Wrestling with that thorny existentialist question: Is life too short for Bad Cinema ? I watched Don Dohler's 1978 debut
The Alien Factor earlier and I should have known better - the general consensus about this one is that it's "
not as good as Nightbeast" - perhaps the worst thing anyone can say about
any film. Dohler's film is the epitome of what Frank Zappa affectionately referred to as "
Cheapniss", and while the creatures running amok in this monster jamboree pleasantly recall 50's quickies, the ruinous direction, endless padding, bad wigs and unspeakable performances had me praying for a quick death. Actually I'm a little cross with myself because I should have used the time to work thru my unwatched discs but the original selection,
L'Argent, a hefty two and a half hour French Silent seemed like too much heavy lifting so I thought I'd put my feet up with this Dohler's film but even fast forwarding thru lengthy scenes of ill-prepared cast members tramping thru the wilds of Maryland (and they were literally peering into every bush for the film's runaway monsters), this one felt like a 3-hour grind ! I thought I was prepared for Synapse's Blu of
Manos: The Hands of Fate but I'm gonna have to think this one over...
Incidentally, for readers in the UK and Ireland, this piece of junk washed up on Talking Pictures, a 24/7 movie channel (Sky 343 / Freeview 81) which has offered up all sorts of interesting and colorful oddities - from wartime British films to 70's sex comedies to drive-in exploitation. In the last few weeks I've netted a few titles from the BFI's Flipside series (
Lunch Hour and
The Party's Over), Pete Walker's 1970 comedy
Cool It Carol, the bikini-busting Dyanne Thorne quickie
Point of Terror, and a number of Lee Frost/Wes Bishop knock-offs. Worth a glance at the
listings...
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