Wonderful character development!

People are voting emotionally.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Holy Sh*t. This might be the most perfect film ever made.It's definitely the best worst film you'll ever see.The sanitation department on the planet Pluton has accidentally sent a rogue beam of waste towards the planet Earth. And it just so happens to hit the Putterman family's new satellite dish...unleashing an insatiable monstrous beast into their television transmissions.To counter this mistake, the alien sanitation worker has been sending a warning to the satellites of Earth, telling them of his error, and what they must do in order to protect themselves- disconnect all their television and satellite systems for 200 years. Though, everybody just thinks it's part of some sort of bizarre sci-fi movie.Only the doomsday prepper grandpa- who sells lizard tail jerky (the truly replenishable food supply)- and his grandpa's boy grandson, Sherman, are paranoid enough to take the ominous warning seriously...and they are fully equipped for the job.While his parents are out swinging (and I don't mean dancing...), and his sister is out with her punk rocker boyfriend...the monster beams itself out of their TV, and into their home...eating grandpa and the TV repair guy. Leaving Sherman to fend for himself.He does call for help...but everyone just thinks he's crazy...a liar...or off his meds...The monster continues to move in and out of the house...as the mom and dad bring their new "Greek" swinger friends back to their swinger's paradise. However, they are all eaten by the monster- who is then able to crudely mimic their form.His sister and her boyfriend return a short while later...and actually manage to make friends with the monster...even starting to train him.Apparently, seeing OD's (her sister's boyfriend) studs calms the monster, because it reminds it of someone who cared for it when it was young.They also use TV to keep it entertained and somewhat submissive.It eventually gets to the point where they are planning to cash in on their "ownership" of the monster, by putting it on television. But, long before that has a chance to happen, it goes to commercials...and the monster loses it's cool. Eating OD in the process.Now, they know it is way too unstable to keep around as a pet, or for show. So, alls that is left is to destroy it...if they can...I said it before, but I'll say it again...this is cheese perfected.Every character in this film is awesome. From the as*hole TV repair guy; to the promiscuous mom and her sex driven husband; the blonde bimbo and her bisexual partner- who is more into Sherman's dad, than mom; OD and Sherman's badass sister, with her sexy 80's hair-do; the doomsday prepper grandpa; Medusa...but especially, little Sherman, whose grown up in a very sexually explicit environment...around a lot of guns.The acting and dialogue in this are pure cheese...but in the best possible way. So many great one-liners, like: "Holy Tomato!", "This is the dumbest movie I ever saw."...and my personal favourite, "this dude's into metal!!!".The monster is also pretty sweet. Has lot's of extendable appendages, with which to attack people.And the way it kills and consumes it's victims is really quite imaginative. It extends a claw which it uses to inject something into it's victims, causing them to dissolve into a green go, that is then licked up by the monster.And to top it all off...the ending is amazing. They seed an idea throughout the film, then use it to trick you into thinking their is going to be a cliché twist.But there's not...just pure twisted cheesy fun!!! 10 out of 10.

We're introduced to a family brimming with all the worst trappings of the 1980's; the clichés have been elevated to the absurd and it's to the director, Ted Nicolaou's, credit that, in 1986, he was able to poke so much fun at the decade without the benefit of hindsight. The result is an off-the-wall comedy that feels like a 1950's monster movie, staring 'Leave it to Beaver', as filtered through 'Adult Swim'.The daughter, Suzy, played by Diane Frankin ('Better Off Dead' / 'Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'), has the hair and make-up of an animated Cindy Lauper and an over-the-top valley-girl gab. A very young Chad Allen (you'll recognize him from nearly every family TV show of the late 80's and early 90's), is the war-game-obsessed son. The mother, played by the always fantastic Mary Woronov (Roger Corman's poster girl and star of 'Eating Raoul'), is a distant, self-involved socialite more interested in her exercise videos than her kids. Gerrit Graham ('Phantom of the Paradise' / 'Demon Seed'), hams it up as the swinging (literally) father always on the lookout for the next big thing. Rounding out the family is Grampa, the paranoid vet with a bomb shelter in the basement (Bert Remsen – 'Nashville' / 'Places in the Heart') and Suzy's boyfriend, 'O.D.', the tweaked metal-head dropout played buy 1980's staple, Jon Gries ('Real Genius' / 'Running Scared'). Together, this group inhabits a home that looks like a cross between a sex spa and a Patrick Nagel exhibition on ecstasy.Wacky from minute one (the theme song being one of the film's high points), the family has just hooked up their new satellite dish while, simultaneously, far across the cosmos, a creature that can only be described as a booger with eyes, is being transported in exile by a humanoid-lizard alien that we don't learn much more about until the film's climax. The monster is mistakenly transmitted to the family's satellite dish and has the ability to escape at will from their TV sets. Nonsense ensues as the monster is able, by transforming its tongue, to impersonate the face and voice of anyone it kills.The film never really crosses into any straight genre and manages to hover, quite proudly, over 'wonderfully weird'. If all of Hollywood had ostracized, instead of embraced, Tim Burton, this is the kind of live-action cartoon he'd be making.

Enjoyment of this ultra-cheesy sci-fi / horror / comedy depends on one's tolerance for complete and total silliness, shamelessly hammy performances, and an aggressively tacky visual approach. This is indeed utter garbage, but it may prove to be irresistible to some B movie fanatics. After all, everything about it just screams the 1980s. The special effects are very, very crude but very, very amusing, and there's absolutely no shortage of slime as this daft story plays out. It gets off to a good start with a catchy title tune performed by The Fibonaccis, then proceeds to descend into cartoonish lunacy.A great big gross creature - looking like a cross between a bulldog and a toad - is disposed of by aliens on a distant planet and is beamed down to Earth by the satellite dish of goof ball swinger Stanley Putterman (Gerrit Graham, who takes the overacting honours). The movie mostly deals with the reactions of Stanley's family and assorted others as the creature goes about its business of gobbling up everything in sight.Certainly this has got a fine B movie cast going for it. The always welcome cult icon Mary Woronov plays Stanley's wife Raquel, Chad Allen and the delightful, foxy Diane Franklin are their kids Sherman and Suzy, Jon Gries is dorky metal head O.D., Bert Remsen is the nutty Grampa who swears by lizard tails, Alejandro Rey and Randi Brooks are swinging couple Spiro and Cherry, Sonny Carl Davis is the hapless Norton, Ian Patrick Williams pops by briefly as police officer Nutky, and the ubiquitous Frank Welker does the voice of the monster.In addition to the aforementioned song, there's a decent score by Richard Band, impressive production design and set decoration, and lots of effects; the creature itself is the work of John Carl Buechler and his crew at MMI.Objectively speaking, it's not exactly a "good" movie, but it is fun, and may serve as a real blast from the past for people who just ate up stuff like this when it was new.Six out of 10.

TerrorVision (1986) *** (out of 4)A father (Gerrit Graham) installs a new satellite TV system and before long it crosses paths with some aliens who decide to pay a visit and cause all sort of bodily harm. TERRORVISION comes from Empire Studios, which was the original home name for Charles Band and it actually turned out to be much better than I was expecting. If you're wanting a straight science fiction film then you're going to be highly disappointed because this thing is silly, over-the-top and pretty much pokes fun of the genre. I think what really kept this film so entertaining is that you never know where it was going to go. At times it's just a spoof of the genre that's winking at the viewer and there are other times where it goes so wild with goo that you can't help but really laugh. I thought the monster itself was classic because it seemed like an obese E.T. that has goo coming out of it and some brown stuff that looks like he had way too many refried beans. The creature was so memorable and especially with its deformed eyes, the extra "eye" and of course there's that tongue, which seems to be in a mouth with such bad breathe that you can smell it through your TV screen. Another major plus were the death scenes, which were quite gory. There's really not any blood on display but there's all sorts of slime that comes oozing out of the creature after he gets done eating people. Another good thing going are the characters, which seem to have been an early version of the ones we'd see the following year on 'Married with Children.' I say this because the parents are swingers constantly bringing people back to the house and even old grandpa isn't all there in the head. The daughter (Diane Franklin) has her hair colored just about everything you'd see in the rainbow and even the small brother (Chad Allen) is pretty strange. They're strange but incredibly likable and they certainly add charm to the picture. We even get Sonny Carl Davis who most will remember as the breakfast guy from FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH. This film certainly has its tongue planted firmly you know where but this is what makes it so much fun. You even get to see aliens watching stuff like ROBOT MONSTER and EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, which is pretty interesting.