Without Warning (1980) (Blu-ray/DVD Review)
Directed By: Greydon Clark
Starring: Jack Palance, Martin Landau, Tarah Nutter
Rated: R/Region A/1:85/1080p/Number of Discs 2
Available from Scream Factory
A group of teenagers head out to the lake for a relaxing camping trip in the mountains. They ignore the warnings of the local truck stop owner and head to their destination. Things go terribly wrong when they run into an extraterrestrial who throws deadly discs that suck the blood of their victims. The group heads back to the truck stop for help from the eclectic group of residents – a crazy war veteran (Martin Landau, Ed Wood) and a determined hunter (Jack Palance, Batman). Also starring David Caruso (NYPD Blue, CSI Miami), Neville Brand (Eaten Alive), Cameron Mitchell (Blood And Black Lace) and Kevin Peter Hall (Predator) as the alien, and directed by Greydon Clark (Joysticks, Satan’s Cheerleaders), this “thematic predecessor to Predator” (FilmFanatic.org) is a non-stop ride into extra-terror-strial mayhem!
Without Warning has a cool concept and it benefits from being an 80s film, because all 80s horror seems to have a great vibe, even when they aren’t THAT good when you really add everything up. I’d say Without Warning would fit into that. It’s a cool concept, when it gets dark the movie seems to be a lot more fun, but there is also a lot lacking that seems to bring it down. I think one of the negatives from the film would be the pace. We see things happen at times that are really cool looking and they are full of gore, but it takes a while in between. The movie slows down at times in attempts to build character and mood, it just doesn’t always seem to work the way they intended. I will say, however, that when things do happen they are pretty fun and look really cool with the blood and alien fluids (we’ll call it that). Especially when we see these things that look like alien starfish thrown at people.
The film has more than pancake-like aliens latching on to people, it also has a boss alien for lake of a better term. I wanted more of THAT alien than we get and when we do get him I’d have liked to have seen him do more. Still, the film isn’t perfect, but it has some cool things to it and has that atmosphere you enjoy from an 80s horror flick. It even has both Jack Palance and Martin Landau, who we’d see later on in Alone in the Dark together. And, to its credit the plot does take a few turns you don’t see. The transfer looks really good, but most of the film is dark so it might not appear at a glance to be as good as it really us unless you’ve seen another format of the film. Detail is there and there isn’t that much film debris to be found.
- Audio Commentary with Producer/Director Greydon Clark
- New Interviews with:
- Cinematographer Dean Cundey
- Co-Writer/Co-Producer Daniel Grodnik
- Special Make-Up Effects Creator Greg Cannom
- Actors Christopher S. Nelson and Tarah Nutter
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Still Gallery
