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July 23, 2011

Movie Review: There's Nothing Out There


If you read the back cover of Troma's new two-disc special edition of Rolfe Kanefsky's, There's Nothing out There you'll see an interesting blurb from genre writer, Joe Bob Briggs. Briggs sites how Scream director, Kevin Williamson may have pilfered one of the titular characters in Kanefsky's film. Mike (Craig Peck), is a horror aficionado and is amazingly similar to Jamie Kennedy's, Randy. Whether Williamson did, is up to the viewer. What better way to draw interest for a little seen horror film from the early '90s with some scandal?

Buy There's Nothing Out There on DVD

Mike and three extremely horny couples venture off to a secluded house deep in the woods. Recently a woman has gone missing so Mike's suspicions and horror film references start to make their way into film.Of course none of the couple really care because all they want to do is get naked and fuck till dawn. Our virgin hero might just be onto something. Between some thankfully gratuitous t&a a few of the vacationers become dinner for a slimy, toothy extra-terrestrial lifeform roaming the nearby woods.



Before to long the creature finds its way into the house. This part of the film was fun. It kind if reminded me of Douglas McKeown's, Deadly Spawn with the E.T home invasion. While not as gory, There's Nothing Out There has its splashy moments that include some graphic alien bites and nifty decapitation courtesy of a screen door. Kanefsky's does a nice with the look of the film. There are some fun transitions like a clever time-;lapse while the kids are driving through the woods. A little Sam Raimi is also thrown in. The alien is really pretty cheap looking but in a lot of ways it adds an extra ridiculousness to the film that may or may induce chuckles out of the viewer. I laughed, but I laugh at Coleman Francis films.


Troma and Kanefsky if compiled a vast amount of extras for the DVD release. Everything is spread out over two discs so it's kind of surprising that this feature wasn't another volume in the Tromasterpiece series. Here's what you get as far as supplements: Interviews, two commentaries ( one from the original release and a new one with Kanefsky flying solo), Pre-Production footage, stills, trailers, auditions. Behind the scenes, the usual Troma intros and a couple of entertaining shorts from Kanaefsy.

Mood Boobs is one of the shorts on the set and it caught me by surprise by how enjoyable it was. It stars Tiffany Shepis surrounds the effects that this mysterious stone has one women's breasts. We also get some behind-the-scenes as well for this wacky short. Kanefsky's solo commentary is another bright spot on the set. The director doesn't seem bothered by the similarities to Scream; he's actually very appreciative of that film's success and how allowed him to make more films because of how the comedy/horror aspect worked. Those wanting a sequel to There's Nothing Out There will also be pleased when he covers some specifics from the script.

The presentation is very good. There are no noticeable blemishes or wear on the print. It's quite colorful.and the source material used for the telecine appears to be an excellent shape. The audio is solid though I did notice some slight issues the voices of the actors but overall it sounds fine.


There's Nothing Out There certainly has it's charm. With the addition of gratuitous boobage and a goofy monster to the the fairly routine horror movie plot - you get an entertaining, frequently funny little creature-feature.

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