The Aurora Encounter (1986)

Director:

Jim McCullough Sr.

Writers:

Melody Brooke (host writer)
Jim McCullough Jr. (writer)

Release Date:

29 December 1986 (West Germany)

Genre:

Family | Sci-Fi | Western | Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

At the end of a century when man still dreamed of flying, the people of Aurora, Texas, had an encounter that was out of this world.

Plot:

A tiny alien lands in the small town Aurora in Texas in the times of the Wild West. He flies around in his spaceship and checks out everything...

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Handicapped Actor | Kids And Family | Independent Film

Cast

Jack Elam	...	Charlie
Peter Brown	...	Sheriff
Carol Bagdasarian	...	Alain (as Carol Bagdarsarian)
Dottie West	...	Irene
Will Mitchell	...	Ranger
Charles B. Pierce	...	Preacher
Mickey Hays	...	Aurora Spaceman
George 'Spanky' McFarland	...	Governor (as Spanky McFarland)
Mindy Smith	...	Sue Beth Mikeska
Carly McCullough	...	Ginger
Tracy Kuehnert	...	Becky
Paula Barrett	...	Secretary
Foster Litton	...	Bartender
Kaye Winters	...	Mrs. Mikeska
Lois Lane	...	1st Woman

Runtime:

90 min | West Germany:86 min (video)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #27861) | UK:U | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Aurora, Texas, USA

Company:

Jim McCullough Productions

Trivia:

Mickey Hays was a child who suffered from progeria, a disease that made him age rapidly. He got the part in this movie through the work of the Make A Wish Foundation, which grants the wishes of children with terminal diseases. Mickey's wish was that he could star in a real Hollywood movie, so the MAWF arranged for him to have the part of the little alien in this feature.

Movie Connections:

Featured in I Am Not a Freak (1987) (TV)

Sometimes a bad thing is so bad...it's good.

Once in a while a movie is so horrific, poorly made, and of such poor taste that it actually crosses into the realms of what I consider to be an entertaining flick. Aurora Encounter successfully achieves good scores on all the criteria I deem to be important. From the semi-novel plot of an alien encounter set in the past to the annoying synthesizer music throughout to the poorly acted, cheese-puffed dialogue...it satisfied me. Take all the poor production techniques and anti-climactic plot, slap'em together and add the most distasteful choice of all...the use of a CHILD with a degenerative disease as a hideous alien. The people that went along with making this film obviously had no spine for I cannot understand why anyone would take part in the exploitation of a fourteen year old kid! He was going to die soon of this disease! So now that I've established why myself and everyone else that enjoys this picture or has anything to do with it is going to hell, may I also say that I believe this film is the making of a quality B flick and is entertaining on many levels. I've also recently learned that recording artist DJ Shadow samples this film in his album Endtroducing..... An album you should definitely check out. Try and find the sample(s)...it's fun.

I'm telling you, there's something special about this movie.