Extraterrestrial Visitors (1983)

Clearly inspired by Spielberg's E.T., Extraterrestrial Visitors sees young lad Tommy befriending an alien that hatches from a strange egg he discovers in a cave. 'Trumpy', as the alien is named, is an expressionless, hairy, biped with a rubbery trunk who likes to snort peanuts, play pranks with his supernatural powers, and create slamming beats with the use of popular 80s Milton Bradley computer game Simon. Meanwhile, Trumpy's bigger and far meaner relation is causing havoc in the woods, terrorising a pair of poachers and members of a really bad 80s pop group.Juan Piquer Simón's 1982 slasher Pieces is a classic example of 'so bad, it's good' cinema (wherein a movie transcends its awfulness by being unintentionally hilarious throughout and consequently very enjoyable). The director's next film, Extraterrestrial Visitors, is also absolutely terrible but it fails to pull off the same trick as its predecessor: while there are one or two inept moments that will no doubt raise the occasional smile, the entertainment factor overall is extremely low. Trumpy's silly antics, amusing to begin with, rapidly become irritating, the story is dull, the direction listless, and nearly all of the characters are thoroughly unlikable.For me, the best (i.e. funniest) thing about the whole sorry mess is Piquer Simon's excessive use of smoke for atmospheric effect: the people in this film are completely unfazed by the ever present billowing clouds of the stuff; I know if I saw that much smoke while walking through the woods, I'd think that there was a forest fire and get myself the hell outta there pronto.

Irritating little boy Tommy discovers a mysterious egg in a spaceship that landed in the woods. A homely hirsute creature hatches from said egg that the kid befriends and names Trumpy. Meanwhile, another being similar to Trumpy terrorizes various folks in the forest. Man, does this hilariously horrendous honey cover all the correct so-utterly-wrong-that-they're-paradoxically-right craptastic Grade Z cinema bases: Ham-fisted (mis)direction by Juan Piquer Simon (who also blessed us with such choice crud as "Pieces" and "Slugs"), a schizophrenic narrative that can't decide between creepy backwoods-set slasher-style horror or cutesy family friendly sci-fi, the tacky (far from) special effects, the laughably lousy dubbing, an absurdly excessive amount of omnipresent swirling and curling fog, a colorful array of unappealing characters (arrogant jerk singer Rick, vapid groupie Lara, grumpy old coot Uncle Bill, snippy bitch Sharon, and so on), the plodding pace, an uproariously awful retro 60's surf rock band, and the would-be poignant surprise bummer ending all ensure that this clunker rates highly as one prime piece of putrid celluloid offal. The wacky antics of Trumpy provide the picture's biggest unintentional belly laughs, with the definite gut-busting highlight occurring when the ugly bugger snorts peanuts up its long snout like a vacuum cleaner. Moreover, a profound and provocative subtext concerning nature versus nurture gives this darling extra substance. Pure schlocky gold.

Pod Peopl, a.k.a extraterrestrial visitors, gives a new approach to sci-fi movies, and sets the stage for movies like E.T. In this movie, we have a young boy, who finds an alien egg. When a creature hatches from the egg, the friendship between the two grow. We come to enjoy Trumpey, the alien who the boy befriends, as he is a kind and curious character, and fun to watch. But at the same time, another alien identical to Trumpey is terrorizing the family, and a group of campers, killing them off one by one. The boy refuses to accept that his new friend is the monster responsible. So he and Trumpey run off, before Trumpey can be killed. When the boy is attacked by the other alien, Trumpey comes to his rescue, and convinces his fellow monster to let the boy try to help him. But when the boys uncle attacks them both, the other alien kills him, only to be shot and killed himself. It is then that the boy realizes that there is nothing he can do to protect Trumpey, so he sends him off into the woods. The ending is very touching, because we get to hear the sadness in the boys voice because he has to say goodbye to his new friend. We also know exactly what Trumpey is thinking, even without dialog. The movie provides a new approach to alien films, and i'm forced to think of E.T. while I watch it, because of their similarities. Overall it's a good movie, but not amazing.

I just finished watching The Extraterrestrial Visitors from director Juan Piquer Simon who made the great slasher flick Pieces. I got this little obscure sci-fi film from a Mill Creek Entertainment box set i just purchased, titled, Sci-Fi Invasion 50 movie pack....which by the way makes it worth every penny for b-movie film buffs on a budget..lol...sometimes the only way to get to see these movies...and cheaply. Anyways, i popped the disc into the DVD player and as soon as i saw the director's name appear on the credits, i knew i was in for a treat...I loved the horror film Pieces, one of my all time favorites! Now, Juan Piquer Simon delves into the sci-fi genre this time, and despite all the bad reviews on here, i actually enjoyed this little film. Now, it is a low budget b-movie! do not expect a Hollywood blockbuster here. If you like that kind of stuff great! it is bad, bad dubbing and laughable at times, but i really liked the beginning with the eerie atmosphere....really starts off like a horror film. it has a bad alien that kills people and a good alien...this is more like a kids movie at that point, but only briefly as it always continues with the killer alien...So, i liked the atmosphere throughout the whole film...not a bad chiller. Overall, i had a lot of fun!