The Arrival (1991)

An old man, who has been near a fallen meteor, starts to get younger and younger, with a terrible thirst for blood.

Director:

David Schmoeller

Writer:

Kevin Daniel Ljoka (as Daniel Ljoka)

Stars:

John Saxon, Joseph Culp, Robin Frates

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Saxon	...	Agent Mills
Joseph Culp	...	Young Max Page
Robin Frates	...	Connie
Robert Sampson	...	Max Page
Geoff Hansen	...	Clark
Danna Garen	...	Susan
Danny Fendley	...	Jeff
Ami Rothschild	...	Sunny
Kim Sill	...	Leslie (as Kim Dawson)
Amy Lemmon	...	Tina
Jason Bach	...	Dr. Johnson
Brad Mills	...	Michael
Stuart Gordon	...	Biker
Dean Minerd	...	Hank
Bill Brochtrup	...	Ace

Storyline

When an old man witnesses a strange meteor land, he finds himself growing younger, but his renewed youth has a price; he must kill or die. He is a vampire, but it is not blood he needs to satisfy his cravings. A series of murders in which several women are brutally slain leads the police on a confusing chase across several states.

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Plot Keywords:

1990s | old man | blood | vampire | outer space | 

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Taglines:

An alien power gave Max Page a special gift on his 73rd birthday: Youth...and a taste for blood.

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

First film featuring Carolyn Purdy-Gordon not to be directed by her husband Stuart Gordon. She had never desired to become a full-time film actress and thus, only appeared in films directed by her husband up until this one, which she did as a personal favor because her husband cameos in the film and was friends with David Schmoeller. She would only do two other films not involved with Stuart Gordon: Snow White: A Deadly Summer (2012) and ABCs of Death 2.5 (2016).

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Alternate Versions

The Global Multimedia DVD features a heavily edited 90-minute cut as "The Unwelcomed."

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Connections

Referenced in Dollman (1991)

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Soundtracks

Danger Man
Composed by Fuzzbee Morse
Courtesy of Fuzzbee Morse (BMI)

User Reviews

Road-trip on Oestrogen!

"The Arrival", not to be confused with David Twohy's mid-90's Sci-Fi gem starring Charlie Sheen, is a modest and slightly underrated (only *slightly *, mind you) alien-invasion story with a couple of imaginative ideas and likable acting performances, but overall forgettable due to a lack of action and distinctive style. The plot is better than you expect it to be, but director David Schmoeller ("Tourist Trap", "The Puppet Master") obviously didn't have the required budgetary means to properly execute the neat ideas. The film opens with a meteor crash-landing in Max Page's backyard on the night of his 73rd birthday-celebration. The next day, an extraterrestrial parasite takes possession of Max' body and nearly causes him to die in the hospital. He survives and, moreover even, Max rejuvenates and develops an incontrollable appetite for Oestrogen-laden female blood. Cut to several weeks later, when the younger and handsome version of Max left his home to travel to San Diego in search for the beautiful young nurse who treated him in the hospital. He leaves an easy to follow trial of female corpses, but still FBI agent Mills (John Saxon!) doesn't know how to stop him. "The Arrival" is a slow-moving and unspectacular film, especially since there aren't any kind of special and/or make-up effects. Max rejuvenates in three major phases and he devours practically all of his victims off-screen. The wannabe melodramatic sub plot (the impossible romance between the nurse and alienated old guy) is pitiable instead of moving and the script also suffers from illogicalness and totally implausible details. For example, the FBI acknowledges the involvement of an alien life form, yet there are simply two men chasing Max. Sure, one of them is John Saxon and he's the equivalent of an entirely army, but still... Shouldn't the FBI give a little more priority to such a case? Speaking of Saxon, he gives away another solid performance and receives adequate feedback from a largely unknown cast. The undeniable highlights of "The Arrival" are a couple of irrelevant (and perhaps even misplaced) humorous cameo appearances of respectable B-movie faces. Michael J. Pollard briefly stars as a simple-minded caretaker, Stuart Gordon (director of "Re-Animator" and "From Beyond") plays a biker and Carolyn Purdy-Gordon (Stuart Gordon's wife) steals the show as drunken customer in a liquor store.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

April 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Unwelcomed

Filming Locations:

Fallbrook, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rapid Film Group, Del Mar Entertainment

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1