BLOOD SUCKERS FROM OUTER SPACE (1984)

Every year, in the beginning of October I attend the best film convention ever. It's called Cinema Wasteland and if you've never been you should go. It is the most fun ever. So, I'm at the convention, checking out the guests and whatnot and there's this guy sitting at a table and he's selling a movie called Bloodsuckers From Outer Space. Great title and I've never heard of it. Apparently he made it in 1984 and is releasing it on DVD. I am a big fan of cheesy 80's flicks and Bloodsuckers From Outer Space looked to be no exception. The director, Glen Coburn, signed my DVD sleeve for me and I got a flick for 6 bucks. I figured I could gamble six bucks.

Best six bucks I ever spent.

The basic premise is this alien force that invades human bodies, forces them to expel all of their bodily fluids, possess the humans and then go around sucking the blood from other humans. The downer side is that if they kill you, you stay dead.

This small hick town in Texas is home to a facility called Research City. Government cuts have brought the scientists down to the bare minimum, but they have the coolest thing to study. Their head honcho has become possessed by one of the aliens and they are trying to figure out what makes him tick.

Meanwhile, newspaper photographer Jeff is starting to piece together what is happening. It doesn't hurt that he has to have a kung fu battle with his uncle who has been turned into a bloodsucker.

                                                                                

The interesting thing about this film is that it opens and closes with two magnificent cherry picker shots. Then the rest of the film is static shots. No zooms, no pans, nothing. Just static shots. And it works for this movie. You don't even realize it's happening until someone points it out to you.

The film is filled with wry humor, the characters are aware that they are in a film. They address the camera a few times and the best line is 'That incidental music sure is creepy.' Genius!
Add to that a rocking 80's theme song, a crazed general who just wants to nuke the problem and a bizarre cast of characters the likes of which you have never seen before in your life.

Bloodsuckers From Outer Space has that great, grainy feel to it that only comes from actual film, not video. The effects are the spray kind that permeated 80s flicks. And did I mention a Pat Paulsen cameo? Well, now I did.

There is a 24 year reunion of a lot of the cast and while it would have been cool to see the lead or his love interest make an appearance, this was still an informative half hour. Now if it just had a commentary it would have been perfect.

You're gonna want this movie as soon as possible.

This has my vote for best DVD release of the year.