Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

The Alien Factor (1978) ** 1/2 (out of 4) A spaceship crash lands in a small town and sure enough before long there's a creature out killing people. It takes a while for the Mayor (how original) to believe what's going on but soon the whole town has to try and destroy the creature.THE ALIEN FACTOR isn't a movie for people who like high art or just has a hatred for low-budget movies. I mean, if you're looking for a good quality movie then you're really not going to find it here. What you do get are some pretty campy moments and a film that's basically a throwback to the monster movies of the 1950s. If you're a fan of stuff like THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD, IT CONQUERED THE WORLD or IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE then you'll probably enjoy this film.With that said, it's important to remember that THE ALIEN FACTOR was shot on a very low-budget and there are certainly countless flaws with the picture. I thought the film managed to be fun because it didn't take itself too serious and you could tell that the filmmakers had a love for the genre and just wanted to make a monster movie. The monster itself looks rather silly but that just adds to the fun as it goes from one victim to the next. There's no gore to be had but this too just makes it play like a movie from previous decades.Performances certainly aren't anything special and technically there's nothing overly impressive. Again, this isn't a movie about quality. Instead THE ALIEN FACTOR is just a cheap movie that offers up some entertainment as long as you don't take it too seriously.

THE ALIEN FACTOR is my first exposure to the no-budget sci-fi works of auteur Don Dohler, and coincidentally it's his first film as director. People are criticising this for being goofy, amateurish, filmmaking at its worst, but to them I say go and watch the works of a contemporary - like Robert Emenegger's BEYOND THE UNIVERSE - see how corny and plain boring they are - and then criticise this one. Dohler knows how to entertain, and that's the important thing.The plotting in THE ALIEN FACTOR is pure hokum, of course, involving various alien monsters roaming around in the woods and the efforts of local townsfolk to kill them. The acting is amateur level, as you'd expect, and the production values are just about adequate given the film's lack of budget and expertise. And yet how can you not like this? The pacing is fast, the alien costumes are a hoot, and the lo-fi special effects are a delight to watch. There's even a tragic climax that I didn't expect to be moved by. If you're any kind of a fan of low budget filmmaking, I'd recommend giving Dohler's work a chance - you might just enjoy it...

As a fan of B-movies, particularly creature features and alien flicks, I couldn't pass up the chance to see this one. In fine B-movie tradition it starts with a young couple necking in a car, and within seconds a monster shows up and offs the boyfriend. From there on in we're treated to many more movie clichés as the movie lurches to it's conclusion 80 minutes later, leaving a trail of dead yokels in it's wake. Fair enough.First off, no one sets out to make a bad movie. Even with a nano-budget, the film makers clearly tried their best with what they had, and the cast members who have posted here confirm this. The premise of the movie had great potential; a UFO carrying a variety of deadly alien beasts crash lands in an autumnal forest outside Dullsville USA where they proceed to whack the locals in various setups. The local law are baffled until a two-fisted scientist shows up to set things right.Unfortunately, it's the direction that does for this movie, not the plot, not the cardboard effects nor the plywood acting. Literally within a minute he has revealed the first monster in broad daylight, removing any possible suspense about either the identity of the killer or what the monster looks like. Rather than teasing us with the bad guys and hiding their badly made costumes, we are shown in detail how bad they are. The pacing is often glacial, the music choices baffling and grating, and many scenes are just padding which kill any momentum that might just have been built up.Yes, the acting is amateurish and the dialogue is pretty stilted, but in the hands of a competent director this could have been another classic like Halloween, rather than a cult classic known only to a few fans of the genre. It's worth a look just to see how it should not be done, and is quite a good laugh if you're an MST3K fan.

From start to stop, this movie never ceased to hold my attention... because of all the campy things that butt up against one another. This movie has some of the roughest cuts between scenes that I have ever seen. The kicker was watching the credits and seeing all the Dohlers and Cosentinos that were involved in the production... making it clear that this was a true family/friend movie production.But it's not all bad; I think this movie may have had a chance if it weren't for the one thing that everyone lacked: PASSION. There were only a couple moments where people seemed to have any emotional connection to their characters. I LOVE the cars in the movie... especially that VW Squareback at the beginning.What struck me as the most hysterical is the big brown alien; it is clear that this was a man in a suit on stilts... if not, it what else would those awkward bulges be on the back of the legs? And of course, what is with that music? very weird music. Especially when the two men were walking up a hill to look at the crash wreckage and those three instruments were seemingly playing at random.Definitely a movie for those who like the old style movies that are full of obvious problems.