Flattening The Curve PRESENTS: XTRO (1982)

Yes, you know why we are all here. And why I’m doing this. Turns out we require a functioning government in order to keep the public safe from potential disaster. And since we currently don’t have one of those, the days ahead will be rife with long-neglected viewings covering a broad spectrum of backed up material.

Some great, others bizarre beyond belief.

Welcome to the Quarantine..

After DECADES of obscurity, and a childhood actively frightened by and yet strangely intrigued by the poster, what this week’s beginning of a curve flattening self-quarantine has at last unleashed upon my eyes cannot be overstated. Harry Bromley Davenport’s nihilistic anti-E.T., truly does live up to its infamous reputation as not merely a nasty subversion, but a genuinely broken-minded vision of a fractured family.

Bernice Stegers, plays a single mom three years after the sudden disappearance of her husband who’s life has since begun to mend with the presence of a photographer boyfriend. A scenario that soon finds itself hemorrhaging after the sudden reappearance of the husband, who seemingly was abducted by aliens, and is now not even half the human he once was. After cleaning himself off, and headed back into the city, his core objective is to return home, possibly rekindle his relationship with his family, most particularly with his son, Tony(Simon Nash) who now seemingly shares something of a psychic bond.

With the estranged father angle well in place, one might assume XTRO would be something of a pulpier take on the early eighties’ divorce drama ala Kramer Vs. Kramer. But what it really is, not only offers some of the most underappreciated horror images of the decade, but some of the more gut wrenchingly insane takes on familial reconciliation ever put to film.

Which isn’t to say the film is “good” in any pleasant way. In fact, a good deal of XTRO’s running time often feels like a window into a psyche one might stay far away from in public, let alone a darkened alley. This film is what some horror fans have over the years remarked about regarding our relationship to filmmakers. That the purveyor of the tale being spun, may indeed be dangerous, and probably shouldn’t be trusted by anyone.

Yes. I know there are sequels. But where the hell does one go after this?

XTRO, is an act of genre malice with intent to scar.

XTRO, is not a film you enjoy with friends.

XTRO, is a film you INFLICT upon friends.

Dude, kid me knew. Just by the poster. BEWARE.

Seriously. It’s good I waited. This would have wrecked 7 year old me.