Roy Hart
If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.
Woodyanders
A genuine rarity, this one: a truly good, funny, even smart and respectful send-up of low-rent tacky'n'terrible cheesy backwoods-set teens-in-peril fright films that effectively pokes fun at assorted clichéd'n'contrived horror movie conventions without ever becoming the least bit cutesy or condescending towards its Grade B schlock picture subject matter. Writer/director Rolfe Kanefsky's droll, low-key, properly straight-faced and restrained style never devolves into the overly broad or excessive, instead nicely maintaining a dryly deadpan and ingratiatingly affectionate tone throughout.The slyly generic plot concerns three libidinous high school student couples and token fear flick fanatic Mike (winningly played by Craig Peck, who's really goofy, but thankfully none too annoying) vacationing in a remote wilderness area. Said secluded forest proves to be the stalking grounds for a slimy, toothy, grody little lethal alien frog monster that sees the guys as yummy meals and the gals as ideal mates to reproduce its species with. Mike's comprehensive knowledge on and keen understanding of bromidic horror film banalities, which is initially a source of irritation to the other disbelieving chowder-head collegians, winds up saving the day, much to geeky Mike's own surprise and the viewer's slack-jawed astonishment.A very amusing, enjoyable and mercifully uninsulting spoof (unlike the atrocious "Scream" stinkers, this film never seems either archly ironic or smugly patronizing in its pointed satiric potshots at corny stock characters and tried'n'true standard situations), blessed with witty dialog (Mike has the feature's single most sidesplitting line, tersely commenting after seeing one victim's face melt: "Now, that's disgusting"), personable acting from a cast of deliberately overage thesps who try unsuccessfully to palm themselves off as teenagers (one dude even has thinning hair!), nifty on-target parodies of such groan-inducingly familiar trash horror film ingredients as gratuitous nudity ("It's skinny-dipping time!"), the ever-absurd false cat scare, an especially uproarious swipe at the making hot, passionate love in front of a roaring fire sequence (the guy's zipper gets stuck!), glaring blatant continuity errors, and a hilarious technical gaffe involving a conspicuously visible boom microphone dipping into the frame, crisp, sprightly cinematography by Ed Hershberger, an endearingly cruddy extraterrestrial beast, a rollicking bang-up score by Christopher Thomas, and some gut-busting joke-ridden ending credits, "There's Nothing Out There" overall sizes up as a brisk, frequently riotous, and highly pleasing low-budget (it only cost $350,000 in total) tongue-in-cheek horror film genre lampoon.The first-rate deluxe Special Edition DVD by Image Entertainment offers a fairly grainy, but generally solid and up to par widescreen presentation loaded with a wonderful wealth of awesomely abundant extras which include the theatrical trailer, a still and poster gallery, funky animated menus complete with songs and music from the picture, screen tests, bloopers and rehearsals (the bloopers in particular are an absolute hoot), pre-production footage and storyboards, animation test footage and work print outtakes, and, most savory of all, a very funny, entertaining and informative commentary provided by Kanefsky along with various cast and crew members.
amok1980
Very entertaining movie about seven youngsters (20 somethings cast as high school students) who go on a camping trip to summer house owned by the parents of one of the seven. The main character, Mike, freaks out when he sees a smashed overturned car. He insists that this is the beginning of a weekend of horror. He's right. The usual murder-the-teens plot unfolds, but TNOT keeps it surprisingly well done. The creature and its powers are farfetched, but they work in this film. Even if you don't like anything about this film, Mike's lines will make it worth your time. They're hilarious!8/10
ontheblvd
This is a fun little spoof of the crappy 80's style horror flicks we grew up with... the twist (the same kinda hook that Scream used about five years later) is that the hero is a guy who's seen so many of said crappy horror flicks that he realizes that he might actually be IN a crappy horror flick, then uses it to his advantage.The best news tho is that the new DVD edition of "There's Nothing.." not only has a MUCH better transfer than the earlier video release (and is letterboxed), but also a bunch of fun extras and commentary. The movie is a hoot, and the extras make it even more worthwhile.Sometimes it's fun to kick back with a b-movie that knows it's a b-movie and has fun with that. Low budget and cheesy, but far more fun than most of the Hollywood horror flicks released in the past decade.*** = movie ***** = DVD
Enjoy!
flinnie
I saw this movie one late night on cinemax, and had to own it. It took me over a year to find it for sale. That's how much I love it. The acting isn't that good, except for PECK, but don't let that stop you. Peck's character tells you the signs and rules of horror movies, way before SCREAM. Couple of classic scenes i.e. cat falling from ceiling, actor swinging on a boom mike, and the classic line "The only thing we know about it is it, like everyone else hates a mouth full of shaving cream!" As horror movie I give it -2 stars, as horror spoof +10.
