Teenagers from Outer Space is the vision of one man, namely Tom Graeff who wrote, directed, produced, did the music and just about everything else you can imagine with this film. While doing all of that, he even managed to find the time to act in the picture as well. As one can imagine, Graeff did all of this to save money and bring the film in on a shoestring budget and as such, the results showcase that more than he might have liked. The costumes are hokey, the effects are terrible and the actors are simply not all that good. The strange thing is that despite all the weaknesses that this film manages to have, it is still quite compelling and commands your interest. Maybe ‘commands’ is too strong, but you do want to see what happens come the end of the film.

The basic story finds a group of men from outer space landing upon the Earth in order to find a breeding ground for the Gargans, a food source on their planet not unlike lobsters. Things go down and spaceman Derek decides that he wants no part of what is happening and takes off. Derek meets Betty and starts to learn the ways of man and what better way than with a pretty girl played by Dawn Bender. Soon though, the crew hunts him down and things go from bad to worse when the Gargan they brought to Earth turns into a giant monster.

The script for this movie is downright awful and even the actors including David Love as the lead, cannot make it right. It also does not help that none of the players can really act in the first place. Still, as Derek starts to discover things like family and girls and swimming and so on, you find you want to see what he is going to do next. The premise of the film is a good one, despite the aliens having names like Derek which is awfully strange and the film is a weird hybrid between being an alien invasion picture, a teenage romance and a monster movie, but at the end of the day, it is not all that bad and quite a bit of fun. Surprisingly, Teenagers from Outer Space is worth at least one watch.

2.5 out of 5