Alien from L.A.

Alien from L.A.

One-sheet for Alien from L.A.
Directed by Albert Pyun
Produced by Yoram Globus
Written by Regina Davis
Albert Pyun
Debra Ricci
Starring Kathy Ireland
William R. Moses
Richard Haines
Don Michael Paul
Thom Mathews
Janet Du Plessis
Simon Poland
Music by Jim Andron
Simon LeGassick
Anthony Riparetti
James Saad
Cinematography Tom Fraser
Edited by Daniel Loewenthal
Distributed by The Cannon Group
MGM (current)
Release dates
 February 26, 1988
Running time
 87 min
Country United States
Language English

Alien From L.A. is a 1988 science fiction film that stars Kathy Ireland as a young woman who visits the underground civilization of Atlantis. The film was featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Plot

Wanda Saknussemm (Ireland) is a nerdy social misfit with large glasses and a squeaky voice who lives in Los Angeles and works at a diner. After being dumped by her boyfriend for "not having a sense of adventure", Wanda is informed by a letter that her father, an archaeologist, has died. She flies to northern Africa and while going through her father's belongings, she finds his notes about Atlantis, apparently an alien ship that crashed millennia ago and sank into the center of the Earth. Wanda comes across a chamber beneath her father's apartment and accidentally sets off a chain of events that ultimately cause her to fall into a deep hole.

An unharmed Wanda wakes up deep within the Earth to find Gus (William R. Moses), a miner whom she protects from being slain by two people. Gus, who has a very inconsistent Australian accent, agrees to help Wanda find her father, whom she believes is alive and trapped underground. Wanda soon discovers that both she and her father are believed to be spies planning an invasion of Atlantis. During her adventures, Wanda's appearance changes from nerdy to attractive (by removing her glasses and using a steam vent to clean her skin). People from the surface world are referred to as "aliens" by Atlanteans, and when Wanda is overheard talking about Malibu Beach by a low-life informant (Janie Du Plessis), she soon becomes a hunted woman and must dodge efforts at capture, both from the mysterious "Government House" and from thugs in the pay of the crime lord Mambino (Deep Roy). Much mention of Wanda's "big bones" are made during these sequences.

Wanda's efforts at escape are aided by Charmin (Thom Matthews), a handsome rogue who (briefly) assists her flight and falls for Wanda. She is ultimately captured by the evil General Pykov (Du Plessis again), who wants to kill both Wanda and her incarcerated father. The Atlantean leader decides to free Wanda and her father, provided they remain quiet about Atlantis. Gus shows up and helps the duo escape while fighting off General Pykov and her soldiers. Wanda and her father board a ship that takes them back to the surface and the film ends with Wanda on the beach, wearing a bikini and a sarong. She refuses the advances of her ex-boyfriend and is soon reunited with Charmin, who inexplicably appears on a motorcycle.

Cast

Production

The film was mostly shot in Johannesburg, at producer Avi Lerner's studio, plus additional shooting in Durban, South Africa and Swakopmund, Namibia. Locations ranged from South Africa's deep digging mines and gold fields both on the outskirts of Johannesburg. There was one additional day of shooting at a safari complex near Pretoria. While scouting and shooting, director Albert Pyun felt acutely uncomfortable as a non-white being the head of a largely white crew. The company flew to Namibia in a DC-30 cargo plane which landed on a dirt landing strip outside Windhoek, Namibia. The most of the Namibia shoot took place in and around the old German colonial town of Swakopmund, Namibia. Company also shot along the famed Skeleton coast of Namibia.

Reception

The film was featured in a 1993 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.[1] This episode was released in March 2013 by Shout! Factory.

References

  1. ↑ Alien from L.A. at the Internet Movie Database

External links