Movie Spotlight - "It Came Without Warning" (1980)

"It Came Without Warning" has a very interesting story. Released in 1980 it is a combination of sci-fi/horror/slasher.

The basic premise is that there is an 8 foot tall blue skinned alien with a giant bulbous head that is hanging around in the woods near this lake hunting people down for sport. He throws little frisbee like discs that have teeth and creepy looking feelers and if they land on someone the feelers penetrate the skin and begin to suck the blood from the victim, unto death. It is rather silly but the effects are kind of cool. They achieve a rather gross effect in which it appears that ketchup and mustard are pouring out of the frisbee alien attached to the human. There is the pre-requisite group of young people that are heading out to the lake for a fun filled time, led by an extremely young David Caruso in his first feature film appearance. He is also wearing some shorts that would make Daisy Duke blush. It doesn't take long for the action to get going and the happy group of youths are turned unhappy in short order. We see numerous deaths and near deaths at the hand of the alien, who is shown mostly in shadow and obscured until near the end of the movie. His appearance is actually more effective when left in the shadows. Not the greatest looking monster, but not bad overall. This movie features several name actors for a B-Movie, though they are past their prime. Martin Landau is a former army guy named Sarge, who is the local crazy that tells all the townsfolk about the alien, to no avail. Jack Palance is a hunter that is on the trail of the alien. Palance is in good form in his part. Just crazy enough to get the job done. Cameron Mitchell and Larry Storch also make short appearances in this film, like I said, not bad for a small budget. The other noteworthy item is that many say that the basic story for "Predator" was lifted from this movie, then tweaked a bit. I don't know if that is true, but there are definite similarities. What is interesting on this front is that Kevin Peter Hall plays the giant blue alien, and years later also portrays the Predator. Without Warning is decent entertainment that drags through a somewhat slow middle section. Overall it is worth a viewing as long as your expectations are tempered going in. Not classic, but kind of fun for fans of this type of cinema. Captain Creepy hopes everyone enjoys Without Warning.