LISTEN TO THE FOLLOWING REVIEW WITH THE ABOVE AUDIO LINK

 

Greeting, ghoulies! I’m your host, Dustin J. Fallon, and welcome to another Horror and Sons film review. 

The Alien Factor is a 1978 science fiction film from Baltimore-based filmmaker Don Dohler, the first in a string of self-produced and, of course, low-budgeted features produced by Dohler over the next three decades.

This isn’t going to be some piece looking back at Dohler’s early days as a magazine publisher or a retrospective of his film career. I don’t pretend to be that well-educated on the subject, nor do I possess that much time, drive, or dedication. If you want that kind of information, I highly recommend you go watch Boobs, Beasts, and Blood, a highly entertaining 2007 documentary on Dohler’s career. Instead, this will be nothing more than a quick look at this one particular film. 

I guess it’s possible that this is also something of a brief discussion of the topic of what many now call “regional filmmaking”, which is defined as films made “outside major entertainment centers” such as Hollywood, Los Angeles, or New York. However, I do feel that the term tends to get used most frequently when discussing genre and exploitation films of the 1970s and 80s. Examples of this would be the Wisconsin-lensed films of Bill Rebane or the films that Bill Grefe made in my home state of Florida. Feel free to listen to my recent review of I Eat Your Skin for another example as Grefe was involved with that production as well.

Anyway, back to The Alien Factor.

Although shot over the course of multiple weekends a few years prior, The Alien Factor was shelved for some time while Dohler attempted to find a distributor. This search became a little easier once Star Wars released in early 1977 and proved to be a massive cultural phenomenon, leading to a renewed interest in “science fiction” as a genre… especially from film producers and network executives eager to the placate a now hungry audience. As such, The Alien Factor found distribution through television, airing on syndication and cable throughout the 1980s. Granted, I don’t recall ever seeing the film on my TV during the decade, but I don’t remember a lot of shit.

The film opens to find two young lovers… well, a teenaged girl and her notably older boyfriend parked in the middle of a wide-open and spacious field. While not exactly the most private of places, the couple alternate between sharing a bottle of wine  and making out. Suddenly, a strange, scaly, yet still fairly humanoid creature attacks the young man through his opened driver’s side window. The girl manages to escape unharmed, but he is killed by the creature. The young man, named “Rex”, is portrayed by Johnny Walker, a radio DJ and talk show in the Baltimore-area not only at the time of the film’s production, but for many years to come. I only mention this because Walker is credited as “Special Guest Star” in the film’s opening. So, I guess his addition was something of a “big deal” for the filmmakers.

Due to the condition of the body, both the local coroner and police department (which seemingly consists of just the sheriff and his lone deputy) believe Rex to have been mauled to death by a wild animal. Granted, the girl has already advised them all that the creature was none she’s ever seen before, but everyone just thinks she’s suffering from shock and pays her little mind. It’s eventually discovered by the coroner’s assistant, Steven, that Rex actually died from a poison injected into him by the creature, but this is kind of irrelevant for right now. On a side note, Steven constantly refers to the coroner as “Aunt Ruth”, which probably explains how he got the job.

I should point out that the role of “Steven” is played by actor George Stover, who’d previously appeared in films for John Waters. Stover would go on to appear in multiple films for both Waters and Dohler over the years, and continues to appear in films today, compiling over 100 credits to his name, primarily in low-budget genre films. Fans of more modern horror films may recognize him from his appearance in the 2013 cult favorite WNUF Halloween Special.

Not long after, an alien spacecraft lands in the nearby woods. A humanoid creature with a red, veiney, almost-skinned appearance emerges from the craft. Seemingly aware of our civilization’s disapproval towards public nudity, the alien is thankfully clad in a pair of blue jeans.  The being briefly attempts to take on a human form before inadvertently frightening yet another young woman who is hanging out in the woods with her boyfriend. If The Alien Factor has taught me anything, it’s that the woods of Baltimore (and its surrounding communities) were just running rampant with horny teenagers in the 1970s. For those that grew up in the area during that era, good for you and don’t touch me.

A reporter covering Rex’s death for the local paper hears the claims of animal attack and attempts to search for the beast herself. Alone and unarmed. Okay, maybe it’s not the most thought out plan, but she acknowledges this. So, that makes it “okay”. She doesn’t actually find the creature, though. In fact, she doesn’t find anything, making the scene rather pointless and more than a little superfluous. Don’t worry. There will be plenty more moments such as this.

In the meantime, we discover that there is not one alien prowling the town, but three! The first of these new aliens is a creature seemingly constructed of pure energy, here represented by something of a red glow added over the film. This creature kills a man at the entrance of his home, completely absorbing every bit of the man’s “lifeforce” and leaving behind a withered husk.  The third alien is a tall, somewhat sasquatch-like creature that makes its introduction hiding in the basement of a character that only exists to be killed off by said creature. Of course, our insectoid pal reappears long enough to kill off some of Rex’s friends, including Dohler in a cameo role, who were out looking for revenge. I guess you can safely say that they failed.

We’re soon introduced to another new character, a man by the name of Benjamin Zachary. Zachary claims to be a researcher from a nearby astronomical observatory, here to search for a meteorite that allegedly landed in those same damned woods a few nights prior. Granted, no one in the town reported see such a thing. Probably because they were all too busy making out or getting mauled by aliens.

“‘Zachary” is portrayed by actor Don Leifert. Like Stover, Leifert was another “go-to guy” for Dohler, appearing in five other films for the filmmaker. Sure, these were the only films Leifert appeared in during his career, but it still says something about dedication.

Zachary offers to hunt the aliens all by himself. In no situation anywhere would local law enforcement just allow some “rando” to walk in off the street and takeover the manhunt for a dangerous animal or homicidal maniac, let alone rampaging aliens. However, our rather ineffective small town sheriff sheepishly steps to the side once the town’s mayor says that “it’s cool.” I should probably also point out that the mayor is played by actor Dick Dyszel, who is better known these days as long-running television “horror host” Count Gore de Vol. Then again, I generally assume that if you know who the Count is, then you probably already know this factoid. Good for you!

The Alien Factor does have a story tell, and Dohler is quite intent on telling it, filling up a lot of the film’s runtime with multiple scenes of characters standing around, discussing the events unfolding around them. Other moments features the various character’s doing things that don’t actually advance the plot, such as the reporter’s fruitless venture out to the snow-covered woods to search for rabid animals or the coroner’s drawn-out explanation of the extremely rare disease, progeria. Even the discovery of another crashed alien spacecraft and it’s dying pilot proves to be somewhat insignificant as not only does it not really matter to the film’s overall outcome, but we’re also already aware of the presence of multiple aliens. 

There probably solid argument to be made that 60% of The Alien Factor‘s runtime is “padding”. Possibly more. Truth be told, most of these sequences tend to run on far longer than they rightfully should, making the film feel slower-paced and drawn-out. While this is sure to infuriate or even bore the ever-living Hell out of many viewers, somehow, I don’t really mind. At least, nowhere near as much as I sometimes do with other films. Even the scene of Zachary overly explaining his telepathic communications with the alien pilot is nothing more than sci-fi “mumbo jumbo”, but it’s admirable to see Dohler try to give it all some sort of explanation… ya know, even if it is meaningless bullshit.

It isn’t until the last twenty minutes (or so) of the film that Zachary begins his hunt for the alien monstrosities. The first two aliens are dispatched rather quickly; one via a syringe filled with the poisonous substance secreted by the insectoid alien, while the other is taken down by a loud-speaker, of all things. Of course, this is not until after the mayor has fallen victim to the squatch-like being.

This brings us to the “showdown” with the final alien. In my opinion, as I’m sure it is with many other Alien Factor fans, it’s probably the highlight of the entire film. Although we clearly saw a red flash of light earlier in the film, the third alien has somehow become a large reptilian beast that called a Leemoid. No explanations are given; just go with it. While the Leemoid itself is created through the use of stop-motion animation, this footage is then superimposed over the footage of the actors. While the creature effects and animation are really quite neat, they also appear fairly transparent or see-through, so as to allow us to see the actor (in this case, Leiffert) reacting to the Leemoid’s movements and “attacks”. Unfortunately, this is this least convincing aspect of the sequence as the animation and Leiffert’s reactions don’t often sync up properly, leaving the actor appearing as if he’s just randomly flailing his arms and tossing his body about… which is basically what he is doing.

Zachary’s true origins are revealed, and no one watching will be even mildly shocked or surprised by the revelations made. However, the film ends on something of a “downer” note when the utterly useless sheriff arrives on the scene and finally decides to take some form of action, only fucking things up further. 

As mentioned, The Alien Factor was an extremely low-budgeted affair, costing no more than a few thousand dollar to produce. As such, the frugality is noticeable in every aspect of the film, particularly with set design. The set used for the police station (all one room of it) was actually just Dohler’s basement, while the scenes at the coroner’s office (which I believe were also filmed in the basement) feature bedsheets hung up in place of actual white walls. There’s also some laughable use of sound effects to be found, such as a particularly loud typewriter that sounds like it’s currently engaged in martial arts combat.

Despite the no-budget aesthetics, the makeshift effects and sets, and the generally amateurish-at-best acting, there’s still some really great things about The Alien Factor… or at least things that I think are great. Among those is the film’s score, composed by Kenneth Walker on an analog synthesizer that he allegedly hand-assembled and soldered from a mail order kit. At times, the score does occasional sound like someone just clumsily tapping away at random keys, but at others seems quite inspired and effectively eerie. This is most notable in a particularly frightening transition sequence of children playing with a ball. Okay… it’s not the slightest bit frightening, but the music cue does make this otherwise innocuous and throwaway moment creepy “af”.

While the squatch-like creature just looks like someone on stills draped in cheap faux fur, the insectoid creature (referred to as a cockroach on the Retromedia Entertainment blu-ray release commentary track) does look like some legitimate effort went into assembling and gluing the various scales comprising its body. The Leemoid, on the other hand, is really quite impressive, especially given the budgetary limitations. As I said earlier in the review, I don’t recall ever watching The Alien Factor as a child, but given the multiple alien species on display, I’m sure I would have loved it. Sure, maybe these aliens weren’t exactly the most convincing, but neither were some of the ones featured on “Doctor Who” during the era. Yeah, I said it, but with love.

As with many other “regionally” produced films of the era, there’s ample screen time devoted to the area’s locals… well, just being local. There’s always some local shopkeep or bartender playing themselves, usually in scenes filmed inside their establishment. In the case of The Alien Factor, it’s a bar, which serves as the setting for a musical performance from Maryland-based rock band Atlantis. As their song “Maybe Someday” is played nearly in its entirely, it arguably serves as something of an intermission, allowing viewers to hit up the snack bar or use the restroom. Truth be told, I found the song to be sorta catchy, so maybe don’t wander too for that snack.

After stepping away from filmmaking for about a decade, Dohler returned to the director’s chair in 1999 for another “alien rampage” film entitled… Alien Rampage (released in 2001). Maybe not the most original or creative title, but it is an accurate description of the film’s plot. Although filmed as a new and original story, distributor Fred Olen Ray released the film to DVD as Alien Factor 2: Alien Rampage; the sequel-ized retitling given to help garner the film some extra attention from fans of the original film. Honestly, this was probably a wise move. As for Alien Rampage…. Well, I’ll save that for another review. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve ever watched it. 

-Conclusion

The Alien Factor is not the most polished of films. If it were, I probably wouldn’t appreciate it as much. However, it’s quite apparent that Dohler was trying to make the best film that he could, exploiting as many special effects as his meager budget could afford. Sure, some padding could be trimmed, but I do understand that it exists for the film the be treated as a “full length feature” and suitable for theatrical release. Granted, that theatrical release never happened. 

In conclusion, The Alien Factor is surely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. Some may find themselves impressed with the creativity and imagination on display, while some will be rolling in laughter at the outdated effects or makeshift sets. Many more will just turn the damned thing off, find something else to watch, and question how I was ever allowed to give my opinion on films. 

The Alien Factor is currently available to watch for free on Tubi. As mentioned, the film was also released to blu-ray by Retromedia Entertainment. 

As I’m not sure there is a “real” trailer for The Alien Factor, I’ve decided to post a link to the entire film. Enjoy! Or don’t. Your call.