ALIENATOR (1990)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological*

Re: the above lobby card-- I'll bet the makers of this cheapjack film didn't run any ads using the name "Terminator" in the domestic U.S. back in the day.

As I've commented before in slightly different terms, Fred Olen Ray's movies break down into either dull shit (of which WIZARDS OF THE DEMON SWORD is the current nadir) and lively shit (with CYCLONE occupying the apex). ALIENATOR-- which happens to be the only other movie credit for writer Paul Garson, author of CYCLONE-- is closer to being dull shit than lively shit. Still, it did engage me in one minor way.

As I've also said before, all Ray movies are just standard genre-stories, loosely constructed so that Ray could slot in as many of his favorite actors as he could manage. Usually, though, it's easy to tell who's the star of the show-- a heroic barbarian, a kick-ass motorcyclist, or an imitation Terminator. But I found myself asking, "Is the top-billed 'Alienator'-- actually called a 'Hunter-Unit' in the film proper-- really the primary character/phenomenon?"

 Oh well, on to what passes for a story. An opening title card informs us that the film begins out in space, following a rebel insurgence against a "tyrant" sporing the Biblical name of "Baal." So, we might think, we're going to hear about one or more good rebels, like Luke Skywalker, right? Ah, no, because the raid led by the rebel leader Kol (Ross Hagen) claimed "thousands of innocent lives," so maybe Kol, sentenced to die on a prison planet, is not a sterling hero. Or is he the best of a bad lot? The warden of the planet (Jan-Michael Vincent) fairly thirsts to vaporize Kol, and beats on the prisoner for the least excuse. Then the warden gets distracted by the arrival of an official named Lund (Robert Clarke), and later he exchanges bitter bon mots with his sexy subordinate officer, and ex-girlfriend (PJ Soles). However, somehow Kol breaks free, beats down or kills various guards (causing one to be victimized by big worms that bore into one's flesh), and then steals a ship. But Kol has a tracking device attached around his neck, so the warden just sends a "hunter-unit" to follow the fugitive and complete his execution.

Kol makes landfall in some US national park. He wanders around and gets summarily knocked down by an RV. The four collegians therein-- a nerd, two interchangeable girls, and an arrogant pre-law guy-- take the injured alien to the local park ranger (John Philip Law). Kol tells the Earthlings part of the truth--that the hunter-unit will destroy everything in its path to get its quarry-- but also claims that the empire plans to invade Earth. The hunter shows up at the ranger station, proving to be a statuesque female with a metal bikini, a white fright-wig, and a laser-ray mounted on one arm (Teagan Clive). The idiot pre-law guy shoots at her, and the hunter-unit demolishes the station and forces the Earthlings and their ET guest to flee. As she stalks them, she also runs into two goofus comedy relief hillbillies, whom she kills when they shoot at her.

The victims take refuge with an old ex-military guy who lives alone (I guess not in the park per se). Kol doesn't participate in the defensive fight, but he suggests using a metal net to deactivate the hunter's circuits, which of course works where bullets did not, (Not surprisingly, this Terminator clone is both part machine and part organic, though there doesn't seem any good reason for the prison-planet to have used a cyborg rather than a robot.) However, Kol recognizes a kindred spirit in the nasty pre-law guy, and he exercises his one super-power-- a previously unmentioned ability to take over bodies, like that of the asshole guy-- before the "Alienator" revives and chops off Kol's head. 

Even though Ray's faux-Terminator is the film's selling point, the script shows no interest in what she is or even if she possesses anything like consciousness (aside from a throwaway scene in which she pets a deer in the forest). Kol the ruthless revolutionary is really the figure central to the story, whether he's killing "thousands of innocents" or involving naive Earth-people in his troubles. Garson could have swiped Kol's basic type from any number of stories in which alien criminals come to Earth and are pursued by alien cops, such as 1987's THE HIDDEN. I should add that Kol's influence upon the prison planet doesn't end when he leaves it, for the delegate Lund turns out to be a Kol ally, and Lund also kills a few redshirts before the warden takes him out.                          

Because of the rustic setting and the presence of Robert Clarke, some reviewers labeled ALIENATOR a remake of THE ASTOUNDING SHE MONSTER. Though ALIENATOR is often as dull as MONSTER, at least the 1990 trash-film doesn't indulge in a phony-baloney cheat-ending. As in most Rayflicks, the talented actors are placed on the same level as the untalented ones, whether it's John Philip Law or Dawn Wildsmith. They're all just uttering undistinguished rote dialogue-- unless, like Teagan Clive, they have next to no dialogue at all.