Without Warning a low budget science fiction horror film. It looks like a made for cable film (those don’t look like theatrical credits). There’s something about the film though, maybe it’s that it is so low budget that it isn’t constrained to “normal” filmmaking and storytelling conventions and it just tells its story without getting caught up in the flash and other distractions which can derail other films. Seriously, going into this knowing it’s a low budget film and you’ll find a decent story that may be simply told but is still enjoyable.
Helping to ground the film are stars Jack Palance as an old coot who keeps to himself and Martin Landau as a Vietnam war veteran who may be more traumatized than people realize. Landau can be criticized for getting into his role too much but it really works, there’s little room for subtlety here, this isn’t the type of film where you are looking for a nuanced performance. Palance, on the other hand, does ham it up a bit, but it is in keeping with the spirit of the story so it works for the most part.
An alien is taking advantage of the fact that humans don’t know he/she/it is here and hunting them down. The story takes place mostly in less than 24 hours, starting off with a father and son hunting trip that goes very poorly. Then we have Larry Storch as a Cub Scout leader with his troop apparently coming back from an overnight camping trip. Then there’s 4 teenagers led by David Caruso who doesn’t have time to put on sunglasses. They run into Landau and Palance at first, but, since this is the kind of film where you know not everybody is going to make it out alive, you can sort of guess what comes next.
Is one of them the alien?
What surprised me most about Without Warning was how little violence there was. The gore is almost negligible and there’s no nudity. Again, this is what made the film enjoyable, the emphasis was on the storytelling, not sensationalizing the imagery.
Shout Factory has put together a package that really does the film justice in a way that might be better than it deserves. Not only does the transfer look fantastic, there’s a Blu-ray and DVD copy of the film. And the insert is reversible to showcase the two types of theatrical posters. Then there are the special features. The audio commentary is just the beginning. There are a number of interviews that look at the film from the cast and crew. Honestly, there’s more here than you would expect from a film that barely saw a theatrical release.
If you’re into “B” movies Without Warning is worth checking out.