The RETURN (1980) is the third Greydon Clark
film to be released by Scorpion Releasing after JOYSTICKS (1983) and ANGELS' BRIGADE (1979), this time under their popular “Katarina’s Nightmare Theater”
line. Directed after WITHOUT WARNING (1979), one of his most
sought-after films, Clark once again delves into another, even more adventurous
“sci-fi terror” film but, unfortunately, the results are rather middling.
During the mid-fifties, in the town of Little Creek,
New Mexico, two children and an adult (Vincent Schiavelli), who just happens to
be prospecting along with his dog, encounter an UFO and are overwhelmed by bright,
colourful lights. 25 years later, a
series of cattle mutilations plague the same town while Deputy Marshall Wayne
(Jan-Michael Vincent) is unexpectedly reunited of sorts with Jennifer Kramer
(Cybill Shepherd), the two children from the opening. Working for the SSR Institute, a “publicly
funded private agency that sends up satellites” owned by her Dad (Raymond Burr),
Jennifer arrives in town to investigate a “black hole” or some other “analogous
situation”. She is soon working with
Wayne a little too closely as they track down the mysterious prospector who has
started to kill humans as well.
Suspicious townsfolk, curious tourists, angered ranchers, spoiled rich
kids, a crazy dog and lots of scientific jargon also figure into the script.
As entertaining as the film is, the biggest problem
is the lack of explanation for everything going on. Why do the aliens choose these people and
what are they suppose to do? Why are
Wayne and Jennifer seemingly unaffected after all these years but the
prospector is compelled to mutilate cattle and later humans? Is he jealous they’re back in town? And where did he get his mini
light-saber? Why is the SSR Institute so
interested in these anomalies to begin with?
Surprisingly, much of the sci-fi and horror elements are kept on the
backburner while much of the film plays out like a hicksploitation flick with some
occasional gore thrown in. The ending is
especially weird and disjointed as the prospector battles it out with Wayne and
Jennifer in an isolated shack with one of those “black holes” prominently in
the background, which actually turns out to be a swirl of colours. Even though it doesn’t make a whole lot of
sense, it’s still oddly engaging and Daniel Pearl’s (DP on the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE) photography
was especially sharp and colourful in this new HD master.
Hot off the success of Hal Needham’s HOOPER (1978) and John Flynn's vigilante flick DEFIANCE (1979), Jan-Michael Vincent headlines the impressive cast
whose careers were either on the decline or already in the doldrums. Everyone handles their roles sufficiently
while veterans Martin Landau and Neville Brand were already accustomed to
appearing in low-budget stuff like this.
Landau is particularly hilarious as the town Marshall who is either
discussing his morning bacon or the merits of having bigger holes in his beer
can in order to dunk his donut. The
biggest surprise here is Cybill Shepherd who, in what should be a pivotal role,
isn’t given very much to do other than exchange glances with Jan-Michael
Vincent and watch him crack open a six pack.
Scorpion’s DVD of this virtually forgotten title
features some fairly extensive extras including an interview and informative commentary
with Clark as well as numerous trailers for other Scorpion releases including a
terrific trailer for this film. Of
course, you can watch this with or without Katarina Leigh Waters’ intro and closing
remarks, but why choose the latter? Her
wraparounds are always good fun.
Now if someone would finally release WITHOUT WARNING on a legitimate DVD or
Blu-Ray. We can only hope.
