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It Came From Uranus! (2007)

It Came
From Uranus!

Although S&N Films doesn't specialize in campy, black & white 1950s Sci-Fi parodies, they certainly hit the mark with It Came From Uranus!  At first glance it seemed that this movie was thrown together by first time filmmakers with no budget who just got lucky and accidentally made a really good indi film.  However, I suspect that writer / director / actor Steven J. Niles and Producer / Editor / Cinematographer Kevin D. Spotts tricked me.  I think they had everything under control the whole time.   One look at the long list of films that they have made makes it instantly obvious that all of the bad acting, cheap sets and low budget special effects were 100% intentional and only help to recreate the vibe of the classic "bad' Sci-Fi cinema they were parodying.  Either way, It Came From Uranus stands out as being an independently made movie that is actually fun to watch!

A chunk of Uranus has broken off of the planet and is headed for earth.  A group of scientists who have discovered the potential calamity are the Earth's only hope.  Together with a spunky female journalist, they fearlessly blast off in a rocket designed for just such and emergency to save us from impending doom.  Although they are quickly able to destroy the majority of the debris from Uranus, a flying castle full of buxom beauties has caught our heroes rocket and forces them onto the planet.  Our heroes must escape the clutches of the dastardly amazons while battling all manner of strange and bizarre creatures.  Will our heroes survive?  Will the Earth be safe from a danger even more perilous than destruction by debris from Uranus?  Tune in to find out the answers to these questions and more!

Robots made out of trash cans, space ships on strings and guy in a gorilla suit come together in a movie clearly influenced by a more innocent time in Hollywood.  Ed Wood would call it genius!  The fact that some of the sexual innuendo and subtle humor could be delivered with a straight face is just more evidence that the cast of this movie really can act.  Andy LaRue did a great job playing Dr. Craddock, the fearless man's man who looks danger in the eye through a pair of stylish aviator sunglasses.  Jef Kelly also delivered a standout performance as the naive genius, Dr. Grove.  The sets were campy and fun.  Even though the story was a bit strange, it almost had to be strange to keep with the style.

The movie did have its shortcomings.  Some of the computer graphics distracted from the vintage feel of the movie.  Similarly, the soundtrack was often too modern sounding for a classic era film.  Although the story does work in terms of a parodying the 1950s Sci-Fi classics, I think there were still some problems with the flow and the story could have been better while still keeping true to the feel of the old Flash Gordon serials.  In terms of acting, I understand that a lot of the overacting was intentional.  It's clear that it was supposed to be stylized.  However, some of the actors didn't quite nail the parts.  In fact, there were a few cast members who's truly bad acting took some of the fun away from the intentional, well crafted "bad" acting.  

In spite of it's limitations, It Came From Uranus was still a lot better than the average independently created film.  If you are a fan of the old 50s Sci-Fi series like Flash Gordon or the classic "bad" movies of Ed Wood, I would recommend checking out this film.

Gore-o-meter rating: 0 out of 5 (Absolutely NO gore)

Skin-o-meter: 0 out of 5 (Absolutely NO nude babes)