Alien from L.A.

...the stuff that covered the shelves of local video stores in the old days. I love films like this, more for their value as time-pieces than for their artistic merits.

Kathy Ireland is a hoot (or is that "a squeak"?) playing off her "L.A. Gear" persona, but the sets and costumes really make the film. Imagine a pastiche of every 80's music video, and you've pretty much got the art direction for this film.

Wonderfully, watchably bad.. It's a shame that most people only got to see the cut MST3K version.

Even in her glasses wearing geek mode Kathy Ireland is very easy on the eyes but her acting is not easy to watch. Most of the actors in the film either take it way over the top (beyond "campy fun") or act slightly embarrassed at being there. The effects and soundtrack are nothing special and fairly low budget. The plot line REALLY stretches ones ability to suspend disbelief. Catch this one to laugh at if it comes on a premium movie channel or network Saturday afternoon TV, but DO NOT waist money on this thing.

One worthy mention for trivia purposes is that one of the underground mobsters is played by Deep Roy. Deep is now famous for playing (and doing it well) all the Oompa Loompas in Burton's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

Campy spoof combining elements of 'Journey to the Center of the Earth,' 'Indiana Jones,' exploitation B-movies of the 60's, and apocalyptic science fiction movies of the 80's. Kathy Ireland is so bizarre in the role of an explorer following in the footsteps of her famous father (as in 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' no less) it's like watching a car accident. You just have to watch though you know it's wrong...oh so wrong. (Apparently popular enough to warrant a sequel that actual takes the title of Jules Verne's classic, "Journey to the Center of the Earth." There are many versions with that title but only one features a cameo return by Kathy Ireland.) "Alien from L.A." is what they used to refer to as "Saturday afternoon matinee" or "popcorn movie" and is better than the sequel only because when "Alien" runs out of steam they strip Kathy down to a bikini top to finish out the movie. Nice trick. Worked for me.

Binge watching Jules Verne's adaptations I was about to watch the 1988 version when I noticed it was it was actually a sequel to this odd little film.

Starring the always adorable Kathy Ireland with her baby voice cranked right up and Thom "Return of the Living Dead/Friday 13th" Matthews it's an odd little film that nobody would ever connect to Verne's work.

It tells the story of a nerdy young girl who goes in search of her missing father and finds herself trapped beneath the earth in the legendary city of Atlantis. Trouble is the people there don't believe in the "Above world" and therefore she finds herself an alien in a hostile land.

Clearly not based on Verne's novels we see no giant monsters here, just warring factions and a really strong 80's vibe.

The film has a really critically low rating on IMDB and though I think this is a bad film it's not really "That" bad. Sadly it's structure is awful, the whole thing is ugly as hell, the writing is poor and it doesn't have much going for it.

Certainly niche viewing I'd say its one for Kathy Ireland fans only.

The Good:

Erm.....

The Bad:

Ridiculous levels of overacting

Terribly paced

Not the most visually pleasing film

Many may find Irelands voice grinds after a while

I really like Alien From L.A. Maybe It's because I like Kathy Ireland's sweet little voice? They used to show this on HBO & Showtime in the early 1990's.

Sure, Alien From L.A. is a complete fantasy and way over the top but it has a certain charm to it that i really love. It truly has that Roger Corman B-Movie "cult atmosphere" going for it. Personally i would not change a thing about the movie. It is so much better than similar types of films released in the last few years.

Most people probably don't like this film because it seems so unrealistic. I think that it was really meant to be satirical comedy, and only a limited percentage of viewers will actually "get" it.

Hopefully it will be released on DVD sometime in the near future, as it is rumored to be!