DVD Review: Communion (C-)

Communion (1989)
Directed By Phillipe Mora
Starring Christopher Walken, Lindsey Crouse
MPAA: R
Grade: C-

Review by Scott Standish

Anything with Christopher Walken in it proves interesting. No where else is this more obvious than in the 1989 cult sci-fi film Communion, a "we were abducted by aliens" movie.

This is supposedly based on a true story (and a popular book) about alien abduction, and yes its exactly what you think: weird guy (Walken) gets abducted by aliens, no one believes him, but pretty soon he meets others that have had the same experience.

While the viewer might not be surprised by the storyline, they might be surprised at how bad the aliens look. I mean they really look like midgets in silly halloween monster costumes. Who knows what the producers were thinking here, because it actually is kind of funny how dumb they look. They kind of look like a cross between baby godzilla (from the incredible Godzilla's Revenge) and the Oompa Loompas (from Willy Wonka).

Communion doesn't really merit a huge detailed review simply because it has idiotic looking special effects (sorry that's just the rule). However, watching Christopher Walken deal with weird alien monsters is almost worth the cost of the rental alone, so we bumped this movie's grade up a bit to C-.

We usually don't get into the "extras" on DVDs but this has an unusual one worth noting: the Communion DVD comes with a clip of a surgeon removing "alien implants" from a person who was abducted by an alien. This guy does all this with a straight face, and yes, he is totally serious. If you are into that kind of thing (and who isn't?) then Communion is for you. If that's not your bag, then you might want to skip Communion, a run of the mill sci-fi flick that is only saved from absolute disaster by the always interesting Christopher Walken.

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