Not of This Earth

Not of This Earth (1988)

Traci must battle forces from another galaxy!

An alien arrives on Earth looking to take human blood in an attempt to preserve his dying planet.

Date of release
1988-05-20
TMDB
4.8 / 10 (74)
Runtime
1h 21m
Genres
Horror, Comedy, Science Fiction
Director
Jim Wynorski

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Budget: $296K

Not of This Earth is a 1988 American science fiction horror comedy film, directed by Jim Wynorski and starring Traci Lords in her first mainstream role after her departure from the adult film industry. It is a remake of Roger Corman's 1957 film of the same name, written by Charles B. Griffith and Mark Hanna. Not of This Earth was made as a result of a wager where Wynorski bet he could remake the film in the same (inflation-adjusted) budget and schedule as the 1957 version by Corman.

Production

Director Jim Wynorski first got the idea of remaking the film after he found an original print of Roger Corman's 1957 original. He wagered that he could remake the film on the original shooting schedule and budget, adjusted for inflation. The film was reportedly originally going to be a musical comedy.

When it came to casting for the film, Wynorski said he came up with who should play the lead almost immediately:

While we were at an optical house doing some effects work for Big Bad Mama II (1987), I came across an original print of the old Corman film. Kelli Maroney was there, and Raven, and we had a big hoot watching it. So I said "I think we could have a blast remaking this picture." And they said "Well, who are you going to get to play the Beverly Garland part?" There were some newspapers lying around, and I saw a story in one of them about Traci Lords…

Wynorski said, "It was not easy to find her because she was not with any agencies, she was in hiding. I found her and convinced her to do it." The director admitted part of the reason he cast Lords in the film was because he knew it would result in a certain amount of publicity. But he ended up being impressed with her acting ability, saying, "believe it or not she can act. And she's trying to change her image."

Filming took 12 days. Wynorski finished one day ahead of schedule so used the last day to refilm some of Lord's scenes. "She'd improved so much since the first day of filming", said the director. Like any number of Roger Corman productions, this one includes scenes lifted from earlier films as filler, such as the dog in the foggy woods and the woman being stalked from outside her home, as originally seen in Humanoids from the Deep, as well as the…

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