- Directed by Paul Bunnell
- Written by Steve Bingen, Paul Bunnell, Mark D. Murphy
- Stars Will Keenan, Creed Bratton, De Anna Joy Brooks
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 46 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH22hqmAW9c
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This was a movie in black and white that’s a send-up of 1950s science fiction and leather-jacket rebel action. With musical numbers. And romance. And an undead rock singer very reminiscent of Roy Orbison. With all that weirdness, it should be more entertaining than it is, but there are too many talky bits that drag things down, especially in the final third or so. If you’re looking for something interesting and unique, you might want to check this one out.
Spoilery Synopsis
Johnny X is brought before the judge, and it all looks very black-and-white Flash-Gordony. He’s accused of not fitting in and following orders in their advanced civilization. Johnny and his followers are exiled to a low-tech planet with no real civilization, a place called “Earth.” Credits roll.
One year later, Johnny leads his people through the desert, all dressed like rejects from a 50s motorcycle gang movie. At the diner, the TV news tells us that Mickey O’Flynn has gone missing, and manager King Clayton is at a loss. Clayton watches a woman walk into the diner; she’s Bliss, and she talks about lizards wanting to lick her. She’s the one Johnny X is searching for.
Bliss tries to talk waiter Chip into leaving his life at the diner and going off with her. Johnny’s people all show up, and they know how to make an entrance– a musical entrance. They all hear about Mickey O’Flynn’s disappearance, and Johnny wants to find him. A lot goes on during the musical number, but eventually, Johnny uses his technology to capture Bliss.
Chip and Bliss drive to the drive-in theater, which is closed. She explains about Johnny and “The Ghastly Ones,” his gang. This all leads to another song, and she tells him about where Johnny comes from. He had a Resurrection Suit that allowed Johnny to control anyone. He’s only got one power glove, but she’s got the rest of the suit in her car. She’s got electrodes in her chest that she likes to fondle.
Meanwhile, Clayton and the Ghastlies go to his place, a nearly condemned theater. He’s got Mickey O’Flynn and his entire band there, and they’re rehearsing new music. No, that’s a puppet that looks like O’Flynn. We get a flashback about O’Flynn refusing to perform for an audience anymore. We also see how desperate Clayton is as he finally pursues O’Flynn to perform. Just as he makes his point, the musician dies (probably from boredom). Out of the blue, Bliss and Chip walk in and are captured.
Johnny and Chip go outside and argue. When Bliss gives him the super-suit, they all leave Chip alone. Johnny goes back inside and talks to O’Flynn’s corpse, who we learn was Johnny’s father.
Meanwhile, outside, the gang sings about what’s going on. Can (or will) Johnny use the resurrection suit to revive O’Flynn to save Clayton and the theater?
O’Flynn’s corpse is starting to decompose as the crowd comes into the theater, but someone loaded him with Jasmine. The curtain opens after a brief introduction by Clayton, and we see O’Flynn in a big sarcophagus. Johnny’s suit lights up, and the old rocker becomes a singing, dancing dead puppet.
Suddenly, Sluggo, one of the henchmen, betrays Johnny and cranks the power up to eleven. O’Flynn seems to come back to life for real. He still looks like a zombie though. He then ends the concert, and everyone leaves. He, Sluggo, and a groupie leave, but not before kidnapping Bliss with “The Big Pill.” O’Flynn has plans.
We cut to Cousin Quilty on TV, who interviews a woman who talks about her encounter with a flying saucer. Quilty admits that he personally has been abducted. O’Flynn and his posse arrive outside, and he wants to be on the show. During the interview, pieces of O’Flynn’s face start falling off. He mentions that Sluggo is his adopted son.
Sluggo calls Johnny and demands the suit. He wants to make a whole planet of zombies to do his bidding. O’Flynn starts to realize that Sluggo may be worse than he ever was.
Johnny finds the bad guys, but it’s all a trick. Sluggo gets the suit and forces O’Flynn to strangle Johnny. O’Flynn finally talks to his real son, Johnny, before dying again.
Bliss attacks Sluggo, but he’s huge. The rest of the gang joins in, and Sluggo falls off the mountain. Chip, on the other hand, is killed accidentally– nope, he just fainted.
Suddenly, the sky lights up and a flying saucer descends. Queen Betty from the homeworld has come, and she’s been watching. He offers to return the resurrection suit, and she recalls them to the homeworld, their crimes forgiven.
Johnny and Bliss come back, they want to make Earth their permanent home. Clayton, his girlfriend, and Chip go to Vegas to get married, which leads to a final song.
Brian’s Commentary
There seems to be one single product that gets a lot of product placement, see if you can spot it.
It certainly makes the most of black-and-white retro-50s imagery. This was Kevin McCarthy’s final film appearance. It was also the lowest-grossing movie of 2012, making only $117 during its one-week run. Mickey O’Flynn, played by Creed Bratton, seems to be a zombified Roy Orbison.
The whole thing seems to be a send-up of the 1950s “Rebel” genre although the trailer plays it up to be more of a mix of sci-fi and horror, but it takes a really long time to get to that part. The songs and musical bits are quite good, but all the talking in-between is just slow and draggy. There’s also a noticeable lack of songs in the second half.
I think it would have been much improved with the second half-hour much compressed. It’s a neat concept with a good look, but it’s extremely uneven. It’s definitely weird though.
Kevin’s Commentary
I was expecting this to be a wilder ride than it was. Instead, once things got underway, I found myself getting a little bored in places as it dragged down. The look and concept was all cool, the cast was good, the songs were fun. It could have used some tightening up. I don’t regret seeing it, and would recommend it for most folks, but once was probably enough.