Nightbeast | 1982 | USA | Don Dohler

Don Dohler’s science fiction monster movie certainly has all the hallmarks of low budget filmmaking, including some amateur camerawork, ropey acting and cheap make-up effects, though it does boast an early involvement from JJ Abrams. The sheer ballsiness and gusto that’s depicted on-screen however is nothing short of lovable, as we follow the arrival of the titular ‘Nightbeast’ on Earth, a tall imposing humanoid with a toothy visage, silver spacesuit and a deadly array of laser pistols. Deciding to immediately start wiping out all human life he can see, Sheriff Cinder has to defuse the situation and warn the townspeople of the incoming threat. But with a political brown-nosing on the cards, Cinder has to take the fight straight to the alien to save his town from the encroaching menace. While the production was definitely cheap and cheerful, the joyous aplomb with which the cast get into their vacuous roles allows the audience to revel in the fun all the same. The DPP clearly didn’t enjoy the alien’s common habit of graphically ripping the guts out of his unfortunate victims though.