Episode 8

The Alien Factor (1978)

Published on: 11th March, 2022

A story about rubber suit aliens, bad acting, Maryland accents, and a tiny police station.

Listen in as me and returning guest, Kenny, set this interplanetary zoological disaster film under or microscopes.

Written and directed by Maryland’s greatest unknown talent Don Dohler (Blood Massacre, Galaxy Invader, Nightbeast), the Bloody Pit of Horror called the film both “extremely cheap-looking, amateurishly acted, poorly edited and filled with continuity errors” but also said it was “a fun and charming no budget creature feature." Video Religion said "the movie is a significant example of no-budget filmmaking, not because it does an excellent job of hiding its shortcomings, but because it goes all out with what it does have.” That really sums up Don’s work. Might not have had much, but he swung for the fences with what he did.

It tells the story of a small Maryland town that sees an alien spaceship crash. The occupants, a trio of deadly alien specimens, escape and begin to terrorize the town. Hope is found when a stranger shows up in town claiming to have tracked the crash. He hunts the aliens down and starts to gain the trust of those around him, but he too harbors a secret…

The film is currently available on Amazon Prime Video, DVD, and Blu-Ray.

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About the Podcast

Subversive Cinema
The show about the weird, whacky, and downright wrong entries in cinema history.
There are a lot of films out there, so it's only natural that a decent amount of strange content exists. These are the films we examine.

Each week, I sit down with a guest and we take a look a one of these weird, whacky, or downright wrong cinematic entries. Each of them has something about it that makes it special — I call it the "Subversive Sauce" — and that is recipe we try to break down.

Is it scientific? Absolutely not. Will you learn things you didn't know? Maybe. Might you hear about films worth checking out? Most definitely.

Tune in and see what the subversion is all about!
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About your host

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Art Hall

Art started in the podcasting ecosphere back in 2007 with the outrageous, yet short lived, scripted variety show "WBKR: Buckwilde Radio," which claimed listeners from over 20 different countries. After hanging up his headphones and heading west to move to Los Angeles, he kept podcasting in his heart but only made appearances rather than producing or hosting. It only took a global pandemic, boredom, and the pleading from his buddy, Joe, to get back into the mic booth.