Kamillions (1989 film)
Summary
Comedy ensues when a pair of mischievous alien "kamillions" escape through the gate and imitate annoying party guests after Miskatonic University professor Nathaniel Pickman Wingate has opened a gateway to another dimension in his basement laboratory, while his family prepares a birthday party for him.
Details
- Release Date: 1989
- Country/Language: US, English
- Genres/Technical: Comedy, Sci-Fi, Fantasy
- Runtime: 1 hr 30 min
- Starring: Christopher Gasti, Dru-Anne Cakmis, Kate Alexander, Dan Evans, Laura O'Malley, Harry S. Robins, David Allan Shaw
- Director: Mike B. Anderson (as Mikel B. Anderson)
- Writer: Robert Hsi (story), Mike B. Anderson (as Mikel B. Anderson), Harry S. Robbins
- Producer/Production Co: Molesworth USA
- View Film: (link)
Ratings
MPAA Ratings
- Rated: (not rated) (perhaps equivalent of PG-13 for some mild Adult Content, Profanity, and Violence)
Tentacle Ratings
A rough measure of how "Lovecraftian" the work is:
- SS___ (Two Tentacles: Barely Lovecraftian; could be a very loose adaptation)
In addition to being a film about alien monsters with tentacles from another dimension invading our world and imitating humans, the film name-drops Miskatonic University and a handful of Lovecraft's character names.
Note: This rating is not intended as a measure of quality, merely of how closely related to Lovecraftian "Weird" fiction the work is.
Reviews
Review Links:
- The Bloody Pit of Horror, (link) - "2.5/5 - This was clearly made in good spirits, isn't all that sleazy, [...] and has a rather upbeat tone, it maintains a sort of innocent, infectious old-fashioned charm throughout. The acting's mixed... but decent for the most part and the production values, photography, lighting, sets and all that are adequate. Despite what the director and co-writer have said in regards to the editing and score, I didn't notice any major problems with the continuity or flow of the film... what's here and how it's presented certainly isn't bad...."
Synopsis
Spoiler Section (Highlight to Read)
Comedy ensues when a pair of mischievous alien "kamillions" escape through the gate and imitate annoying party guests after Miskatonic University professor Nathaniel Pickman Wingate has opened a gateway to another dimension in his basement laboratory, while his family prepares a birthday party for him.
Notes
Comments, Trivia, Dedication
- Harry S. Robbins, the actor playing the professor in this film and one of the film's writers, was also voice-actor for the Half-Life (game) video game series, providing some of the voices for Black Mesa scientists and HECU and Black Ops soldiers in the first game and Doctor Isaac Kleiner in the sequel, as well as providing the voice instructions for Valve Software's answering machine.
- The house where most of the film takes place also appeared in Burnt Offerings (1976 film) and Phantasm (1979 franchise).
- The film was subject to two rewrites, with the first two versions being more serious in tone; comedy was added to the final version thanks to executive meddling from producers who wanted a horror comedy similar to the then recent surprise hit Beetlejuice (1988 film); the foreign producers did not understand the comedy that resulted (which seems to have mostly been in the spirit of Stuart Gordon's H.P. Lovecraft adaptations), and then cut a half hour of scenes from the two-hour film, insisted on spelling the title "kamillions" out of fear that audiences would mispronounce "chameleons", and under-promoted the result.
Associated Mythos Elements
- race: "Kamillions", small tentacle monsters
- location: Miskatonic University (off-screen)
- families: Wingate (family), Peasley (family), Pickman (family)
- film: compare to Saturday the 14th (1981 franchise)
- film: compare to Transylvania Twist (1989 film)
