I’m glad Albert Pyun and his low-rent, weird movies exist. I’m glad Cannon Films exists too. My childhood would be vastly different if these two entities, sometimes working in tandem, sometimes independently, weren’t a part of my ‘80s and ‘90s moviegoing experience. But there’s another powerhouse group from my youth that really churned out influential content that can’t be discounted. Mystery Science Theater 3000 made a lot of unwatchable movies watchable during my formative years and I thank them from the bottom of my heart. Mike and his robots might not be able to save Alien from L.A. from itself, but at least they make it palpable.
Kathy Ireland can’t act. At least she couldn’t in 1988 (I have no idea if she can now or not). Her performance is laughably bad, but her “aww shucks” delivery could have worked if the rest of the film had been made with any sense of style of substance. With the slightest sense of self-deprecation or self-awareness, Alien from L.A. could have been mildly funny in a good way (it may have been laughed with, not at). But, in classic Pyun/Cannon fashion, intentional humor is sucked out with bad writing and worse plotting.
Ireland plays Wanda, a ditzy, socially awkward surfer girl whose life is lacking adventure (according to her recently ex-boyfriend, anyway). After hearing of her archaeologist father’s death in North Africa, she wastes no time in jumping on a plane and picking up where his research left off. Apparently, he was studying Atlantis or something. Anyway, somehow, she falls through a giant hole in the wall and ends up in an underground civilization that resembles a mix between Mad Max movies and Fraggle Rock (one of the robots refers to it as “Sad Max”).
From there, things stop making sense. There are bad guys and gals whose motivations are unclear, weird Thunderdome style games, and even weirder sub-surface soap operas that everyone watches on television sets hanging from every cavern wall. It would be nice if I could compare the pseudo-futuristic/dystopian set decoration and make-up work to Terry Gilliam’s influential Brazil or even Time Bandits, but I doubt Pyun used these as references. Probably, he just threw a bunch of crap on the walls of an old factory and called it a day. It’s a shame, too. With some thought, the world and characters created for the film could have been interesting. Instead, it seems like they were made up as they went along (something not uncommon for Pyun and Cannon).
As an MST3K episode, it’s not the best, but there are some memorable moments. As a fellow Minnesotan (where the show originates), I always love when my home state is referenced. This time we get nods to Kirby Puckett, Paul Westerberg, Nick Bockwinkel, and Somerset, Wisconsin. And with all that wild hair and make-up on the sub-humanoid populace of underground Atlantis, it’s only a matter of time before Exene Cervenka gets mentioned.
I can only imagine that Alien from L.A. is a rough watch without the commentary from Mike, Tom Servo, and Crow. But, had I run across it on HBO or Showtime when it came out in 1988, I have no doubt I would have watched it anyway. I probably wouldn’t have liked it, but I would have watched it. Back then – especially during summer vacation – there was a lot of time for a lot of bad movies between role-playing games and bike adventures. I now realize, thanks to Wikipedia, that many of those bad movies were produced by good old Cannon Films. Thanks, I guess.
James is a writer, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.