What makes it different from others?

Absolutely brilliant

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

HUGE SPOILER...It was sweet that they gave the central character, the actor Micky Hayes, the part. He was good considering the rest of the garbage that surrounds him, except Jack Elam...the only highlight of the film. You know by seeing him that he is the boy that made the talk show circuit back in the eighties when they tried bringing attention to his disease. They say he got the role through Make a Wish...which makes me wonder if they wrote the part for him. But, as I said, aside from all this and Jack Elam, the movie was horrible. The acting was way sub par. The audio kept dropping out and the special effects were despicable. Hard to believe the teacher is really flying her bike/airplane when you see that cable hoister her into the air, not to mention the numerous cables hoisting up the spaceship. I know this was before digital painting...but these were so obvious...no doubt hoping your imagination would erase them. Didn't work for me. I am a HUGE sci fi fan, but this is the kind of movie that gives sci fi a bas rap. Don't waste your time...even those horrible B movies out there are eons ahead of this. The Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman looks like Shakespeare compared to this little...gem. Speaking of Gem's, the little alien leaves these baseball sized jewels around when he gets out of his space ship. That's how you call him, so the school teacher takes apart a hurricane lamp that has those little prism teardrops on it, hands them out to the towns people, and there is the whole town holding up these little things hoping to call him...only to get shot by another bad actor. Even Dottie West, God rest her soul, should have stuck to singing, not acting. You can almost see everybody looking at the filming crew waiting for the instructions on what to do next. Like I said....wow.

The plot of this movie is based on a supposed UFO crash that occurred in 1897 in Aurora, Texas (now debunked by most people who study the subject of UFO's) where it is claimed a UFO hit a windmill and the pilot was given a "Christian Burial" by the townsfolk of the Texas Community. (Such stories were common in 1897, where reporters just made stuff up rather than actually report the news, unlike what happens today cough:not really:Cough) The plot, such as it is, is confused and non-linear. The acting is sub-par at best.It starred Spanky McFarland of Little Rascals fame in one of his few adult roles (and proves why the guy's career ended at puberty). It also starred a young actor who got the role of the alien because of the Make A Wish foundation and his condition of premature aging.The Special Effects are laughable. (You can tell the "Flying Saucer" was in fact a vehicle lifted on some kind of crane.) How the guys at Mystery Science Theatre missed this one is beyond me. It was right up their alley.

Thirty years ago I read a historical account in UFO literature where a spacecraft crashed into a windmill in a small Texas town back in the late 19th century. The townsfolk found a dead little occupant in the wreckage and gave him a "decent Christian burial". This is the jist of the original story that inspired this film. Everything else in the movie has been added for dramatic effect. One other thing---the place where the alien was supposedly buried has this kind of weird colored fungus or lichen that grows on top of the ground that can't be killed. I saw a picture of the landowner kneeling by the spot. I guess no one ever thought to exhume the grave to find out the truth of the whole matter. And whatever happened to the spaceship wreckage? I thought the movie was very long, dry and boring, the only exception being the little alien scenes.

I was only 11 years old when I saw this movie in the theatre, and it remains the only movie I've ever walked out of. You would think that aliens flying around in spaceships would entertain a young boy, but I was bored to death. Terrible acting, no intrigue, painful acting. I almost want to see it again just to confirm its awfulness.