Mutant Swinger From Mars

Mutant Swingers From Mars is almost exactly what the title implies. Aliens come down to Earth with a plan (or several) to create a ladies man to lure women to their home planet. The film is simultaneously a spoof of Ed Wood type films and a loving homage to the ridiculousness of the terrible sci-fi films of the 1950s.

The film was shot in the late ’90s and finished in 2009. Due to a lack of funds, it was put on the shelf for several years until now. Ironically, the film begins with a mockumentary explaining how the faux director of Mutant Swingers From Mars, Orton Z. Creswell killed himself, and Mutant Swingers From Mars was a “long lost film” of his.

The issue I have with the film is rather straightforward: How do you review a movie that is meant to be a joke? Well, I guess I have to compare it to films that it is intended to emulate. In true Ed Wood fashion, the plot for Mutant Swingers From Mars is all over the place. The film throws all the key sci-fi elements of the ’50s in one spoof film. There are aliens, mad scientists, a dancing gorilla, a Frankenstein’s monster-esque creature, cheap practical special effects, and damsels in distress. So, in the aspect of having what it needs, it does. What I am getting at is that the movie is good at being bad.

“Aliens come down to Earth with a plan (or several) to create a ladies man to lure women to their home planet.”

The acting isn’t the best, but in keeping with the Phil Tucker style, that must have been the director’s intention. Oddly enough, crazy though it seems, Mutant Swingers From Mars is the acting debut of Jack White. Yes, that Jack White, of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs fame.

Sometimes you need a ridiculous film to take from all the seriousness going on in the world. Mutant Swingers From Mars can be that film, but as far as obtaining cult status because of how bad it is in a way that Ed Wood’s The Bride Of The Monster, Cat Women Of The Moon, or I Married A Monster From Outer Space managed to do, I don’t see that happening. A part of me wished that maybe the mockumentary segment continued after the “lost film” ended, as it could have added a layer of depth and amusement. By doing this, the lore of the fake movie could have been expanded. Plus, the influence of the real b-movies writer-director Michael Kallio is paying tribute to could have come into sharper focus.

What is cool about Mutant Swingers From Mars is that Kallio managed to get the film out after over two decades of on and off again filming and trying to get the funds to have it released. It shows that he really believes in his film. I just wish that film had more to it.