Alien Space Avenger

Just when you think the 1980s don't have any more pleasant surprises to offer. When you assume that every hidden treasure has been discovered, and all the remaining unseen horror/Sci-Fi flicks are boring and worthless amateur SOV-movies that truly deserve their status of obscurity. Exactly then you stumble upon "Alien Space Avenger"; - a totally chaotic and insanely demented blast of B-movie like only the 80s could spawn them!

Make no mistake, "Alien Space Avenger" is bad. Really, really bad. We're talking nonsensical plot, complete and utter absence of coherence or logic, zero suspense or atmosphere, total lack of character development, hysterically bad acting performances, and painfully absurd dialogues. True lovers of 80s trash know they needn't worry, though, because these exact same flaws also form the biggest fun-factors in a film like "Alien Space Avenger". And, on top of all this, there's also plenty of extreme violence, gooey special effects, gratuitous nudity, distasteful humor, and a non-stop spitfire of random craziness.

"Alien Space Avenger" shamelessly borrows gimmicks and plot elements from crowd-pleasing favorites like "Night of the Creeps", "The Hidden" and "Strange Invaders". Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think there are far worse 80s movies to get your inspiration from. In 1939, four fugitive alien criminals crash with their space capsule on earth, just outside a small redneck town. Because they are being pursued by an intergalactic bounty hunter - the Space Avenger - they seek refugee in the bodily shells of four random and typically 1930s teenagers on their way to the movies. They need weapons, as well as plutonium to refuel their ship, and for that they kill a whole bunch of people. When their search turns out fruitless, they hide into their capsule again for fifty years. In the late 80s, although still dressed like kids from the 30s, the quartet goes on a new quest for weapons and plutonium, ... and again kill a whole bunch of people! Life in the eighties is extra challenging, however, since they are surrendering to their "human" desires - like alcohol and sex - and they suspect the Space Avenger is still on their tail, only now pretending to be a cheap comic-book artist!

If you think the above summary is already pretty bonkers, then trust me ... it even gets crazier! Particularly fans of body-melting must put "Alien Space Avenger" on their wish-list, but honestly everyone with a fondness and a big heart for 80s camp are guaranteed to love this film. Quite frankly, you must be a complete grinch to dislike it. The unearthly beautiful and sexy Gina Mastrogiacomo depicts a dreamy 80s heroine. She became somewhat famous after her supportive role in "Goodfellas", but she died tragically young due to a bizarre and extremely rare infection of the heart. Don't think too much about the dumbness of the script, or become too annoyed by the supermassive holes in the plot and logic. In fact, my advice would even be to switch off all brains functions entirely, and just enjoy how "spaced out" this is!

Simplistic, pragmatic, tedious and unforgivably boring. It's very difficult to make a good movie out of a conversation - which is really all this is. I kept waiting for there to be some real action. Never happened. Don't even bother with this one!

A movie lover's delight! This was one of the early roles for Gina Mastrogiacomo (Janice Rossi of the movie, Goodfellas). It's a shame she didn't get bigger roles after this picture. Yes, the script is lacking and the acting isn't Shakespeare, but it's a lot of fun to watch and it looks like they had fun making it. Mastrogiacomo's character, Ginny was absolutely hilarious, as was the story line between her and her comic book creator boyfriend. I have two copies of this title and would kill for a copy of the poster. Don't be so critical and just have fun with it!

A group of four aliens escape from prison and hide here on the planet Earth during the 1930s. After finding some guns and shooting people by the room-full, they decide to go back to their ship for a while(?). Fifty years later some construction workers dig up their ship, and they start killing again. Eventually some guy bases a comic book on them, and they think that it's been made by the aliens that chased them to Earth.

The storyline is actually a bit better than it sounds, but not by much. They kill plenty of people and there are a couple of topless scenes, but nothing to really put this above the usual 1980s crap movies.

Four alien prisoners crash on Earth and inhabit the bodies of some 1930s teens. When an alien bounty hunter comes looking for them, the aliens hide in their spaceship for the next 50 years. Cut to the 1980s and a construction crew unearths the ship and releases the aliens still in their 30s human form. They head to NYC to get weapons and plutonium to fix their ship. They also catch the eye of Matt (Kirk Fogg), a comic book artist who makes these outcasts he sees briefly once the main characters of his new comic and his wild imagination depicts them as alien terrorists inhabiting the bodies of folks from the 30s. He's good! Of course, the aliens see this comic and get all angry. And, as if all these coincidences weren't enough, the bounty hunter alien inhabits Matt's girlfriend Ginny (Gina Mastrogiacomo).

This tongue-in-cheek sci-fi flick won me over about midway through when two aliens descend upon a nuclear power plant and shoot over 30 people in the process. You have to love a film with so little respect for safety workers. Richard Haines directed this after SPLATTER UNIVERSITY (1984) and CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH (1986) and his skills have improved somewhat; dramatically compared to SPLATTER. Despite not being made for Troma, the aroma is still there in the splatter, exploding heads, random nudity and slimy aliens. Lead Fogg looked so familiar and hitting the IMDb reminded me he was the host of the early 90s Nickelodeon game show LEGENDS OF THE HIDDEN TEMPLE. Mastrogiacomo's next role, believe it or not, was a supporting turn in GOODFELLAS (1990), making one hell of a back-to-back movie role trivia. Robert Prichard is the lead bad alien and he was also in NUKE 'EM HIGH as Spike. Look for Jaime Gillis in a small role and a shot of the Roxy 4 movie theater offering VAMPIRE HOOKERS, DOLEMITE, HI-RIDERS and RUBY on the marquee.