Any fans of John Paizs' 1999 science fiction / horror comedy? I found it to be both a very funny film as well as an affectionate tribute to the kinds of alien invasion / paranoia movies so popular in the 1950s.
Campbell Scott stars - quite perfectly - as a square jaw, pipe-smoking atomic scientist sent to the town of Exceptional Vista. The town's key industry - producing the finest nuts in the region - went belly-up and Exceptional Vista is but a shell of its former self. Yet strange things have began to happen, strange even for a community whose small population isn't exactly 100% normal to begin with. At the beginning of the movie a fisherman - lolling creekside while watching a fishing program on TV - is surprised by a gorgeous redhead who has appeared from out of the blue and invites him to join her in "the copulatory act". By the time he's dropped his pants he's become an alien lunch plate. Exceptional Vista has been invaded by some very hungry visitors who love the taste of human beings. People begin to die in nasty ways, and Scott isn't buying into the two possible explanations being served up by a supposed government agent:
"A genetically engineered band of devil worshipping serial killers or a sasquatch type thing? I don't like the sounds of that!"
It's up to Scott, lovely motel owner / cold fusion enthusiast Fiona Loewi, and her underwear-scrubbing brother Tom Everett Scott to save the day & foil the alien invaders - a scene that pays homage to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD by setting itself in a besieged farm house.
The cast of TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN delivers winning performances, and the script by Phil Bedard & Larry Lalonde is full of snappy dialogue. I find that a lot of genre-based comedies fall short, but FOOD CHAIN hits the mark.
Campbell Scott stars - quite perfectly - as a square jaw, pipe-smoking atomic scientist sent to the town of Exceptional Vista. The town's key industry - producing the finest nuts in the region - went belly-up and Exceptional Vista is but a shell of its former self. Yet strange things have began to happen, strange even for a community whose small population isn't exactly 100% normal to begin with. At the beginning of the movie a fisherman - lolling creekside while watching a fishing program on TV - is surprised by a gorgeous redhead who has appeared from out of the blue and invites him to join her in "the copulatory act". By the time he's dropped his pants he's become an alien lunch plate. Exceptional Vista has been invaded by some very hungry visitors who love the taste of human beings. People begin to die in nasty ways, and Scott isn't buying into the two possible explanations being served up by a supposed government agent:
"A genetically engineered band of devil worshipping serial killers or a sasquatch type thing? I don't like the sounds of that!"
It's up to Scott, lovely motel owner / cold fusion enthusiast Fiona Loewi, and her underwear-scrubbing brother Tom Everett Scott to save the day & foil the alien invaders - a scene that pays homage to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD by setting itself in a besieged farm house.
The cast of TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN delivers winning performances, and the script by Phil Bedard & Larry Lalonde is full of snappy dialogue. I find that a lot of genre-based comedies fall short, but FOOD CHAIN hits the mark.
