Without Warning ** (1980, Jack Palance, Martin Landau, Cameron Mitchell, Neville Brand, Ralph Meeker, Sue Ann Langdon, Larry Storch) – Classic Movie Review 13,121

‘The Alien Terror Is Here On Earth.’ The 1980 low-budget sci-fi  horror film Without Warning stars Jack Palance and Martin Landau, with Tarah Nutter and Christopher S Nelson as teenagers Sandy and Greg who go camping and encounter an alien.

‘The Alien Terror Is Here On Earth.’

Producer/ director Greydon Clark’s slack but entertaining enough 1980 American low-budget science fiction horror film Without Warning [It Came Without Warning] stars Jack Palance, Martin Landau, Cameron Mitchell, Neville Brand, Ralph Meeker, Sue Ane Langdon, and Larry Storch. With the 7 ft 2 in tall Kevin Peter Hall as The Alien, it is said to be an inspiration for the 1987 Predator, where the actor also plays an alien hunter.

An alien throws man-eating Frisbees at the inhabitants of a US countryside small town who include venerable Jack Palance as creepy town gas station owner Joe Taylor, Martin Landau as Vietnam war veteran Fred Dobbs, Cameron Mitchell, Neville Brand, and Ralph Meeker, and the young vacationers, including the worryingly named Tarah Nutter, Christopher S Nelson, Lynn Theel, and David Caruso.

Four teenagers – Tom (David Caruso), Greg (Christopher S Nelson), Beth (Lynn Theel) and Sandy (Tarah Nutter) – ignore the warnings and go hiking in the mountains where a father and son have been killed by flying jellyfish-like creatures. The teenagers’ camping ground is the aliens’ hunting ground…

There are more unintentional laughs than frights in a fairly soggy, derivative script (cue inspiration from Alien and Invasion of the Body Snatchers) that is delivered with clumsy but enjoyably gross and gory special effects for horror buffs. However, overall, the daft, antique-style plot and the performances of the welcome old-timers (especially Jack Palance and Martin Landau) help it along and give it a slight touch of class.

Without Warning [It Came Without Warning] is directed by Greydon Clark, runs 89 minutes, is made by World Amusement Partnership #106 and Filmways Inc, is released by Filmways Pictures, is written by Lyn Freeman, Daniel Grodnik, Ben Nett [Bennett Tramer] and Steve Mathis, is shot by Dean Cundey, is produced by Greydon Clark (producer), Lyn Freeman (co-producer), Daniel Grodnik (co-producer), and is scored by Dan Wyman.

The cast are Jack Palance as Joe Taylor, Martin Landau as Fred ‘Sarge’ Dobbs, Neville Brand as Leo, Ralph Meeker as Dave, Cameron Mitchell as Hunter, Tarah Nutter as Sandy, Christopher S Nelson as Greg, Darby Hinton as Randy, David Caruso as Tom, Lynn Theel as Beth, Sue Ane Langdon as Aggie, Larry Storch as Cub Scout Leader, and Kevin Peter Hall as The Alien.

Special effects designer Greg Cannom created the special makeup for the aliens. But the alien head was created by special makeup effects artist Rick Baker. Co-producer /co- writer Daniel Grodnik recalled: ‘It cost me $19,000 to have Rick Baker – in his kitchen – make that alien head. And that was what was used on all the posters and everything else. So, it was worth it.’

The budget was only $150,000, of which $75,000 went to Jack Palance and Martin Landau. It was filmed in three weeks.

The film premiered in in Los Angeles on September 19, 1980, was released in cinemas on 26 September 1980 (New York), and was finally released on home video for the first time on 5 August 2014 through Shout! Factory’s Scream Factory label in a Blu-ray/ DVD double pack.

Dean Cundey’s filmography as cinematographer includes Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980), Escape from New York (1981), The Thing (1982), the Back to the Future trilogy (1985–1990), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Jurassic Park (1993), Apollo 13 (1995), and Garfield: The Movie (2004).

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,121

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