The Alien Factor (USA, 1978) 80 min color DIR-PROD-SCR: Don Dohler. MUSIC: Kenneth Walker. DOP: Britt McDonough. CAST: Tom Griffith, Don Leifert, Richard Dyszel, Mary Mertens, Richard Geiwitz, George Stover, Anne Frith. (Cinemagic Visual Effects)
In the 1980s, when television stations still showed movies in the wee hours of the morning instead of those rotten infomercials, insomniacs like myself caught the low-budget science fiction movie The Alien Factor (1978). Shot in Maryland on 16mm (and largely on deferrals) for a measly $6,000.00, this film captured the hearts of many viewers, and not just for its spirit and imagination. At the time it was unprecedented to see a movie, produced for so little money, get sold in a package deal for broadcast. As such, this no-budget charmer awoke viewers to the possibility; “Hey, I can do this, too.”
The Alien Factor was the first feature film for director Don Dohler, launching the Baltimore resident into a career of infectious no-budget science-fiction horror films, whose imaginative special effects belie the paltry budgets, and with the “golly gee” enthusiasm of the 1950s genre films that no doubt inspired Dohler. Cable and home video gave life (and potentially wider audiences) to smaller films that would have quickly vanished from movie screens, and Don Dohler’s subsequent projects likewise found audiences who discovered them in their local video stores. A movie buff for most of his life, Don Dohler had made amateur shorts before his first feature. The Alien Factor was not simply the beginning of a new career, it was a logical extension of the “do-it-yourself” aesthetic to which Dohler adhered for most of his life.
As a teenager in the 1960s, Don Dohler had produced his own comic books, featuring the character ProJunior, which was a benchmark in the days of underground comics. In the early 1970s, after having made mini-epics with the 8mm camera given him, and fascinated by special effects, Dohler produced the influential magazine Cinemagic. Although this publication was later bought out by Starlog Press, this self-published endeavour had influenced many people who would work in post-production on big Hollywood efforts.
This delightful regional wonder also began his association with a stock company he’d employ several times: a mustached character player Don Leifert, who faintly resembles Russ Tamblyn during his Al Adamson days; Richard Dyszel, better known as the TV horror host Count Gore De Vol; and of course, the versatile George Stover, who would appear in roles big and small for all of Dohler’s films. (Stover was also a familiar face in films by fellow Baltimore resident, John Waters!)
Overworked Sheriff Cinder (Tom Griffith, with a 70s porn moustache), is baffled by mysterious killings. Meanwhile, he is at odds with Mayor Wicker (Dyszel, overacting to the nth degree), who is afraid these murders will give their (fictitious) town of Perry Hill a bad name, especially when negotiations are being made to bring in a multi-million dollar complex. Dr. Ruth Sherman (Anne Frith, another Dohler regular) and her nephew Steven (Stover) determine that an animal did not commit these strange killings. In walks the mysterious Ben Zachary (Leifert), from the nearby observatory. He and the mayor go the hills to investigate where the former said a meteor crashed the other night. They discover a crashed spacecraft, and its alien occupant thrown clear onto the ground. Before the alien dies, he communicates telepathically with Zachary that his three zoo specimens escaped from the craft and are now roaming about!
Although the film was made on a shoestring, the special effects are quite impressive. (Still, it’s one of those movies where things explode offscreen.) Writer-director-producer-co-editor Don Dohler wisely put most of the money into makeup and post-production. In true DIY fashion, each of the three alien costumes was worn by its own creator- one of them the film’s cinematographer, Britt McDonough- his only feature! In this diverse rogues gallery we have the insect-like Inferbyce, the tall hairy Zagatile with five-foot-high legs (and this is the creature that is found in someone’s basement!), and most impressively, the semi-translucent lizard-like Leemoid.
As Dohler had recounted many times, The Alien Factor had begun while staring down at death. On his thirtieth birthday, the office in which he was working was held up by bandits, and after having had a gun at his head, knowing he could have died that day, he realized how short life was, and decided to leave another mark in his career by making a movie. The Alien Factor wins appeal alone for having its heart in the right place. This enthusiastic tribute to 50s sci-fi has a lot of fun monsters and creative visual ideas, but also utilizes the “man, woman, scientist” archetypes found in the genre. The female protagonist of this piece is an ambitious young reporter Edie Martin (Mary Mertens) who is always snooping her way into the proceedings, and is reminiscent of the precocious, wisecracking females in the films of Howard Hawks who prove themselves among the boys.
To be sure, most of the cast isn’t in Oscar competition, but there is almost a documentary-like authenticity to this picture, as Dohler lets his fellow Baltimore residents simply be themselves. As such, this becomes a snapshot of 1970s working-class Baltmore one wouldn’t see in the works of natives John Waters or Barry Levinson. Watering holes like the Anir Lounge (which feature glam bands like local talent Atlantis, plugging their 45 release of “Maybe Someday” and “Jump Back Crackerjack”), woody wagons, wicker furniture and hanging planters, with a cast of everyday people all strike familiar chords with the viewer. We are vicariously seeing snapshots of our collective pasts—we could be the people in this movie, and by the same token, we too could have made this.
Similar zero-budget pictures in the decade, like The Milpitas Monster and The Day It Came to Earth win appeal as infectious homages to 1950s sci-fi. However, The Alien Factor stands apart from other homegrown products because a lot of genuine craft went into its making. The movie is exciting to watch because Dohler the director knowingly gave Dohler the editor a lot of coverage to make a fast moving, economical picture. In addition to the impressive creatures, the mood of this little marvel is sustained by a neat electronic score by Kenneth Walker (Dohler’s early films all have a throbbing moog score to set the tone). The Alien Factor was made available to DVD, and a limited edition Blu-ray, by Retromedia, and also appears on Mill Creek’s 50-movie pack sets, Sci-Fi Invasion and Killer Creature Features.
Gallery
Don Leifert 
Don Dohler 
Tom Griffith 
Atlantis 
