The Alien Factor in "Alien Factor" is not something I feel qualified to comment on. First of all, there is more than one alien, so shouldn't they have called the movie "Aliens Factor?" Maybe they were saving that title for the sequel, ala "Aliens" and "Alien." And since this movie was made before the first "Alien," they could have gotten a jump on that trend. (It's a trend that lasts to this day; did you know that Robert Rodriguez is making a sequel to "Predator," called "Predators?" It's true, you could look it up.)

Anyway, the aliens in "Alien Factor" are pretty cheesy looking, and their presence does not result in anything that anyone would call scary. I'm just saying that I don't quite know what the alien "factor" is. I do know what "The O'Reilly Factor" is, but unfortunately, as was the case with the whole Alien-Aliens thing, the producers did not have the foresight to cast Bill O'Reilly as the monster. That would have been truly scary. (Zing! Take that, O'Reilly, you've been Conniffed!)

What I do feel qualified to comment on is the time in which this movie was made. It was filmed in the late-seventies. I was around back then and I have to tell you that "Alien Factor" perfectly captures the bleak, desolate vibe of those times. In those days I lived in a rural part of Long Island and this movie's depiction of bare, barren trees in lonely, remote forests half-heartedly scratched by light snowfalls that weren't enough to make the landscape pretty, but more than enough to add to the feeling of dirty, rancid sludge beneath your feet, is documentary-like in its accuracy.

So, is "Alien Factor" a crappy sci-fi monster movie or a lyrical evocation of an era we'd just as soon forget? The decision is yours.

Alien Factor has a very distinctive feel, and I couldn't put my finger on it until I realized that most of the production was shot in Baltimore. Then I realized that "feeling" I was getting was that of a John Waters movie. Yup, "AlienFactor" and "Pink Flamingos" are pretty much the same movie in my book, except Alien Factor has monsters and Pink Flamingo has a transvestite.

What I find most arresting about this film are the attempts at some pretty ambitious creatures and special effects. They even take the time at the end of the movie to give each monster a credit, as well as crediting the person who designed and built the creatures: "Inferbyce (Insect) Designed and Worn by Larry Schlechter", "Zagatile (Tall Creature) Designed and Worn by John Cosentino", "Leemoid Designed and Animated by Ernie Farino". You can tell by the names they obviously put a lot of time into thinking and dreaming about these monsters. Inferbyce is unfortunately really hard to see because of the poor lighting, but I was able to freeze frame a moment, and it looks kind of like a bug version of Darth Vader, with notes of Sleestack. Zagatile seems sort of Chewbacca-based, except it has stilts built into the suit, and it looks like they sort of rushed making the face. The Leemoid, which is the film's most ambitious idea-- a stop motion energy being-- is too hard to explain here, other than saying it's simply the product of a fever dream. Doing these kind of specially built creatures and stop motion effects was way beyond the budgetary scope of this movie, but somebody had a lot of heart and hope. I don't know much about Director Don Dohler, other than he is responsible for publishing Cinemagic Magazine. I had a copy that I bought in a comic book store in my twenties, which I remember as being a very well made and lavishly illustrated magazine showing "The real work" on making seventies-era movie magic. Most notable were the detailed instructions on how to make the Zagatile creature costume featured in this film. I remember lots of details about making the special stilts that made the operator seem extra tall, which is kind of a new wrinkle in the pantheon of things that scare us-- fear of tall, furry things. There were also very workable instructions on how to make a stop motion armature using an old erector set and some ball bearings-- certainly some of the stuff that is waiting for us in geek heaven.

Also, conceptually, this is not a run of the mill monster movie in that the premise is this: An alien zoological expedition crash lands on earth and the intergalactic "collection" of dangerous specimens are now terrorizing a small town in the countryside of Maryland. Whew! Also, check out the suprisingly crisp and well-designed opening credits and a couple of nicely made hanging models used to represent the massive crashed "space ark".

As far as a subject for movie-riffing goes, this was a blast. I remember talking to Trace about it as we were working on it, and he called it "refreshing" and I agree. The acting range is all over the map, and it pretty much feels like not a single one of the performers is actually talking to any of the others-- they're acting at them. Each actor has their own version of how they should be playing it, all with strikingly different tones, like they each have a favorite style, and the styles don't match. Watch closely and you'll see there are several scenes when you'd swear the actors aren't even in the same room together. There also is a bit of a "pad factor" that I found especially challenging. I did just see the finished script, with everyone else's riffs, and I'm happy to report that M.J. and the boys made these into some of the best moments in the show, but prepare yourself: You will see several extended, unmotivated walks through the woods that you can just sense aren't going to pay off in the least. These filmmakers, bless them, were so geeky about their monsters and models and process shots, they just didn't seem to have time for the rest of the story elements.

Overall, it's quite an artifact from the early days just after "Star Wars" changed fantasy film making forever. I am fond of this movie and appreciate these bold souls in Baltimore throwing their somewhat tattered hat into monster movie ring-- another chapter in my book about what makes America so great.

An afterthought: When Mary Jo and I were negotiating the rights to this film, the producer mentioned that, mostly because of the name "Alien Factor" and the success of Ridley Scott's "Alien", which was released a year later, "Alien Factor" was sold into a very widely distributed syndicated television film package and made back its money and earned a respectable profit for the film's investors. Obviously it's still out making the filmmakers money, because we at Cinematic Titanic just licensed it again, Lord help us.

Some time ago an acquaintance put me in touch with filmmaker John Kinhart. John had made a documentary about director/producer Don Dohler called Blood, Boobs & Beast, and was a fan of MST3K and now Cinematic Titanic. John suggested we look at a couple of Don Dohler’s titles to see if they might work for CT. He sent me a couple DVDs, but the one I fell in love with was The Alien Factor. I felt like someone had documented my youth. Not there were a lot of monster-aliens in my girlhood but the whole seventies vibe of it was just so perfect. The town looks so very like the town I grew up in. I just know I went to high school with the three guys who deputize themselves and go looking for the monster on their own. And I can’t get the hit single from the movie out of my head – the band so perfectly emulates my brother’s garage band, and the bar in which they perform looks like it could have been filmed at the Down Under, the local on-off sale that was located directly under the water tower – hence, Down Under.

 Still, even though I grew up in a small town in Minnesota, north of the Twin Cities, I could have sworn this movie was shot in Wisconsin. Minnesota has a strong Wisconsin influence, which is only natural considering Minnesota is a protectorate of Wisconsin. There was something about the plaid shirts, the scenery, the way of talking – of course, upon repeated viewings I realized they were East Coast accents, but still with the hard Rs and pointy pronunciation of some words. I was 2/3 of the way into writing the film when I realized it was filmed in and around Baltimore.  Wow, I thought, every state has a Wisconsin!

 As much as I adore this movie, I felt bad about riffing on it after I “got to know” Don through John’s film Bloods, Boobs and Beast (the title refers to the axiom of filmmakers and distributors for necessary elements of a successful horror film.) Sometimes people think that we're riffing on these movies out of contempt, and for me, that's just not so - I have a great affection for these films. 

 In the doc you see that Don Dohler was really a decent, down-to-earth guy who just wanted to make movies. A situation in his life made him realize he wanted to follow this dream. So he did. I’d also had contact with his son Greg while we were negotiating rights to the film.  (Greg plays one of the kids playing with the ball in the “arty” portion of the film.)  Don himself plays one of the guys who goes out into the woods to hunt the beast, after his friend’s admonition of  “Cooooom awwwwyn!” (He’s wearing a tan leather jacket and has a big ‘fro.) John Kinhart told me, “I wouldn't feel bad about riffing Alien Factor. Don would've gotten a real kick out of it if he was still around.”