User Reviews

Without Warning is kinda odd, what with it's "big budget" stars and all. It's nicely done, although it looks like a Kolchak/Night Stalker episode.

However, the little frisbee/alien/thingies are extremely creepy, and strike me as very effective considering the low-budget.

The alien "hunter" looks like they got the costume from Outer Limits.

Overall, I'd recommend this movie, despite the hammy performances. Turn the lights down and prepare to be creeped out.

An alien has landed and it's killing innocent humans! Why, you ask? If you're looking for a feasible explanation like harvesting humans for food or cleaning off this planet for future alien use, forget it. Here the bad guy is just looking for a fun time hunting humans to add to his burgeoning trophy collection. Aiding in his sport are hairy, fanged little parasitic suction-cup Frisbees he flings at victims that drink their blood. The fun and gooey make-up FX are by Greg Cannon.

If the campy, silly plot isn't enough to get you tuned in, keep in mind it costars Jack Palance as a grizzled gas station owner, Cameron Mitchell as a sadistic hunter and an out-of-control Martin Landau as a ranting, raving, insane Vietnam vet! David (NYPD BLUE) Caruso also puts in an early appearance and the alien is played by giant Kevin Peter Hall, who went on the play the monster in the PREDATOR films.

Fun flick!

Score: 6 out of 10

Saw this one at the drive-in back in '80 and knew as I was watching it that I was watching a drive-in classic. I seem to recall (in my mind anyway)as 1980 being the last great drive-in horror movie year. I had already seen Humanoids From The Deep that summer and Phantasm there the previous year. I recall that the film had a nice updated 1950's sci-fi feel to it (like Humanoids, a little atmosphere, some laughs (frisbees etc.), hammy performances (Landau Palance) and Larry Storch. The ancient grainy Kingston Trio 'Things Go Better With CocaCola' ad at intermission seemed to fit in with it well. I can't recall what was on the bill with It Came Without Warning; but I recall leaving pretty satisfied. I've looked through many video stores to rent or buy it but can't locate it. Nice to see some other folks fondly remember this one and would like to see it on DVD,too.

This film is SOOO awful, I can't forget it.

When Jack Palance passed away, I started thinking about "that film he was in that was so bad." Finally, the name of the movie came back to me and I did a search, only to reminded of the horror...

Yes, I was one of the probably several thousand people who actually saw this on its opening weekend in a theatre. Hey--the trailers made it look interesting, I like Jack Palance and there wasn't much else opening that weekend.

In any case, I bought my ticket and popcorn...

But from there, it was all downhill. The acting? Horrendous. The story? It's been done. The script? Like it had been written as a grade school project. The action? Ugh...really, I just cannot say enough about how horrible this film was! Awful...

If not for the fact that there were actual actors in this candidate for the "two-for-$1.oo" bin at your local rental store, "Without Warning" would have went straight into the five cent bin.

The alien-goes-hunting-for-humans bit has been seen a hundred zillion times but what makes this one different? The fact that it features such latter-day Oscar winners as Landau and Palance in big parts. Also, former "NYPD Blue"-boy Caruso picks up a paycheck herein as does Brand, Mitchell and Meeker, who have done great things before but, sadly, not since. Even Larry Storch puts in a gag appearance as an unlucky scout leader.

And the alien itself? Kevin Peter Hall, the same guy who played big, masked title creatures in the "Predator" flicks and "Harry and the Hendersons" (he was Harry). But it doesn't really show up until the last 10 minutes. Not that it makes a difference, but it's the best thing in the whole movie, along with those mean little toothy frisbees it throws at people.

By the time it's all over, what have you got? Ninety or so minutes stolen from your life. Gone. Forever. Never to come back.

What's that? You haven't seen it? Smart.

One star. For the alien. As for the rest, you can't say you were "Without Warning".

Sorry, had to work the title in one more time....

"Without Warning" is a cheap American b-movie horror from 1980 about the terror striking the beautiful American countryside... some people are brutally killed and mutilated by an unknown stranger, and it's the turn of a bunch of teenagers and war veterans to find out that an illegal alien has landed and is hunting for humans for his horrible collection...

Although this movie shows lots of stereotypes and well-known topics from many horror movies from the 50's to the 70's like "It Came From Outer Space", "The Thing", Jack Arnold and Roger Corman cheapos, "Night of the Living Dead", "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Three on a Meathook" and even "Alien" and the new wave of high school slasher movies like "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th", it's an entertaining and thrilling affair.

There are some old movie veterans like Jack Palance, Martin Landau, Ralph Meeker, Cameron Mitchell and Neville Brand involved with Palance and Landau playing the mad alien hunters, and a young David Caruso in his very first movie role. The alien is played by Afro-American actor Kevin Peter Hall who also played the monster in "Predator 2" (1990). Director Greydon Clark never had a big break-through movie, but photographer Dean Cundey had a big time in the nineties with jobs for "Apollo 13", "Casper", "The Flintstones" and the Spielberg hits "Hook" and "Jurassic Park".

All in all it's a nice midnight movie and a small highlight for fans of seventies' paranoia horror films in the wake of the remakes of old alien, monster and disaster film productions. No more, no less.

Without Warning (1980) was an interesting movie. The plot was lifted and remade into a lame movie called Predator. This low budget horror film starred a trio of hard living actors (Jack Palance, Neville Brand and Martin Landau). Times must have been hard on these great character actors, sadly Neville Brand never received the recognition that he deserved as an actor. But LAndau and Palance went on to greater fame years later (the two even co-star in the highly underrated horror film ALONE IN THE DARK).

The movie is about a giant alien who likes to stalk humans. One of his weapons is a bevy of flying blood sucking star fish. After stalking a bunch of daft co-eds (led by David Caruso). A haggard and sun baked hunter (Jack Palance) decides to have some fun and hunt the ultimate prey! What will happen when the Alien tangles with a middle aged dude who doesn't care about anyone or anything? You have to watch WITHOUT WARNING.

Not a great film or a classic by any means. It's a fun party movie that gets better when you watch it with more people. Too bad it's hard to find.

I saw this movie in the theater when it was released and I was the only one in the theater. I was surprised how a bad movie like this could be released at a first run theater. The cast list includes two future Acadamy Award winners and future star Caruso. The story is weak and the production values are nil since most of the budget went to paying the bar bill for the actors who would only be in a stinker like this if they were drunk. There must be some scenes left on the cutting room floor because the jumps in the storyline are jarring. I recognized many fine actors making appearances here but it must have been a very low ebb for their careers.

I ,too saw this at a So-Cal drive-in, twenty odd years back.We got there after the film started and one of my buddies remarked "Hey ,isn't that Larry Storch hanging on that hook in the shed?"....It truly was "Magic Time"...AIP provided some kooky, grisly ,over acted gems back then. Where fine , but seemingly "washed -up" actors Palance, Landau, Brand ,Mitchell could still be on the "Big Screen" and show their chops.I remember mostly dark foggy woods and scared kids , and Hey ,don't go in the house! This "AIP Movie Era" was sadly coming to a close and "Without Warning" is a great example of this late lamented(?)style of cinema.I can still hear Jack Palance screaming "ALIEN!!!!!"................sigh..

Seven years before Arnold Schwarzenegger got to say "I'll be back" for the tenth time, this low budget science fiction slasher movie introduced audiences to the idea of alien hunters going after human prey. Granted, intergalactic Frisbees aren't quite as exciting as a semi-invisible Predator, but this movie did come first. Without Warning isn't an action movie, and it owes more to Friday the 13th than Extro, but overall it's an enjoyable ride. Lots of familiar faces, including Martin Landau, Cameron MItchell, Jack Palance, a very young David Caruso, Larry Storch for TV's F-Troop, and last but not least, Kevin Peter Hall as the alien hunter, seven years before he got to kick Arnold's butt in Predator.

If you can forgive the low production value and the cheesy script, then you might want to give Without Warning a look.

Man I still remember this one and I was around 9 years old. I believe I saw it on HBO one night and it scared the crap out of me. Yes those blood sucking flying disks were very cool. I do not really remember the alien but those disks still freak me out. I have not seen it since but if I ever do see a copy of it on DVD I will add it to my collection. My kids would love it.

If you're watching this for Landau, Palance, or Caruso, you will be sorely disappointed with most of the movie. I have to say, skipping almost the entire thing and watching the last 10 minutes is much more worthwhile than watching the entire thing. Honestly, that's when everything worth seeing happens: You get Palance and Landau playing over-the-top crazy like only they can, Palance actually saying intelligent things in a movie filled with nonsense, you get to see the only scenes with the actual alien in them, and you see the payoff, which is one big cliche and isn't worth suffering through the whole movie for. Since this is Caruso's first movie, he's early fodder and doesn't have much of a part. Most of the movie follows two young actors in a performance that is torture to sit through. The script doesn't help. If you insist on watching this in its entirety, I suggest doing it while drunk or something. Good luck.

I saw this movie once on TV, quite a few years ago, and I honestly don't remember whether it was on a pay channel or if it perhaps aired on USA's Saturday afternoon "Creature Features" or something like that. Anyway, point is: once was enough, and "quite a few years ago" is still too recent. This was (and remains to this day) one of the absolute worst movies I have ever seen. I remember feeling embarrassed for Jack Palance and Martin Landau; this had to have been the low point of the careers of each actor (if not, I'd hate to see what rates below this disaster). With regard to a discussion of this flick, the only thing more shocking than the depths to which these fine actors sank has to be the comments on this website calling the film "underrated" and comparing it favorably to "Predator." I half-suspect that all of the positive comments made herein must have made by one person under different names (and that person must be the director's mother). The concept of an alien using humans as game is certainly older than this film, and Greydon Clark is no John McTiernan. It's no oversight that this movie hasn't been made available on home video. It STINKS. If for one moment it seems like I'm judging a movie from 1980 too harshly by today's standards, just remember that 1980 was also the year of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and RAGING BULL...

I haven't seen this film for a long time, it must be over 10 years when I saw this. I bet if I'd see it today, this films would suck. But in the 80's when I was a little boy, this felt so exciting. There are lot of films that I'd love to see again, but here in Finland they are hard to get. Luckily, I have had a chance to see few horror films, which I liked as a kid, like Incubus, Superstition, The Legacy. I know, they are not masterpieces, but I missed them and I'm glad I had a chance to see them again. This film is one of those, also New Barbarians, Time walker, The dark, Thor the Conqueror and many other B-films.

Pretty average science fiction movie that has flaws and assets that about balance each other out.

The plot is an early predecessor of PREDATOR, as an alien hunts humans on Earth.

There is an all star cast, or at least six huge names and a cast of unknowns. The name stars, Cam Mitchell, Jack Palance, Neville Brand, Ralph Meeker, Martin Landau, and Larry Storch, all play character roles. These were huge talents, and some are wasted in what amounts to cameos, particularly Storch, a top comic, who probably should have been given more to do.

That's one of the flaws, the misuse of talent, but it's also one of the assets, as the movie makes an early attempt to show us some iconoclasm, killing two of the big names in the first 25 minutes. This is no doubt on purpose, to show that nothing is sure.

However, the biggest flaw is the stereotypical "serial" style use of constantly throwing in needless diversionary problems, notably from the Landau character. To it's credit, the movie doesn't throw in as many of these constant perils as some of the more ridiculous movies.

The ending is a lot less cliché than we're used to as well. I won't say whether the alien is defeated or killed, but will say that we aren't given the cliché in 99.999% of action movies of an egg or spawn or raising from the grave at the end.

The movie does drag sometimes, because of the Landau "keep making useless perils" character. It probably would have been better if Brand and Meeker, as local normal people, couold've done more to be heroes at the end.

Assets outweigh the liabilities by a slim margin.

Four teens—Beth, Tom, Sandy and Greg (Lynn Theel, David Caruso, Tarah Nutter and Christopher S. Nelson)—ignore creepy gas station owner Taylor (Jack Palance) when he warns them not to go up to the lake. They regret their decision when they find themselves stalked by a tall creature that flings deadly organic frisbees at them.

As much as I admire John McTiernan's 1987 Arnie classic Predator, I have to admit that the film bears more than a passing resemblance to 1980 sci-fi/horror Without Warning. Not only is the plot suspiciously similar—an alien arrives on Earth to hunt humans—but the performer playing the extraterrestrial hunter is the very same person who played the Predator: 6'9" Kevin Peter Hall.

Of course, Without Warning isn't the flawless, testosterone fuelled, action-fest that is Predator: for much of the time the plot goes nowhere, with the teen protagonists stumbling from one location to another pursued by both the dome-headed ET and a loopy, gun-toting ex-soldier, Fred 'Sarge' Dobbs (played to the hilt by Martin Landau); meanwhile, Taylor plans to kill the beast. There's some fun to be had from the wonky alien frisbees, which fly awkwardly through the air and sport burrowing tentacles and gnashing teeth, but a lot of the running time is spent with the characters doing just that: running.

The film ends in a manner that is, once again, eerily similar to Predator: Taylor prepares a booby trap and lures the alien by shouting 'come on!'. Coincidence? I think not.

6.5 out of 10 for the gloopy effects and Dean Cundey's great cinematography (unlike many a low budget horror, we can actually see what is going on in the dark), rounded down to 6 for killing off bikini babe Beth too quickly.

This movie RULEZ. Don't listen to the negativists: they seem to be patently refusing to get into the spirit of things, probably turned off by the low budget, utterly ordinary & banal settings, ludicrous plot twists and unhinged performances. But trust me, this is what I do for a living: Anyone with a taste for outrageous, low budget Amercian made regional horror will find a masterpiece here waiting to be unleashed.

The plot is already summed up well by other admirers: Alien being decides to go hunting in the woods of what looks like rural Oklahoma using an elaboration on those flying pancake monsters from the old "Star Trek" series that would smack onto someone's back and drive them insane. These have revolting little teeth, pincers and claws, glom onto people and suck the ooze out of their brains. The Alien himself is right out of Whitley Strieber -- a 7 foot tall gray who's motives are never explained and who's demise is one of the most satisfying conclusions to a "horror movie" I have seen in months. The Alien's flying pancake killings are gory, inventively staged, unpredictable in occurrence and made to create squeals of disgust from viewers, who if they allow themselves to get caught up in the proceedings will feel like they are 10 years old again & watching Creature Feature matinée when they should be outside doing chores. Even without any exploitational nudity, this movie is a guilty pleasure dream come true.

BUT, the thing that entranced me the most about the film was -- amazingly -- the performances, or rather the job of the actors in personifying the community of individuals depicted, all of whom come across as real people in the same way that "The Simpson's" characters also feel real. And what an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime cast!! It's almost worth it just to see all these people involved in the same movie project: Cameron Mitchell at his grizzled, method acting best. Martin Landau immersed in another role that absorbs him whole like a sponge; Landau's Oscar for ED WOOD was no mistake. Ralph Meeker as a bar patron who's bemused indifference to the proceedings is only matched by film legend Neville Brand, who's response to being informed that he is in the middle of an actual alien invasion is to order up another beer. Darby Hinton, Lynn Theel, a pre-fame David Caruso, former child actor hearthrob Christopher S. Nelson, a wacky Larry Storch and frequent monster movie monster Kevin Peter Hall all contribute wonderfully. And the under-seen Tarah Nutter makes a very believable young heroine shoved into the role of saving her planet whether she wants to or not.

But the movie is stolen lock, stock and smoking barrels, by Jack Palance, God bless the man. Usually cast as a scheming, duplicitous villain, here he plays a completely unhinged local hunter who happens upon the invasion and decides to go Mano-a-Mano with the Alien, weathering no less than three close encounters with the flying pancakes & surviving them all by slicing the things off his body with a knife. Anyone else (except maybe Cameron Mitchell) would look ridiculous while cutting off a goo spewing alien pancake monster from their thigh but somehow Palance manages to find a performance in the routine. And again, here is evidence that his Oscar for CITY SLICKERS was no accident either: He is a national treasure who's distinctively scarred face should be added to Mount Rushmore & his story enshrined in a monument.

How else can you put it? WITHOUT WARNING may be the ultimate Jack Palance movie (aside from maybe SHANE and CAN BE DONE AMIGO) and is so utterly perfect in it's execution that I was howling with glee at finally encountering a movie that pushed nearly every geek nerve button in my skull. I love the low budget effects, offbeat performances, totally unremarkable settings, the unpredictable story arc and the climactic ending which got a round of applause from the house. The movie looks like it was filmed in & around the woods down by the drainage ditch about three blocks away, and is proof that you don't need a huge budget, a moron A-list face like Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt or flashy computer generated effects to make a very satisfying little creature feature. All you need is enough imagination, guile & ingenuity to make such happen yourself, though having a Jack Palance and a Martin Landau handy will certainly help.

And that leads me to my one problem with the film: Landau's crazed Vietnam veteran character. It's not that his actions were implausible, it's just that it would have been more fun if he and Palance's equally grizzled hunter character had "teamed up" and pitted their combined mental instabilities, paranoia and capability for violence against this thing. Someone goofed on the screenplay level and missed an opportunity there and as such my rating for this is diminished from the 9 star affair it really should have been. But make no mistake & listen not to the Negative Nellies from Sector Nine: You won't regret investing your 90 minutes into this movie if low budget horror alien invasion and wacko backwoods regional quirk films are your cup of tea. If they aren't go rent the comparatively vacant WAR OF THE WORLDS with Mr. Cruise, who compared to Mr. Palance does not even come across as being convincing at playing a guy who holds a day job & owns a cat. Give me junk like this any day of the week and use your $105 million dollars to feed the continent of Africa next time, Mr. Spielberg: You have been OWNED.

8/10

***SPOILERS*** Low-budget alien from outer space movie where this moon-headed looking alien has a local community somewhere in middle-America targeted to be hunted down and killed for food and, after the humans are processed and eater,trophies.

Starting off by killing a father and son, Cameron Mitchell & Durby Hinton, who are out camping in the wild than a scoutmaster, Larry Storch,who's team of cub-scouts run for their lives the alien catches a young vacationing couple Tom & Beth, David Caruso & Lynn Theel, all by themselves separated from their two friends Greg & Sandy, Christopher S. Nelson & Tarah Nutter. The alien finishes them off putting away all of it's victims in an abandoned wooden storehouse in the woods. The alien uses these strange looking blood-sucking critters tossing them at it's intended victims like Frisbee's that stick to their bodies sucking the life-blood out of them.

With Greg and Sandy running for their lives and for help at a local bar their looked upon as if their kooks by everyone there but Fred "Sarge" Dobbs, Martin Landou. Sarge not only suffers for a bad case of shell-shock syndrome as a result of his service in the US Army in the Vietnam War but is also suffering from a serious case of paranoia from having encountered the same kind of alien years before and has become known by everyone around as the town lunatic because of it.

With the lights unexpectedly going off at the bar Sarge feels that the aliens are on the attack, using the blackout as their cover, and in a fit of madness shoots the town sheriff as he enters the bar. The local gas station owner Tom Taylor, Jack Palance, who earlier warned both couples not to go down by the lake where the alien was also knows that what Greg & Sandy are saying is true but is a cool and calculating hunter who's in control of his mental faculties, unlike Sarge. Taylor knows what the alien is up to and plans to beat it at it's own game by him being the hunter not, like all the alien's victims, the hunted.

The movie "Without Warning" does hold an unusual amount of tension for a low-budget horror film never letting it's audience get as much as a breather as it slowly moves to it's final confrontation between man and alien in the dark and creepy forest outside of town.

Sarge who's mind had snapped after he shot the sheriff starts to get these wild fears about the aliens taking over the bodies off the towns people. It's then when he almost, in his unstable mental state, prevents Taylor from finally killing the alien with the help of Sandy ,Greg was later killed by one of the Frisbee's, as he dynamited it's storehouse and waited for the alien to show up and enter it to blast it to bits.

With Sarge blowing Taylor's plan by stupidly attacking, and thus alerting, the alien and getting killed for his actions Taylor himself is hit by a number of deadly alien Frisbee's. Taylor knowing that he doesn't have long to live maneuvers, by using himself as a decoy, the alien into the storehouse where Sandy, at a safe distance, set off the dynamite blowing both Taylor and the alien to pieces.

One of the better alien from space movies of the late 1970's and 1980's that does the most with it's very meager budget to come across far better then the more expensive and better advertised like-wise films released back in those days after the success of the 1979 alien from space blockbuster "Alien".

Surprisingly entertaining movie both in a laugh-out-loud bad way and also as a creepy horror/sci-fi movie that kept me entertained even without the cheesyness. Jack Palance is, well, Jack Palance, as hammy and gruff as ever, and Martin Landau does a good job as a Grade-A kook! As people have mentioned previously, I think they got the alien costume from an Outer Limits yard sale and those hairy frisbees it throws are just too amusing - one of the silliest "weapons" in movie history. It works on so many levels!