Incontri stellari

Jennifer has come to a small New Mexico town to set up geological monitoring equipment for her father's organization. Some of the townspeople find her behavior suspicious. And she gets attacked several times by a vicious but mysterious dog. Several ranchers have lost cattle that were not only killed but mutilated, and cults or perhaps aliens are blamed because there are no flies or anything.

Dr. Kramer, Jennifer's father, comes to the town wanting to know more about what is going on. The ranchers, including the independent and stubborn Walt, resent people who know nothing about cattle butting into the situation. Meanwhile, Deputy Wayne seems to like Jennifer.

Later, people are found mutilated as well as cattle. The first time it happens, a weird looking man shows up carrying what looks like the light sabers from the 'Star Wars' movies, only it is held in the middle.

Shepherd did a good job as an actress here, but mostly she just looked beautiful. I'm used to seeing her look like, say, Martha Stewart these days. Raymond Burr seemed like Perry Mason at times, but in other scenes he and all the other actors seemed like they were reading their lines. I'm thinking particularly of a scene back at his headquarters where the scientists were explaining their theories.

I didn't find this movie particularly scary, except when the dog was on screen, and in scenes close to the end. That's okay because I don't like scary. The violence was not all that bad, though we did see blood. The special effects were not that great, though we got to see what looked like a portal into another dimension several times. It looked like the kind of modern art people often hate if they want realism. It was pretty to look at, anyway--sort of like a purple 'black hole'.

The ending was weird but satisfying in a way, though I couldn't help but feel someone cheated because they couldn't find their way out of the mess they had gotten into.

I've seen better mysteries.

This movie is one of those obscure films that most people in the world probably have never seen and probably should not bother trying to find unless they like to laugh at poor cinema. It is akin to the film Laserblast, only that one is more well known due to the fact it was played more back in the day and would later become riffed on the cult television show Mystery Science Theater 3000. This one, too, could have been on that show and made a rather good episode as it is just ripe for the riffing! Instead, it became a film most have never seen or heard of even though there are several decent actors in this one including Jean Michael Vincent, Raymond Burr, Martin Landeau and Cybil Shepard. However, they could not make up for the fact that this movie seems to almost have not discernible plot...

The story, what little there is, starts out with two kids and a prospector encountering strange lights in the sky and they are seemingly imbued with something or another. The little girl was just passing through, but the little boy lived in town. Years later, they are all grown up and in the town where the encounter took place strange occurrences have happened as cows have been mutilated. The boy is now a deputy and drinking beer while pursuing annoying young folk driving while the girl now works for her dad's vague institute that seems to be exploring space and possible aliens, but are not experts on cow mutilations. Well the prospector is now wielding a lightsaber and carving up cows for some purpose and soon the former kids will have to confront him!

The film seems like it was trying to do both Star Wars and Close Encounters with a touch of horror thrown into the mix. It could've worked, but it takes itself way too seriously. They needed more of the horror element as watching drunk deputy and pretty new girl in town interact throughout the movie got very tiresome. So instead of being entertaining like those two movies, it is only really entertaining as a film to be made fun of as you are watching it unfold.

THE RETURN stars Cybill Shepherd and Jan Michael-Vincent as adults who meet again, years after a childhood incident involving extraterrestrial activity. Jennifer (Shepherd) is now a scientist, and Wayne (Jan-Michael Vincent) is a lawman who enjoys shooting car stereos. Events lead the duo to remember what happened to them that fateful night.

Jennifer's dad (Raymond Burr) arrives in town, pontificating furiously due to a local cattle mutilation epidemic. Enter rancher / hot head, Walt (Neville Brand), who yells a lot in a gruff voice. This man definitely knows his cows!

Simultaneously, the sheriff (Martin Landau) is on the case, while trying to figure out how to dunk doughnuts in a can of beer. Could alien mischief be behind all this? Can Waynifer figure things out, before the sheriff dunks his first doughnut? And, what about the peculiar prospector, his mini- light saber, and his devil dog? And, why does he have a black hole in his cave? Annnd, just why did Wayne drive his motorcycle through that window, in slow-motion? Was Mr. Vincent symbolically recreating his final scene from WHITE LINE FEVER?

Regardless, this is one hilariously funny movie, and you will believe! In aliens? No, in the power of love, doughnuts, light sabers, Raymond Burr, and the ability to float elegantly in black holes!...

I had actually never heard about this sci-fi thriller titled "The Return" from 1980. I stumbled upon the movie by random chance here in 2023, and while I am not overly keen on sci-fi movies in general, then I still opted to watch "The Return", as I sat it had Cybill Shepherd and Jan-Michael Vincent on the cast list.

Writers Ken Wheat, Jim Wheat and Curtis Burch didn't exactly manage to put together an overwhelmingly interesting or entertaining script for the movie. I was rather bored throughout the 91 minutes that the movie trotted on for; especially since everything felt random and didn't have much of any red thread to.

The acting performances in the movie were fair enough. Nothing grand, though.

The special effects in "The Return" were nothing spectacular. There were some effects, and some actually played out well enough, while others were dubious at best.

I am sure that die-hard sci-fi fans could get a kick out of watching "The Return". But me, as a casual viewer, didn't find much enjoyment in director Greydon Clark's 1980 movie.

My rating of "The Return" lands on a three out of ten stars.

" The Return" views like a puzzle that is impossible to solve. It features some intriguing actors including, Neville Brand, Martin Landau, and Vincent Schiavelli, in supporting roles. A small New Mexico town is visited by aliens, putting on a light show. Two children and Schiavelli, are "contacted" for an unknown purpose. Fast forward twenty five years when Cybil Shepherd and Jan Michael Vincent, are enlightened that they were the two chosen children. Chosen for what is of course unknown. Meanwhile Neville Brand, playing a local rancher, is dealing with cattle mutilations, that he blames on scientist Shepherd. Raymond Burr, Shepherd's Father, deduces that the aliens left some sign carved on a rock for an unknown purpose. "The Return" is a movie asking all questions while revealing zero answers, and is a very frustrating viewing experience. - MERK