The Alien Factor

I'm the "Dan White" in the credits as "Vance". It was a walk-on, one-line, bit part. Me and "Ted" found one of the bodies and drove it up to "Doc Ruth's" place. The two-tone blue car was mine. Doc Ruth's place was the farmhouse on a horse farm where my sister then boarded her horses. It was a blast to help make the film. I wish it had not turned out as campy as it did. It was not meant to. But it did make it onto Movie Macabre (Elvira's show) and I did get a big smile from her when I met her at an Auto Show in DC and asked if she remembered the film. She said that she did.

Of all the crappy sci-fi movies I've picked up and rented, this one stuck a little longer than the rest. It's pretty good for being a low budget film whose cast and crew were one and the same. It's pretty original, too. Kind of weird but it's worth a look.

I know this movie well since I am Sheriff Cinder. Some of the negative comments I've seen used to really get to me. But that was when I was a lot closer to the project. After all, that was almost 25 years ago. I find them quite accurate and funny now. It is a fun film to watch with a bunch of friends (if you're into this genre). Believe it or not, I can't get my hands on any good copy of this movie. By the way, I just ran across some of the original paste-up boards, for Cinemagic Magazine, that Don Dohler (director) and I use to publish before and during the time we made The Alien Factor. What a kick it was to look over that stuff. If you haven't seen this film, get your hands on it and let IMDb know what you think!

The Alien Factor is a halfway decent low budget monster movie, following a small Maryland town plunged into chaos when several creatures intended for an intergalactic zoo are accidentally released. The film features low budget but surprisingly effective monsters, but it is hampered by stilted dialogue and wooden acting.

The main thing The Alien Factor has going for it is its monster costumes. Although all of the monsters - with one exception - are obviously guys in suits, the suits themselves aren't that bad looking. Furthermore, the monster designs are creative and not just cookie cutter creatures you've seen a thousand times. The insectoid alien was especially impressive.

However, good creature effects alone do not a great monster movie make. The film suffers from a weak script with awkward-sounding dialogue. The script never focuses on a single protagonist, weakening the overall plot. Moreover, the twist ending is telegraphed well in advanced. Still, this is a good monster movie for the undemanding or a boring afternoon.

Director Don Dohler's first opus, THE ALIEN FACTOR, is a wonder of low-low-oh-so-low-budget filmmaking.

When an extraterrestrial craft crashes to Earth, it unleashes a cargo of deadly creatures to prey upon the unsuspecting denizens of a rural town.

Of course, the acting and dialogue aren't Oscar-worthy, or even Oscar Meyer wiener-worthy, but who cares? It's all about the monsters, not the puny humans anyway! Sets? Well, bed sheets for morgue walls and a laundry room serving as the Sheriff's office work just fine! Hair? Who pays attention enough to notice the huge differences -short-long-short- in any character's hair length from one scene to the next?

Nope, this movie is strictly for monster fans, and these hand-made creations are just plain eye-popping! There's a bug man, a giant satyr / go-rilla man, and a burnt lasagna man! There's even a stop-motion lizard beast! This is cheeeze as art!

EXTRA POINTS FOR: #1- The trio of friends who look as though Charles Manson, Roger Daltrey, and Eric Clapton (from his early CREAM days) decided to hang out together! #2- The bar band and their two semi-awake, female fans! #3- The Sheriff (Tom Griffith), who proves that L.Q. Jones could have played McCloud! #4- Aunt Ruth and intergalactic superstar, George Stover!

Watch this immediately!...