There’s Nothing Out There (1991)

theres-nothingFans of this entertaining horror-comedy want you to know that 20-year-old writer/director Rolfe Kanefsky beat Wes Craven by five years to the most clever in idea in Scream. It’s the idea that characters in a horror movie have actually SEEN horror movies and they constantly notice all the cliches and set-ups as they occur throughout the story. Just like the audience. Here, a group of high school kids go off to spend a sexy Spring Break in a cabin in the woods only to run across a little alien squid monster who wants to kill all the guys and impregnate all the girls with little baby squids. Craig Peck is the horror nerd and, of course, the only guy in the group without a girlfriend. He knows something’s wrong from the start. One genius moment here is when Mr. Peck escapes from the alien by swinging away on the visible boom mike on the top edge of the screen.

Also, the DVD is packed with extra material, including a (good) commentary track that plays OVER EVERYTHING. It’s not mentioned anywhere on the disc packaging, but Kanefsky doesn’t just yap over the movie. He also yaps over the special effects demonstration, over the videotaped rehearsal footage, and EVEN over the TRAILER and the PHOTO GALLERY. I noticed it by accident.