Set in modern day upstate New York, a meteor crashes to earth carrying with it a dangerous space creature who goes on a rampage, killing everyone it encounters.
In the opening sequence government scientists inform us that a meteor heading to earth is carrying The Atomic Space Bug. How do they know? Well it seems a similar one, originating from the same area in space, landed in a small town in California in the 1950’s. In that case, a space creature from the meteor killed 90% of the populace before exploding in a nuclear fireball when the government tried to kill it. Thus, the name Atomic Space Bug.
After the meteor crashes in the woods near the town of Fair Oaks in upstate New York, the town’s Sheriff (Scott LoBaido) goes to investigate. He runs into teenagers Steven (Christopher Englese) and Angela (Jan Weichun) who are out exploring the woods while their friend Kevin (Johann Tonnessen) fixes a flat on their car. Meanwhile, The Atomic Space Bug (Jason Colucci) wanders the woods, killing indiscriminately. The monster eventually attacks the Sheriff whose gun goes off killing Angela, Steven runs for his life. He hides in an electrical station where he accidentally shuts down the power to the town. The local head of the electric company, played by Conrad Brooks of Plan 9 From Outer space fame, dispatches two workers (Eddie Grace and Anthony Mondella) to fix the station. More attacks from the creature follow until he meets a shocking end at the hands of Steven and one of the electrical workers. But he isn’t called the “Atomic” Space Bug for nothing.
Mr. Parisen’s 50’s B-movie influenced film, made for $2,100, falls far short of being at all entertaining. As with his last effort,”800″, reviewed in the August 23rd issue, poor filmmaking and amateurish performances are at fault here, not the budget or even the story. If Parisen’s trying to make some kind of statement about how bad the acting was in 50’s sci-fi movies, then he should have at least used really bad actors. All right, he did get Conrad Brooks, but the others just strike me as friends or acquaintances in it for a goof. At times it looks as though they’re on the verge of laughter when delivering their lines. A note to Parivision, if you’re going to get together with some old college buddies to fire up the video camera for a weekend of hack filmmaking, please don’t box up the results and subject others to it.
