Voyage of the Rock Aliens (1984)

Aliens land in the town of "Speelburgh" searching for the source of rock & roll. They find trouble with Dee Dee, Frankie and the pack.

Director:

James Fargo

Writers:

Edward Gold, James Guidotti,

Stars:

Pia Zadora, Craig Sheffer, Tom Nolan

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Pia Zadora	...	Dee Dee
Craig Sheffer	...	Frankie
Tom Nolan	...	Absid (ABCD)
Ruth Gordon	...	Sheriff
Michael Berryman	...	Chainsaw
Alison La Placa	...	Diane (as Alison LaPlaca)
Gregory Bond	...	Jaklem (JKLM) (as Rhema)
Craig Quiter	...	Nopquir (NOPQR) (as Rhema)
Patrick Byrnes	...	Stovitz (STUVWXYZ) (as Rhema)
Marc Jackson	...	Aeiou (as Rhema)
Jeffrey Casey	...	F-Gee (FGHI) (as Rhema)
Jimmy Haddox	...	Duke (as Jimmy & the Mustangs)
Marshall Rohner	...	Dino (as Jimmy & the Mustangs)
Jeffrey Cranford	...	Clyde (as Jimmy & the Mustangs)
Troy Mack	...	Mouth (as Jimmy & the Mustangs)

Storyline

Aliens land in the mythical town of "Speelburgh, U.S.A" searching for the source of rock & roll. What they find is a gang of teenagers, led by Dee Dee (the inimitable Pia Zadora) and Frankie, along with Frankie's posse/rock band, the Pack. The leader of the aliens takes a shine to Dee Dee and all sorts of trouble breaks out.

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Plot Keywords:

alien | chainsaw | high school | spoof | independent film

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Taglines:

Aliens and Earthlings get set to Rock!

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Genres:

Musical | Sci-Fi | Comedy

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

Attack of the Rock 'n' Roll Aliens

Filming Locations:

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

KGA/Interplanetary-Curb Communications, Inter Planetary

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The aliens' costumes are loosely modeled after those worn by the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz.

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Goofs

After Frankie says, "Not Dee Dee, not nobody," the man behind his shoulder wearing a pink shirt and headband vanishes.

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Quotes

Jaklem: Of all the planets we've ever visited, have you ever seen anything that even remotely looks like you?
1359: No, but...
Jaklem: Exactly. No butt. No lips. No legs. No way!

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Connections

Spoofs Beach Party (1963)

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Soundtracks

"She Doesn't Mean A Thing To Me"
Written by Joey Carbone
Performed by Mark Spiro
Courtesy of Curb Records

User Reviews

A little-known cult gem

"Voyage of the Rock Aliens" is certainly an oddity. Conceived as a spoof of various genres of b-movies, Curb Records got involved and turned it into a vehicle for many of their musicians. A production team was assembled that included people who'd worked on films such as "Dr. Strangelove," "A Hard Days Night," "Star Wars," "Deadly Blessing," "Staying Alive," and "Swamp Thing," amongst others. Not a shabby crew. The result is a completely off-the-wall low budget movie populated with actors who weren't really actors that features beautiful visuals, an offbeat production design, and a completely random music video with Jermaine Jackson.

The story concerns a group of aliens who come to Earth and find themselves strangers in the even stranger land of Speelburgh, which is filled with greasers, kooky cops, psycho serial killers, and a slimy sea monster. It's there that one of the aliens (Tom Nolan) falls in love with an aspiring singer (Pia Zadora). But will these starcrossed lovers sing and dance their way across the universe?

There's something so endearingly tacky about the whole thing that it's downright charming in the way so many similar cult movies are ("Rocky Horror," "Beach Party," "Xanadu," "The Apple," "Earth Girls Are Easy," etc). The characters are quirky and unique (Spyder Mittleman and Patrick Byrnes are both particularly noteworthy for their campy performances), the songs and dances are as '80s as it gets, there's more seemingly random WTF moments than you can shake a stick at, and it seemed like everyone was having a lot of fun screwing around and devouring the scenery.

The problem is the film is not very well known. It barely saw any theatrical distribution in the USA before being unceremoniously dumped on video five years later, and I can't find any evidence that it ever played on cable (though it did in Canada). In Europe it had a slightly more substantial release since Pia Zadora's music was popular.

If any American DVD distributors are reading, this one's crying out for a widescreen special edition release. And if any theatre managers are reading, midnight screenings would be sublime!