IT CAME WITHOUT WARNING (First Viewing, German dvd) - 7/10
Jack Palance, Martin Landau, sci-fi horror: the ingredients should make fans of both actors happy. I was quite satisfied as I was expecting more screen time of both actors.
Despite the limitations - particularly in the script, it shows several elements that make it above average: the eerie synthesizer score, the alien's p.o.v. camera shot (it's Halloween's Dean Cundey!), the sense of foreboding throughout the film and the flying "pancakes" that suck !
It's interesting to realize that this and PREDATOR share some things in common. PREDATOR's scriptwriters must have watched this, taken the ideas and rewritten them:
1. A stranded alien that hunts its preys in a woodland; in PREDATOR, the setting is a jungle.
2. The alien hunts, kills and stores the corpses of its victims in a shack; in PREDATOR, the alien kills and collects the skulls of its victims.
3. Four unwary co-eds encounter the alien and are stalked; in PREDATOR, a group of commandos becomes the target.
4. The alien's weapon of choice is flying creatures that suck their victim's blood; in PREDATOR, the weapon shoots laser and is strapped to the alien's shoulder pad.
And the fact that Kevin Peter Hall, who would later become the alien in PREDATOR, is the alien in this film.
A very low budget sci-fi horror flick with some parts that plod along to fill up the run time and not enough screen time for both leading actors. But it manages to entertain.
Jack Palance and Martin Landau are a must-see for their wacky acting. You should see Palance's facial expression when he shouts at the top of his voice "Ali-eeeen..." and runs toward it at the climax of the film
, U=Upgrade 
, R=Replacement for damaged disc 
