Extra Terrestrial Visitors is a dementedly skewed low-budget Euro sci-fi film from the 1980s.Throughout it awkwardly seesaws between sinister-when aliens-invade picture, and when-a-kid-befriends-an-alien family film. With the picture's tone wildly shifting between brooding, cheesy ‘n’ camp, badly spirited, playful ‘n’ wacky, jarringly horrifying and sinisterly uneasy. Here from Severin is a double disc release of the film- taking in a Blu-Ray & CD soundtrack for the film- with a selection of new & archive extras on the Blu-Ray.

Appearing in 1983 Extra Terrestrial Visitors( aka Los Nuevos Extraterrestres, Pod People, Tales of Trumpy, The Return of E.T., The Unearthling) was a Spanish production. It was helmed by Valencia, Spain-born director, writer, and producer Juan Piquer Simón- who will be most known to euro-cult fans for his brutal,  OTT & cheesy slasher Picecs (1982). Though he also helmed eleven other films such as the highly sleazed horror film Satan’s Blood(1978),  adventure comedy horror Mystery on Monster Island (1981), on gory killer creature flick Slugs (1988), and underwater action horror The Rift (1990).

After the travelling through space credits- with bright intergalactic synth meets felt electric piano scoring. The film opens in thick mist-shored woods at night- as we see three rough, ready, and highly dubious poachers who are collecting bird eggs. Something crash-lands in the forest- burrowing into the ground as a fireball- after it cools down, one of the poachers makes his way into the tunnel made by the crash- finding large eggs in the ground- he breaks one, finding a strange embryo inside- he smashes all but one of the eggs, before been knockdown by baying, furry, and lumbering figure. With two of the poachers looking for their buddy- these are the first set of characters.

Next, we meet curly red-haired Tommy(Óscar Martín) who I’m guessing is around ten. He lives in a cabin house near the woods with his mum Molly(Concha Cuetos), and his grumpy ‘n’ gun-tooting uncle Bill (Manuel Pereiro). Tommy is rather keen on pets- in his room he has a little kitty, budgies, and a rabbit. The day after the crash- Tommy goes into the still mist-shrouded forest for a walk- he finds the one remaining egg, and takes it home.

Lastly, we meet the third & final batch of characters-a three-piece female euro pop/ very light rock band, and there rather obnoxious & sleeping around producer/ manager.  They are recording a song when we first see them- then make there out to the mist-shrouded forest, to make a music video( I think).

The film liberally shifts from being light and spacey, though to brooding and uneasiness of the forest. Onto the cheesy and camp interactions between the band. Though to the weird( Tommy takes the egg to bed with him) and cute if still odd, as the boy feeds the trunk-mouthed little alien with milk. Before once more cycling back through uneasy monster in the woods vibe, playful alien cuteness, bickering-if-camp drama, creepy horror-fed murder, etc. Frankly, the film is rather a tonally/ structurally messy film- but boy is it a wacky/ unbalancing ride of a film.

With the highlights taking in cheesy ‘n’ camp in-studio banter, and the recording of a truly awful euro-pop/ light rock tune. Stop motion Tommy & alien playtime taking in manic jigsaw making, deranged Simon says action, and clothes ‘n’ shoes march/ flowing out of cupboards. The aftermath of those who encounter the aliens' mummy- bright white light holes in their foreheads, and a set terrified stare. And the very down-beat tragic end, which feels rushed yet somehow fitting for such an unbalancing film.

The acting( I played the English dubbed) is largely (just passable) B movie level, though Martín is rather good as the young lead- shifting between being a kookie-if-a little odd, to compassionate and intrigued, to guarding/ putting his life on the line.  Soundtrack-wise, we get a nice blend of moods/ tones going from the bright, lightly tuneful and spacey, onto the brooding and uneasy, through to the very campy & cheesy euro pop/ rock bound.

Moving on this new release. And the first disc in the set is a region-free Blu-Ray- this features a new 4k scan of the film, and it looks nicely bright, clean, and crisp.  You can play the film either in its English or Spanish dubs.

On the new extra side we get the following A Weekend In Hell (14.23) which finds actor Emilo Linder talking about how he got the part in the film, and his time on set. Composing The Cosmos (19.02) which finds soundtrack composer Librado Pastor discussing his score for the film, as well as briefly touching on other scores he did with the director. A Private Concert with Librado Pastor( 8.41) which finds the composer playing a few of the cues from the film on keyboard, as well as one of the cues from the soundtrack for Simón’s early film Satan’s Blood.

Next, we get the biggest extra here The Simón Jigsaw ( 1 hour 41) this is a 2014 documentary about the director- going all the way from his influences to discuss each film, as well as get some great behind-the-scenes/ onset footage. We also get a good selection of interviews with cast, crew, and admires- including a few euro cult actors like Jack Taylor & Antonio Mayans. This is a wonderfully in-depth/ detailed doc- which really gives you a feel of Simón the man & Simón the director. All of the extras here are in Spanish language, with English subtitles. Lastly, we get alternative credits for the Pod People version of the film- and this features both rather different-looking aliens & cast

The second disc is a CD, and it features just four tracks from the score. We have the opening credits spacy synth & electric keyboard track "Los Nuevos Extra-Terrstes". Then there’s "LLegad A Ta Tirra" which is more of a moody beat-bound synth track. And two of the film's euro pop tunes, "Rugen Los Motores" & "Sara". This is a nice enough little bonus- though it’s a pity we couldn’t get the complete soundtrack- but I’m guessing it was never fully made available, hence why we haven’t got it here.

Extra Terrestrial Visitors certainty is a wonderful lopsided & tonally unbalancing example of euro exploitation.  It often jarringly shifts from horror fed & uneasy, to cute & camp, through to cheesy & bizarre, then back again. This new presentation from Severin has a wonderfully clean ‘n’ crisp 4k scan, as well as a good selection of worthy new & archive extras to boot.