Hollywoodshack
I'm reviewing this film to mark the closing of the IMDb message boards. I can survive without all the dirty jokes and personal feuding, but it's sad to lose one of the few outlets of uncensored American freedom left. It's a movie that has as much filler as a page there. I haven't seen it in many years and can't recognize it. The theme music has been used in dozens of Fred Olen Ray movies, and sounds newer than 2000 instead of 1988. I suspect the version we have now has been re-cut a few times. Often scenes are done verbatim from the 1957 film Roger Corman directed or revert to silly subplots involving hookers, party strippers, etc. Tracy Lords plays the nurse, imitating Beverly Garland's voice from the first film and her lines are often corny. The alien's medium of attack changes from one moment to the next. First he's sending doorway salesmen and hookers to the furnace in the basement. Then he's sending them into his magic booth where he communicates with his commander, but they all go eek like they're dying or burning up. The theme music is in the wrong mood and I'm not sure it was even on the 1988 film. I suggest someone watch the 1957 version and afterward fast forward through this one for some laughs at how awful a film can really get.
Aaron1375
This film is brought to us by Roger Corman, the master of the cheesy horror film. The movies he helps produce are generally full of blood and gore, monsters and some nudity. So while the films he makes are not high brow, they are also usually not boring. This one though has stretches where it is boring. Not seeing Traci Lords though, she is hot to the extreme! I kind of find it funny that the adult film industry ever let her do adult films as she looks around 18 here and she is 20. I doubt she looked more mature at 16! The film had an interesting plot, an interesting villain and a nice looking female to look at. It had very uninteresting kills which was its downfall in my mind.The story has a mysterious man using his flashing eyes to kill people and draining their blood. He is from another planet that is dying and has its sights on the earth's blood to try and prolong its existence. He employs a nurse to help him with blood transfers, but his strange behavior soon makes her suspicious and she begins to try and figure out this man's motives.The story had some things going for it, but I would have preferred a more bloody film. This film is kind of a drag at times as it moves slowly, especially at the end. There is nudity aplenty, but not near the end. About the only thing you get in the end is a unsatisfying ending and a stupid question mark at the end of "the end". The film does feature some really gruesome kills and graphic nudity, but most of it is in the credits during the beginning of the film as it flashes you scenes from Roger Corman's other films that were a lot more interesting and fun than this one. Not all bad, but it could have been more fun with gore and more nudity. Traci though is very nice to look at and she makes the movie more tolerable to watch.
gavin6942
A nurse is assigned to help a strange man (Arthur Roberts) requiring regular blood transfusions at his home. He is really an alien checking out humans for harvesting their blood, since his race is dying out because of intergalactic nuclear wars.While this movie may not be a great one, it has that 1980s Wynorski sensibility that I so very much enjoy. Cheesy dialogue, a silly science fiction plot (a remake of a classic Roger Corman film, no less) and some crazy fashions (including a gang that looks like a vampire version of The Misfits).The general idea of aliens coming to earth for nutrients is a pretty decent plot, and when done in a silly way like this, it is even better. A similar story could be told that is actually scary, but I much prefer the approach they went for here.
FilmFanInTheHouse
Not of this Earth (1988, Dir. Jim Wynorski) A mysterious stranger known only as Mr. Johnson turns up and demands a blood transfusion. Dr. Rochelle grants him the blood, and sends his nurse Nadine Story to stay with him, in order for him to get his daily transfusion. Dr. Rochelle becomes interested in Mr. Johnson's blood, especially when it turns out to be nothing like normal human blood. It gets even weirder, when Mr. Johnsons servant, Jeremy notices people entering the house and not leaving. Nadine decides that she must search the house in order to find out the truth about Mr. Johnson.I wan't expecting a classic when i put 'Not of this Earth' into my DVD player, and although i was right about it not being a classic, i did surprisingly enjoy it. There are a lot of cheap movies, which are just painful to sit through and look so unprofessional, but this was not one of them. The acting was actually very good. Traci Lords was good, especially since she was a porn star before this. Arthur Roberts was good at playing a sinister villain. You really do feel there was something hiding with him. The film was advertised as rated 18 for sex scenes and nudity, but i didn't feel as if they was any more than you would find in a 15 certificate film. The nudity was very brief and only happened in small scenes. A scene where three hookers were topless turned me off more than on. The violence was very little and the special effects were pretty much cartoon. Still, it was fun to watch on a Saturday night."That's a nice little mole you have on your left cheek." - Jeremy (Lenny Juliano)
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