Not of This Earth

 

Not of This Earth

1988

Director- Jim Wynorski

Cast- Traci Lords, Arthur Robert, Lenny Juliano, Ace Mask, Roger Lodge, Rebecca Perle, Michael Delano, Becky LeBeau, Monique Gabrielle, Monique Gabrielle, Kelli Maroney

            

     An alien who looks like one of the MIBs lands on Earth and the first thing he does is kill a couple of kids engaging in some premarital sex and drain them of their blood. The second thing that he does is burst into a doctor’s office and demand a blood transfusion. The nurse, Nadine, (Traci Lords) tries asking him some questions but he refuses to give any answers.

            

     The stranger (Arthur Robert), going by the name of “Mr. Johnson” does the Jedi mind trick on Nadine’s boss, Dr. Rochelle. Rochelle agrees to perform the transfusion and to study Mr. Johnson’s blood for anomalies. Johnson offers Nadine a job as his in-home nurse for the sum of 2 grand a week.  Nadine arrives at Johnson’s mansion and meets Jeremy (Lenny Juliano) a charming con who serves as Johnson’s chauffer, cook, and guard.

            

    Nadine gives Johnson daily transfusions of blood while Jeremy minds the house but they both notice strange things going on. As Jeremy puts it, the house is a roach motel where people check in but they don’t check out. Nadine and Jeremy decide to do some clandestine snooping but they won’t like what they find out.

           

     Johnson is from a planet where the population has been poisoned by radiation. They have all developed a disorder that causes their blood to dry up, hence Johnson’s need for transfusions. Johnson’s job is to find a suitable planet for the survivors of his race to relocate to, a place where they can live off of the blood of the inhabitants.

           

    Not of this Earth forms a kind of intersection for various parts of B-movie culture. It is a remake of the 1957 Roger Corman film of the same name. In fact, the movie began as a bet that the director made that he could remake the film for same budget as the original (inflation adjusted) and on the same schedule (12 days).

   As for the director, even if you don’t know his name, you are familiar with Jim Wynorski’s works (if you like B-movies that is).  In the 80s and 90s he directed Chopping Mall, Return of the Swamp Thing, Transylvania Twist, and Sorority House Massacre II. In the years since he has specialized in naughty nudy pics like The Bare Wench Project franchise and Syfy animal mashups like Piranhaconda and Cobragator.

Of course, the main attraction here was Traci Lords. This movie marked her transition into “mainstream” movies after her much publicized exit from porn. Obviously her name recognition was meant to increase interest in the movie and it worked. The film was very successful, especially in the home video market. But Lords brought a lot to the film besides her obvious tangible charms. She took to the role of leading lady easily and convincingly. Granted, the part wasn’t Lady Macbeth, but she seemed a natural. Lords’ initial film trajectory seemed certain to make her either a Scream Queen or an independent film icon. She starred in the comedy Fast Food (1989) with Earnest himself Jim Varney, the John Waters film Cry Baby (1990), the B-movie Shock ‘Em Dead (1991), The Tommyknockers (1993), a small role in the Denzel Washington sci-fi thriller Virtuosity (1995) and a small but very memorable role in the awesome Blade (1998).Although Lords has maintained steady work, she never really became the Scream Queen that she could have. I don’t know if that was Traci’s choice or just the way things worked out.

            

    This is a fun film and the best kind of B-movie. It takes the art of film making seriously but doesn’t take itself seriously. The actors turn in good performances, the effects are adequate for the budget, it has witty dialogue, a good soundtrack, good editing etc. but the movie never tries to be more than what it is; a low budget sci-fi horror-comedy. It is very tongue in cheek and not scary at all, but it keeps your interest throughout.