By Geno McGahee
KL Studio Classics released WITHOUT WARNING on Blu-Ray and they’ve done quite the job restoring it. From the artwork on the case to the extras, I’m quite happy with this being in my ever-growing collection of movies.
So, it’s the movie that inspired PREDATOR and you can see some similarities as a huge alien is hunting humans in both and the same guy played both characters. In WITHOUT WARNING, a group of teenagers, are planning some camping at a lake, but they meet up with a gas station owner, Joe (Jack Palance), and he warns them not to go. There is always that guy and they usually own a store or work at one. Whenever I travel and I find a mom and pop shop, I wait a few seconds after saying goodbye in case they want to warn me not to go to my chosen destination.
The youngsters laugh off the warning and head off to the lake, and two immediately disappear leaving Greg (Christopher S. Nelson) and Sandy (Tarah Nutter) to try to locate them. They get attacked by these flying living discs and barely escape, driving to the local bar and telling their story. This is where they meet Sarge (Martin Landau), a man that has been through war and has not recovered from the trauma. He has been speaking of the weird shit happening but he’s been widely ignored because of his mental issues, but when Greg and Sandy show up speaking of the same things, he becomes very lively and ready to team up with them to take down the creature in the woods.
Sarge goes a little crazy and shoots the sheriff, leading to Greg and Sandy ditching him and teaming up with Joe and he admits that he knows of the alien and the flying discs and has been injured by them a few times. They get separated and now Greg and Sandy are being hunted by something that hasn’t been seen yet. This is something that is really lost in film today. This film kept the monster hidden until the ending and was interesting enough to stick with it.
This film felt a lot like a FRIDAY THE 13TH from the era. It had that same look and Greg and Sandy and even Sarge and Joe could have easily been characters in those early F13th films. There is so much charm in this movie and if you appreciate the early slasher films like MADMAN, THE BURNING, FRIDAY THE 13TH, you will appreciate this, even though it’s not a slasher. It just feels like one.
Greg and Sandy stumble upon a house and they have a moment of safety. Sandy tries to sleep as Greg makes coffee, but there’s something wrong. In one of the coolest scenes, Sandy wakes up and goes to check on Greg and finds him in a chair, dead, with an alien disc thing stuck to his face. When she looks up, she sees it and so does the audience. There is a seven foot alien screaming and this alien looks so bad ass. This is what aliens in film should look like. I know I harp on CGI being shit most of the time, but this film should be examined and how much impact this creature had by doing practical effects.
Sandy runs and reunites with Joe and we get some great stuff as Sarge comes into the mix and thinks that everyone is an alien. Landau and Palance were well worth their price tag for this movie. They are both so awesome in this and both gave their all. You can see it and they add so much. Landau comes face to face with the alien and the alien standing there with great lighting and fog looks so imposing. When Sarge dies, Joe makes his run and screams, in one of the best moments of the film, “alien” over and over again. I don’t blame him. He didn’t know the alien’s name. I’m sure if he screamed “Bob,” the alien would think “who the fuck is Bob?”
We get aliens and explosions and all sorts of cool shit to end this epic film. I should also mention that Cameron Mitchell of DEADLY PREY fame is in this one and he never disappoints. WITHOUT WARNING is such a great movie and it might be considered a slow burn, but there is huge payoff. The impact of the alien at the end is huge. I highly recommend this film and tip my hat to KL Studio Classics for releasing it. If you’re a collector and enjoy classic horror presented the right way, I’d suggest pick this one up. I am happy that I did. Damn aliens are always trouble.
