THE VISITANTS is an extremely cheap and boring high school comedy with a sci-fi angle. The story involves a couple of evil aliens arriving on Earth to retrieve their stolen ray gun, which is in the possession of your usual geeky student type. The rest of the film involves them pursuing while he gets up to all kinds of uninteresting hijinks. This really is the cheapest of the cheap when it comes to filmmaking, with boring real-world locations and virtually no story. The budget doesn't stretch to much in the way of special effects, while the performances are of the usual campy, over the top variety. Give me something genuinely so-bad-it's-good, like PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, any day.
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Leofwine_draca13 October 2018
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MST3KZEP25 November 2000WOW. I saw Visitants for the first time when I found it in the dark recesses of a video store clearance sale. It surely had never been rented, since it was a film by Rick Sloane, the maker of HOBGOBLINS! Any self-respecting MSTie (fan of Mystery Science Theatre 3000)will know what I mean.
This movie seems to be Sloane's "other" opus. It has some of the same actors as Hobgoblins but the same quality, or even worse, if that is imaginable. The "plot is about a "boy" (who looks 37, fighting away his neighbors, who are "gasp" aliens! He fails some science classes in "High School" and thats about it. The sets are goofy, the makeup wacky and the acting funny in it's delivery. This is totally the greatest "bad movie" ever, and it is almost too much to bear all at once. Beware... for The Visitaants! -
sinister_prog19 July 2012Rick Sloane may well be remembered for MST3Ks bashing of Hobgoblins, but this movie, The Visitants is... worse. In Hobgoblins, at least things happen. In The Visitants, all that happens is your brain antrophies. I should elaborate - nothing happens. Almost the entire plot revolves some characterless high school guy nicking a gun (from the dollar-bin at wall-mart) from his next door neighbours who are aliens, and them wanting it back. The only time someone fires is, someone off-camera holds a red filter in front of the light-bulb. Acting? Hah! The school science teacher is played by the same old guy who played the security guard in hobgoblins out-acts the rest of the cast put together. The only other thing I can say about this movie is during once scene in the locker rooms, passers-by in the background try to gatecrash the set and a fight breaks out with the security guard. God... I need to go out an get air. This movie stinks....
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ejrjr24 October 2005This is a real gem from writer/director Rick Sloane who wrote and directed Hobgoblins and the six-part Vice Academy series. Sloane is a B-Movie wizard who made quality 35mm films for little money. Visitants was first released during 1989 and far outshines earlier genre exploitation films by Roger Corman. I guess plot matters but an inane premise mixed with zippy dialogue in this sci-fi comedy will put many smiles on your face. Some sets were originally constructed for a Michael Jackson music video and add good production value. If you just want some good old fashion fun entertainment, then I highly recommend searching for this rare treat. As of November 2005, it had not been released on DVD.
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Woodyanders5 November 2018Teenager Eric (likeable Marcus Vaughter) steals a ray gun from his two oddball neighbors who turn out to be aliens in disguise.
Writer/director Rick Sloane keeps the enjoyably inane story zipping along at a snappy pace, maintains an amiable lighthearted tone throughout, and shows a genuine affection for cheesy sci-fi alien invasion flicks. Moreover, it's acted with aplomb by a game cast: Jordana Capra and Joel Hile are both perfectly deadpan as the strange extraterrestrial couple, Nicole Rio makes a charming impression as Eric's sweet girlfriend Ellen, William Dristas is a riot as the nerdy Sherwin, Jeffrey Culver does well as science teacher Levelland, and Cliff Corder and Joan Tinei are amusing as Eric's clueless parents. The chintzy (far from) special effects possess a certain loveably rinky-dink charm. A real hoot.