banana.).