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Atomic Brain Invasion
USA 2010
produced by Ted Marr for Scorpio Film Releasing
directed by Richard Griffin
starring David Lavallee jr, Sarah Nicklin, Michael Reed, Daniel Lee White, Colin Carlton, Ruth Sullivan, Alexandra Cipolla, Alexander Lewis, Rich Tretheway, Brandon Luis Aponte, Alex Aponte, Peter Morse, David Erin Wilson, Mark Fogarty, Gregory Barbon, Andre Boudreau, Gio Castellano, Mary DeBerry, Timmy DeCoff, Ryan Dempsey, Christopher L.Ferreira, Danielle Gelehrter, Aurora Grabill, Cat Hainfeld, Angela Relucio, Jennifer Scharf
story by Richard Griffin, screenplay by Guy Benoit, Richard Griffin, music by Daniel Hildreth, special makeup effects by Alan August, Chris Russell, miniatures by Jeffrey Long, visual effects by John Dusek
Elvis
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
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Smalltown USA, circa the 1950's - you know the place, nothing's really
going on except for the annual cake competition, nobody's really
suspicious that the bicycle repair shop is really an army testing facility
or wonders about the frequent atomic tests taking place in the area, there
is an unfounded concern that the Russkies will invade any day now ... but
until that happens, the local Ladies Guild has nothing to really care
about but the fact that Elvis (Brandon Luis Aponte) is going to play in
the city tomorrow - because that's of course much more of a worry than a
few kids who have gone missing recently and the meteor that has crashed
into the earth a few days ago ... actually, it was an alien spaceship, but
nobody but O'Brien (Rich Tretheway), the town weirdo, actually gives a
shit, and if the town weirdo is worried, why should anyone else be? In
front of this backdrop, nerdy highschool student Sherman (David Lavallee
jr) is madly in love with classmate, smart girl Betty (Sarah Nicklin), but
he faces fierce competition from picturebook greaser (and origami lover)
Lukas (Michael Reed) - whom Betty actually couldn't care about less, but
Lukas could still kick Sherman's ass. So when Betty volunteers to head a
searchparty to find the missing kids - not knowing that they were killed
by aliens that look like brains with eyes though -, Sherman sees his
chance and volunteers to go with her. Romance is in the air when another
UFO lands on earth, right in front of Sherman and Betty, containing a very
humanoid male alien (Alexander Lewis) and two cheerleader-like females
(Ruth Sullivan, Alexandra Cipolla). These aliens, it turns out, have only
come to see Elvis perform, while the other brain-with-eyes aliens want to
kidnap Elvis - and eventually, Sherman, Betty and Lukas find themselves in
the thick of it ... and Elvis actually turns up, too. And somehow the
army, locally represented by Lukas' dad (David Erin Wilson) is involved
too ... and an atom bomb ... and a very small UFO ... and the love of
O'Brien's life - and all of this of course leads to utter chaos ... I
think above synopsis already makes it clear that Atomic Brain Invasion
is an hommage to 1950's science fiction, alien invasion and monster
cinema, and one with its tongue firmly in cheek. But that this film works
is mainly due to the fact that it tries (and succeeds) to tell an original
story rather than relying too much on the formula of old and fill the rest
up with fart jokes. Plus, despite the utter silliness of the plot as such,
the film's actual jokes as well as its directorial effort as such are
subtle enough to not just kick the film over the top. And some loving
sets, costumes, miniatures and the like, as well as hilarious rubber mask
aliens make this one great retro fun. Recommended!
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