In 1986, 3 alien invasion films were released that all had a campy 50s underlying vibe to them. The most famous one was Tobe Hooper’s remake of “Invaders from Mars,” the best one was Ted Nicolaou’s “Terror Vision,” and then there was “The Visitants.” Directed by Rick Sloane, who made “Hobgoblins” and six entries in the “Vice Academy” cinematic universe.
The film tells the tale of aliens who are living on earth as a married human couple (like the “Coneheads”) to… I didn’t really catch that. One day, their teenage neighbour, who happens to be in his mid-30s, steals their raygun. Can two extraterrestrial beings from a race that has mastered deep space traveling retrieve their ToysRUs property from an aging high schooler before their mothership returns? Only time will tell.
The film, like all of Sloane’s films, was made for the content of his piggy bank which is obvious in props and costumes. Weirdly, the fact that the film looks quite good and is competently shot proves to be detrimental when juxtaposed with the dollar store set design. It loses the charm budget films, especially sci-fi budget films, need to be entertaining.
Everything falls quite flat. Everything that (I think) is meant to be comically quirky or weird just aren’t far enough out there to be interesting. It just ends up being an uninteresting fair with subpar actors in forgettable scenes.
It does have the same ending as “Hercules in New York,” though, which is something.
