Tweet
Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: April 26th, 2022.
Director: Vik Rubenfeld
Cast: Nicholas Hill, Cliff Aduddell, John Alexander, Robert Axelrod, Judith Burke
Year: 1989
Purchase From Amazon
Alien Private Eye – Movie Review:
A man dressed in a white suit that can only be described as bouffant sports a fedora and some white fingerless leather gloves and struts his away across the plaza as the opening theme song to Vik Rubenfeld’s 1989 film, Alien Private Eye (which credits its director only as Viktor), begins. He comes across some thugs hassling a woman named Rene (Brenda Winston), they want a portion of a disc she has and she isn’t willing to give it up. The man, who we learn is named Lemro (Nicholas Hill aka Nikki Fastinetti), intervenes with his kung-fu and saves her. They go back to his place where they dance a bit, then to a night club where they dance some more, only to be interrupted by those persistent thugs who are still after the half-disc that Rene has. Lemro once again kicks their asses, then he takes her back to his place where she shows him her boobs and hopes into bed with him. He leaves the fedora on, but when she takes it off she’s shocked to see he has Spock ears. This doesn’t stop him from finishing, however, and she climaxes like she’s never climaxed before. Still, once the sex is done, she’s weirded out and she splits. He is an alien from the planet Styx. Later, Lemro, who works as a private eye and even has his own office, hangs out with Rob (Nur Nur Cummings), a surfer who dude who doesn’t really add anything to the movie.
From there, he’s visited by fellow aliens Scama (John Alexander), who puzzlingly speaks like Peter Lorre for some reason, and Electra (Leeann Lee), who has remarkably large hair. They warn him about the disc and what it can do if it falls into the wrong hands. Bad guys are still after Rene, led by a guy named Kilgore (Cliff Aduddell) and his right hand man Scunge (Robert Alexrod) who want to use it to produce a hyper-addictive designer drug named Soma so that they can get millions hooked and put billions into their bank account. Kilgore has a secret room above his drug warehouse that looks like a nightclub and has a picture of Hitler hanging on the wall which, at one point, he prays to. He also has a secret poison tooth with a skull (but only one, this is made unusually clear in the movie) on it that allows him to spit poison on people that get in his way, like a priest.
Anyway, Rene’s football player brother gets hooked on the drug and she needs Lemro to help, all while having to reconcile her feelings for him as Kilgore and his men make an even more aggressive play for the half-disc she’s still holding onto. All of this, of course, leads up to a showdown which, thank God, involves wrist lasers, angry paper throwing and more questionable martial arts.
A seriously goofy love letter to film noir with some equally goofy sci-fi twists, Alien Private Eye probably qualifies as a neo-noir but more importantly than that it’s a lot of B-movie fun. To be fair, it starts off with a bang, the first twenty minutes are amazing, and it does slow down a fair bit in the middle stretch, but it picks up again in the last twenty minutes and completely redeems itself in just the way you’d want a movie from 1989 called Alien Private Eye to redeem itself. It’s important to throw logic to the wind, as the plot has some massive holes in it and it doesn’t always make a whole lot of sense, but everyone tries really hard and that counts for a lot.
The movie deserves some credit for having moments of genuinely impressive cinematography. Cinematographer Jürg Walther gets some nice shots in the movie, using shadow and smoke to get some atmosphere out of the different warehouse and seedy office locations featured in the movie. The acting is… inconsistent but Hill is pretty fun to watch in the lead. John Alexander and especially Cliff Aduddell, however, are awesome as the scenery chewing bad guys.
Alien Private Eye – Blu-ray Review:
Vinegar Syndrome brings Alien Private Eye to Region Free Blu-ray framed in 1.85.1 widescreen in AVC encoded 1080p high definition on a 50GB disc with the feature using up just over 31GBS of space. Taken from a new 4k scan of the original 35mm negative, picture quality here is really nice. There are a couple of scenes that show some minor print damage but most probably won’t notice as it isn’t particularly severe and only lasts few a few seconds. Detail is really strong and colors look great. Black levels are solid and we get nice shadow detail. Compression is handled well, the many dark interior shots and scenes that use smoke are rendered without any noticeable artifacts and the image shows plenty of natural grain and no evidence of noise reduction or edge enhancement.
The English language 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 track, with optional subtitles in English only, sounds very good despite a few moments where you might notice some minor sibilance. Otherwise, the sound is good. The music sounds pretty strong, the levels are balanced well and the dialogue is always easy to understand. Make sure you turn on the subtitles to enjoy all the subtlety of the lyrics of the songs that place over the opening and closing of the film!
Extras start off with a new commentary track with writer/director/producer Vik Rubenfeld moderated by Brad Henderson. If you want to know the story behind the movie, this is the way to get it. They cover the film's release history and how it didn't really get less than a 'fuzzy, hazzy' release before this disc, how Rubenfeld work so many hats in the film and how his background allowed him to do so, what it was like working with the different actors including the film's mysterious lead, the costuming work, how long it took to get the movie made and how long it took to get financing in place, how he made a lot of the casting choices based on 'interesting faces,' the different locations that were used and where built sets were used, some of Rubenfeld's work as a novelist, the intentional pacing and structure of the film, the stunt work and action choreography and lots more. Rubenfeld is clearly very proud of the film and his enthusiasm makes this fun to listen to.
Master Of Suspense is an interview with Vik Rubenfeld that runs twenty-nine minutes. He talks about his work on the movie as well as his work on TV series Early Edition, as well as his childhood, background and education. He also goes over the influence of archetypal noir and private eye films on his work, getting Alien Private Eye moving and financed, who did what on the movie, staging the car chase safely, his television work, how he feels about Alien Private Eye's re-release and his work as a novelist.
Fashion Show Film Noir is an interview with cinematographer Jürg V. Walther runs ten minutes and goes over how Rubenfeld got him onboard to work on the movie, his background in art and still photography, how he came to work as a cinematographer, the influence of European art cinema on his work, working with Rubenfeld, trying to give the movie a film noir look with a modern, fashionable twist, trying to set things up to get done in one shot to stay on schedule and budget, how he feels about the movie all these years later and its cult audience.
Last up, Mister Lemro Private Investigator, I Presume is an interview with lead actor David “Nico” Hill which spends fifteen minutes going over his real name and the different stage names that he used in different areas, his background, his experience as a martial arts teacher, how he found out about Alien Private Eye and how he wound up getting the lead role without any real acting experience, how he got along with his co-stars, working with the stunt and fight choreography crews, his working pioneering MMA fighting, how he feels about the movie all these years later, what made the character of Lemro interesting to him and more.
The disc also comes with some nice reversible cover artwork and, if purchased directly from the Vinegar Syndrome website, an exclusive limited edition slipcover.
Alien Private Eye - The Final Word:
Alien Private Eye is as entertaining as it is goofy. Vinegar Syndrome has done a great job bringing this one to Blu-ray with a very nice presentation and far more extras than anyone probably ever imagined this movie would get.
