Another Plan From Outer Space (2018)

In previous reviews, my intentional avoidance and dislike of watching film trailers prior to watching a film in this day and age has been discussed. In the case of Another Plan From Outer Space, I considered doing some research and watching a couple of the director’s previous works before sitting down to watch the subject of this review. When I realised that director Lance Polland is known for “shock-schlock” type of films, namely Crack Whore (2012) and Werewolves in Heat (2015), I decided to instead go straight into Another Plan From Outer Space without any further unnecessary prejudice. Probably a wise decision.

It can be forgiven if one assumes Polland‘s previous two titles to be, to put it delicately, of the B-Grade variety, where the “B” refers to the tendency to put blood and boobs above a tight script and interesting plot. I could be wrong, but I would somewhat confidently guess that they are unlikely to be my cup of tea. Going into viewing Another Plan From Outer Space with some unavoidable prejudice/expectance as a result of his previous work was an absolute positive in this case, as Another Plan was nothing like I would imagine the previous two to be. Judging from the title, I half-expected Another Plan From Outer Space to be some kind of nod to Ed Wood, director of Plan 9 From Outer Space and notorious for some below-par films, almost-lovingly dubbed by some as the “worst director of all-time”. However, the film proved to be a much more carefully constructed piece, paying homage to B-Grade Sci-Fi with a strong Twilight Zone (Rod Serling‘s original version) feel. This film is definitely more low budget indie than it is the aforementioned B-Grade, which places a very positive light on it.

Another Plan From Outer Space, in some ways, seems a little schizophrenic with some technical aspects feeling somewhat uneven. Those, in my opinion, are more a reflection of a tight budget and the resulting short production time than of subpar execution. The film being in black and white and its desert location are perfectly utilised to give the film a more wide open, less one-location, feel. The camera work by Vito Trabucco, while overall very competent, does somewhat falter at times, yet I’m not sure any blame can be put on anyone when knowing that the film was reportedly shot in a very tight schedule of less than ten days (eight day principal shoot plus an additional day at a later date) as well as the “homage to a distant past” factor, which may have required the use of more old-style techniques.

Some scenes drag a little longer than needed, which is an editing issue and it looks like the film may have benefitted from a tougher edit by Polland (also on editor duties here), perhaps shaving up to ten minuts of the current 98-minute runtime.

The acting is excellent for the most part, with a few slips-ups in certain spots. Those are sometimes due to the feeling that certain scenes were a little short on shooting time and needed to move on, so… fewer takes. The cast consists of Scott Sell, Jessica Morris, Augie Duke, Hans Hernke and Minchi Murakami, who together occupy the large majority of the runtime. They all have some very well performed scenes and some falter slightly in certain moments. The characters that connected most with me and thus stood out a little more than the rest were those of Duke, Morris and Hernke, being more relatable, whether as hero or somewhat villainous characters.

The script, also by Polland, in my mind, was overall interesting and mostly entertaining. It is ambitious and daring in many ways, which to me is almost always a good thing. The film begins with a ‘foreign planet survival’ type of feel, which along with the black and white setting, was reminiscent of one of my all-time favourite Sci-Fi films, David Twohy‘s Pitch Black (2000). The dialogue, however, was a little bit clunky at times, which caused some awkward delivery of lines here and there, though it did not disturb the film’s flow much. I do think that an extra draft of the script would have helped the film immensely, however we are talking about indie here and sometimes, we just don’t have that privilege and I may just be nitpicking here. This could be just a personal preference issue.

The soundtrack by Alessio Fidelbo was beautifully composed and suits the film and the Twilight Zone reference really well. It further expressed the vision and ambition of this film to be more than just another sci-fi indie and that feeling came across really well. The opening and closing credits (hint: keep watching to the end) were also nicely done but I will not spoil with details and leave you to experience it all for yourselves.

In summary, Another Plan From Outer Space is a worthy indie sci-fi feature, with a touch of horror element, that should entertain most and may even pick up a cult-like audience due to the genre, subject matter and general feel. The ambition here goes even further, as apparently, there is a sequel in the works should funding come through, which would be a very interesting prospect with Polland again at the helm. I’m all for it! There is even a line of toys repersenting the film planned for release later this year. Judging by the so-far successful festival run with several awards already in hand, as well as Worldwide VOD Distribution deal with Bounty Films from Australia, I’d say a sequel is warranted.

Full of indie spirit and highly ambitious with a commendable result! 7.5/10.