Really Surprised!

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

If you're watching this for Landau, Palance, or Caruso, you will be sorely disappointed in most of the movie. I suggest skipping almost the entire thing and watching the last 10 minutes. Otherwise you will be subjected to cliche after cliche until you can't stand it anymore. Honestly, everything worth seeing is in the last 10 minutes. You get Palance and Landau playing over-the-top crazy like only they can, Palance actually saying intelligent things in a movie filled with nonsense, you get to see the only scenes with the actual alien in them, and you see the payoff, which is also cliche and isn't worth suffering through the whole thing. Since this is Caruso's first movie, he's early fodder and doesn't have much of a part. Most of the movie follows two young actors in a performance that is torture to sit through. The script doesn't help. If you insist on watching this in its entirety, I suggest doing it while drunk. Good luck.

Four teens—Beth, Tom, Sandy and Greg (Lynn Theel, David Caruso, Tarah Nutter and Christopher S. Nelson)—ignore creepy gas station owner Taylor (Jack Palance) when he warns them not to go up to the lake. They regret their decision when they find themselves stalked by a tall creature that flings deadly organic frisbees at them.As much as I admire John McTiernan's 1987 Arnie classic Predator, I have to admit that the film bears more than a passing resemblance to 1980 sci-fi/horror Without Warning. Not only is the plot suspiciously similar—an alien arrives on Earth to hunt humans—but the performer playing the extraterrestrial hunter is the very same person who played the Predator: 6'9" Kevin Peter Hall.Of course, Without Warning isn't the flawless, testosterone fuelled, action-fest that is Predator: for much of the time the plot goes nowhere, with the teen protagonists stumbling from one location to another pursued by both the dome-headed ET and a loopy, gun-toting ex-soldier, Fred 'Sarge' Dobbs (played to the hilt by Martin Landau); meanwhile, Taylor plans to kill the beast. There's some fun to be had from the wonky alien frisbees, which fly awkwardly through the air and sport burrowing tentacles and gnashing teeth, but a lot of the running time is spent with the characters doing just that: running.The film ends in a manner that is, once again, eerily similar to Predator: Taylor prepares a booby trap and lures the alien by shouting 'come on!'. Coincidence? I think not.6.5 out of 10 for the gloopy effects and Dean Cundey's great cinematography (unlike many a low budget horror, we can actually see what is going on in the dark), rounded down to 6 for killing off bikini babe Beth too quickly.

Having had a stint of viewing better-than-expect b-movies on youtube (blood beach, nightmare beach, primal rage) I was hoping to continue the trend with this film.However, I didn't like it at all. Terrible acting, story, directing etc etc. There really isn't anything good about it and it's not even one of those so-bad-it's-funny films (though the special effects for the small alien creatures is so bad it will raise a smirk).Some kids go to a lake where there happens to be an alien that is hunting humans. One of the crazy locals is aware of the alien but no one believes him. None of the characters are likable or enjoyable to watch which means it's a bore from beginning to end. Lots of running around and ineffective scares.

While I can't say 1980's "Without Warning" was the best Sci-Fi/alien flick I've ever seen, I can say that it did exceed my expectations. The plot of the film is simple: Using bizarre looking but deadly living blood suckers as weapons, an alien creature from who knows where is ruthlessly stalking human prey alongside a rural lake for the sheer fun of it. After we witness a number of poor blokes being done in by the safari minded visitor, a group of teenagers decide it would be a great idea to go up to the lake and have some fun despite the warning they receive from slightly crazed, gas station owner and obvious hunting enthusiast Joe Taylor (Jack Palance with his usual fire and zeal). You can probably guess how things turn out from there! After their two friends are killed, the survivors of the group, Sandy (Tarah Nutter) and Greg (Christopher S. Nelson), run to the nearest town where through a series of events, they end up being caught up in Joe Taylor's quest to bring the creature down. But it's not just the creature they have to worry about, as Joe Taylor's paranoid friend Fred 'Sarge' Dobbs is also on hunt; the only problem is he thinks everyone is an alien! Will our heroes succeed or are they to be outsmarted by the professional hunting fiend from space? If the story sounds somewhat familiar to you, it should since Hollywood would use a very similar plot for the 1987 classic "Predator". But while the overall stories might sound familiar, they are by no means the same film. "Without Warning" uses a very different design for its creature from the stars, one that somewhat resembles the classic gray alien but still has its own uniqueness about it (Curiously ,though, the man who plays the creature here, Kevin Peter Hall, would also go on to play the monster in "Predator"). But the thing that really makes the creature stand out is its horrible blood suckers that it throws at unsuspecting people. Looking a bit silly while flying through the air, once they attach themselves to a person they instantly become one of the most cringe worthy things ever put to screen due just how realistic they look, even after all these years. I don't know who did the special effects for this film but who ever they were, they earned their keep. The film is also creepy at certain points due to the smart direction of director Greydon Clark. As for the actors, all do a very good job here, particularly Jack Palance as the slightly mentally off-balanced but still rational Taylor and Martin Landau as the completely off the wall Sarge. Christopher S. Nelson and Tarah Nutter also should be congratulated for holding their own as the young and confused teenage victims. Add in a very effective music score and you have a decent, fun B-movie from the days when Hollywood knew how to make them. To be sure the film is not Oscar-worthy but then again, if I wanted to see something that was I would simply watch "Gone With the Wind" instead. The movie is not available on DVD yet (It's set to be released for the first time on DVD in August of 2014) but it is on you tube. If you're a lover of B-movies like me and have some time to kill, "Without Warning" is sure to entertain you. Also starring Ralph Meeker, Cameron Mitchell, Larry Storch, and a very young David Caruso.