5.09.2014

Bad Movie Night: The Visitor

Drafthouse Films DVD/Blu-ray Cover

1979
Directed by: Giulio Paradisi
Category: Sci-Fi, Horror, Action, Suspense, Thriller, Etc.

Every so often a film comes along and just completely blows your mind. The Visitor is that film. Long an underrated and overlooked piece of 70's Italian cheese that nobody ever talked about, or even knew existed. That is until Drafthouse Films picked it up and released it under their banner theatrically and then onto DVD and Blu-ray this past year, exposing the world to the insane onslaught of weirdness that is The Visitor.

I don't even know where to begin. The Visitor is just about the greatest things I've ever seen in my life and one of the best film experiences I've ever had. It's fucking nuts, insane, weird, beautiful, unintentionally hilarious and brilliant all at the same time. Words alone cannot describe the experience of watching one of the best examples of WTF?! Cinema in recent history. It's an assault of the senses. You just need to experience it for yourself, and you'll thank me later.

This was one of those rare examples where I just knew I was going to love it, so not knowing too much about it forked out my hard earned dough and bought the Blu-ray. After having my mind blown, I've since watched the interviews included in the Special Features and done some reading on those involved and it's quite a doozy. Logistically, The Visitor makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. It appears that they took a couple of the biggest films out at the time, like The Exorcist, The Birds, The Fury, The Omen, Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind among others, mixed them together to create some visually stunning sequences and then made shit up to fill in the blanks. Yes, I said Star Wars. Even then, it's one of the biggest head-scratching experiences you will ever have. Don't bother trying to figure it out, because it's a lost cause. Just go with the flow and enjoy the ride.

Mondo's Limited Edition Poster
The sheer talent involved in this is just insane. In front of the camera, it stars Lance Henriksen, John Huston
(yes, the famous director) as an intergalactic warrior, Glenn Ford, Shelley Winters, Sam Peckinpah (yes, another famous director), Mel Ferrer and Franco Nero who appears briefly as a God-like character. As far as behind the camera goes, you've a nonsensical script, amazingly stunning visuals that need to be seen to be believed, a kick ass 70's score that kicks in at all the wrong unintentionally hilarious moments and some impressive practical effects and model work. Throw in an insane motorcycle crash and you really do have one of the biggest mind-fuck's you'll probably ever see.

It's best that I just leave it alone now and let you experience this masterpiece of WTF?! Cinema for yourself first-hand. It's like nothing you've ever seen. Drafthouse Films just released a stunning widescreen print on Blu-ray and people, that is the best way to go. If Blu-ray is not your thing, you can stream it on YouTube and Amazon for a cheap fee. But seriously folks, this is hands down a "purchase". I know I'll be showing this to all my friends for Bad Movie Night for years to come.

Now, the story, if you can call it that, is hard to decipher. But Drafthouse Films has done a good job of trying their hardest to put one together so here's their own synopsis of this Italian classic:

John Huston stars as an intergalactic warrior who joins a cosmic Christ figure in battle against a demonic 8-year-old girl, and her pet hawk, while the fate of the universe hangs in the balance. Multi-dimensional warfare, pre-adolescent profanity and brutal avian attacks combine to transport the viewer to a state unlike anything they've experienced... somewhere between Hell and the darkest reaches of outer space.

To wet your appetite, feast your eyes on this trailer and prepare to have your mind blown.

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