Der Vampir aus dem All

'Not of This Earth' is a quickly made, low budget, R rated, sci-fi movie. It's made very much in the style of the B movies of the 50s and 60s except for the R rating. The R rating comes from several scenes of topless women and some sexual activity. The star of the film is Traci Lords in her first role in a non-porno film. It is also supposedly the last time she appears topless in any film. I'm sure this is one of the big attractions of the movie to a lot of viewers. She did surprise me though by her acting. It really wasn't bad. There are several scenes that were put in the film of other topless, big breasted actresses. These scenes weren't really necessary to the plot but I doubt that many of the male viewers will voice an objection to them. At the beginning of the film while showing the opening credits, there are a lot of exciting scenes shown quickly. These are not in the movie. Don't expect to see them again. Although this is not made clear or pointed out, they are from other films. It still is an interesting and fun movie and has some pretty good scenes of it's own. The film has plenty of mistakes and bloopers to look for that were left in due to the low budget. I saw this on a DVD that also had a version with commentary going through the film with you. I found it very interesting and recommend that you watch this commentary version after watching the movie. 'Not of This Earth' is a fun movie that combines some light comedy, horror and sci-fi. The movie is not meant to be taken too seriously. It's best viewed by a non critical eye with the intent of just having a good time. This can be a really enjoyable and fun modern B movie if watched in the right frame of mind.

Never trust movies that show clips and fragments of exciting gory killings and slimy monster action during the opening credits. It certainly won't mean that you're about to witness this, or any other exhilarating gore, footage in the main feature. This is just another shameless gimmicky trick of the legendary B-movie producer Roger Corman to promote his other work. The credits contain footage of classic Corman produced trash, like "Humanoids from the Deep" and "Forbidden World", but furthermore there's no added value to it. "Not of this Earth", the first of two remakes of Roger Corman's own late 50's quickie with the same title, is a fairly charming Sci-Fi flick that completely exploits (and I'm very grateful for it) the ravishing body curves of former adult film star Traci Lords. Sleazy perverts as they are; producers Roger Corman and director Jim Wynorski grab every possible opportunity to slide the camera down Mrs. Lords' tantalizing body and obviously there are numerous completely gratuitous nudity sequences of herself as well as of others voluptuous soft-core starlets like Rebecca LeBeau, Roxanne Kernohan and Ava Cadell. Traci stars as a lurid private nurse giving blood transfusions to the mysteriously behaving Mr. Johnson. He turns out to be an alien scout on a mission to collect earthly beings – preferably prostitutes and stripper girls with massive racks – and send their blood through to another dimension in five different phases, or something like that. Admittedly I wasn't continuously paying full attention to the plot, but I blame Traci Lords' revealing outfits for that. "Not of this Earth" is an insignificant 80's Sci-Fi film, but nonetheless charming and cheesy enough to entertain fans of the genre.

I rented this out of curiosity to see how they remade the 1957 version which I saw several times as a youngster. The remake was fun to watch even though there is quite a bit of T & A which has very little to do with the plot. They retained much of what I remember from the original including a lot of the dialog, Johnson driving a 50's boat-tail Cadillac, his 5-phase mission, the metal case where Johnson first put the blood of his victims, Nadine's boyfriend being a policeman, and, of course, the ending. One notable omission was that the doctor wasn't killed.

It would be great if the original could be successfully transferred to DVD.

This film is the work of the auteur Wynorski who has a distinctive visual style that is a favorite of the academy. Eye Candy Hall of Fame inductee Traci Lords plays a live-in nurse to an eccentric millionaire with a rare blood disorder. However, this recluse is actually an alien scientist intent on saving his dying planet by harvesting human blood. It is up to our heroine to uncover the truth and save mankind while wearing a bikini. Ms. Lords is the first inductee to be honored for actually wearing something (that wonderful blue bikini). This must cap Ms. Lords film career; she began as a Porn star legend, became of legal drinking age, quit that biz, and became a B-movie actress. The auteur Wynorski does have two brief au naturel scenes of Ms. Lords but we still harp on that bikini. In the Wynorski style he does provide some other actresses to show their ample talents such as Becky LeBeau, Roxanne Kernohan, and Ava Cadell. While not a classic, it does have a few "eye candy" moments worthy of our mention.

Before you decide whether or not you want to watch this movie, consider the following questions: Do I want to see lots of freaky aliens and spectacular special effects? Do I want to see lots of half-naked women? If your answer to either of these questions is, yes, then you may be disappointed. The weird aliens and gory scenes we see during the opening credits aren't included in the story and, overall, the special effects are mediocre compared to what you would see in a good sci-fi blockbuster. The story's main appeal is suspense and intrigue. For a bonus, we get a generous look at voluptuous Traci Lords in a swimsuit.

The movie begins when an alien arrives on Earth and kills two young lovers in a secluded place. After this brief introduction to the story, we then see the credits. Set to eerie music, we get glimpses of horrible looking aliens and young terrorized women running, being raped, and giving unnatural birth to hideous creatures. Exactly the kind of thing I DID NOT WANT TO SEE! Perhaps Roger Corman found this montage to be artistic, but all he did was tell me that I was watching another low-budget science fiction-horror flick with a thoughtless plot, bad acting, bogus special effects, and disgusting gore. Fortunately, these scenes seem to have been lifted from earlier works and have no connection whatsoever with the actual story.

The more credible story that Corman tells is one of a very human looking alien with a strange disease, who relies on blood transfusions to remain alive. His intriguing problem is the main reason why I watched the film to the end. Unfortunately, Corman tried too hard to provide us with gratuitous glimpses of young women in various states of undress.

It works well when the model is Traci Lords, who plays the role of a young nurse, Nadine Story, and is quite stunning in a swimsuit. Her natural looking breasts were a welcome contrast to the "plastic" enhancements that have become a staple of modern B-movies. I'm relieved that the movie was made 20 years ago, a time before breast jobs had become "over inflated".

Even though sexy women are an important attraction, I still don't want them presented in a clumsy fashion. Corman's "excuse" for revealing Traci's curvaceous body is the simple fact that in the context of the story they are in the middle of a heat wave, and Nadine had a swimming pool in the house that she was staying in. Fair enough, given that Traci acts well enough to play a leading role in a B movie, but Corman doesn't stop there. He shows us more and more half-dressed women, often for entirely pointless reasons, who aren't nearly as good looking as Traci.

If you like Traci, and I expect you will, you have plenty of her earlier porn movies to choose from, which are doubtless more revealing. If, on the other hand, you want to see some skin, but you find endless scenes of orgies to be boring at best and at worst disgusting, like myself you're stuck trying to find a B-movie with good looking young models who act reasonably well and are cast in story that is at the very least plausible. In which case this movie is OK, but could have been better.