Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy — Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy( Blu Ray)
From the early 1980’s, Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy is a truly wacked-out/tonally shifting mix of sci-fi, fantasy, skewed sitcom, and demented creature feature. The joint Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Croatia production regards a geeky/ bearded amateur author who seemingly brings to life/ earth his alien creations. Here from Deaf Crocodile Films is the region A Blu-ray release, taking in a new scan, a new commentary track, a new essay, and a selection of shorts from the director.
Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy ( Gosti Iz Galaksije, Visitors From The Galaxy) is from the year 1981. It was directed and co co-written by Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina-born Dusan Vukotic. He has a total of fifty-five credits to his name- fifty are shorts, and five are features. His other four features are enchanted island set family fantasy Sedmi Kontinent (1966), animated documentary Man: The Polluter(1973), war drama Operation Stadium(1977), and documentary Karlovac (1979)
The one-hour and twenty-six-minute film kicks off with trippy and spaced-out visuals, as a male voice tells a tale of alien folks and a far-off planet. We then see a bearded man in an astronaut helmet- initially, it seems he’s floating in space- the camera pans back, and we see our lead, Robert(Zarko Potocnjak), in a small apartment, dictating into a tape recorder ideas for his first sci-fi novel.
Living in his apartment with him is his blonde hair/ long suffering of his fantasy/ idiocy girlfriend Biba(Lucie Zulová). When not trying to pen his first novel, Robert works( not very well) as a hotel receptionist.
One night, on his own in his apartment, a blue light flashes by his shoulder on the horizon- seemingly drops onto a nearby island. His dictating machine then suddenly pipes up- claiming to be Andra, one of the characters in his story, and she’s waiting on the island.
He jumps in a boat, making his way to the island- after following a smaller blue spinning spear, he finds the tall/ body hugging gold suited Andra(Ksenia Prohaska), and her two short bobbed white hair cut child minions- also in gold suits.
As the film unfolds, all manner of wackness/ bizarreness occurs- Biba gets turned into a small cuboid and dropped into the sea- with divers sent out to find her. A beating heart is pulled out of a handyman/ then put back in again, and everything is fine. Andra can spurt coffee and milk from her fingers; she can also prepare a small three-course meal in her flip-open belly, and can suddenly flip back time. And as we move towards the end of the film, a lumbering, insectoid creature appears- it spews green fluid & green gas, as well as pulling off heads & limbs, oh, and it can randomly grow teeth from its fingers/ tummy.
Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy really is a film where you don’t know what's going to happen next, and it truly can’t decide whether it’s a family-friendly affair or a dark comedy/fantasy/horror. I guess the only criticisms would be some of the uneven pacing and actors who can’t decide to play it straight or ham it up.
The new scan on this locked region A disc looks good, with a bright, clear print, which nicely enhances both the actors/ locations, as well as the rather neat effects too.
New extras-wise on the disc, we have a commentary by film historian Samm Deighan. She begins by touching on how the film rather blurs its genres in an interesting/ creative manner, as well as mentioning some of its alternative titles. She talks about how the characters seemingly have no boundaries, which is often quite common in Eastern European comedies. She talks about how director Dusan Vukotic started off in animation, going on to give a bio, linking into how the country was in flux when he was born. She points out the island location and how it really enhances the special effects. Later on, she discusses the film's love triangle and chats about Eastern European sci-fi in general. She talks about the film's possible influences and how, when the monster appears, it’s such a surprise. All in all, another decent track from Ms Deighan.
On the archive side, we get a selection of earlier animated shorts by Dusan Vukotic. Cow On The Moon (10.46), Piccolo ( 9.36), 1001 Drawings (14.24), The Subtle ( 9.48), and Ars Gratia( 8.53).
The release comes with a glossy/ colour inlay booklet- this features a new eight page by film historian and professor Jennifer Lynde Barker, as well as a good selection of screenshots.
Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy is one hell of a wacked-out cinematic ride, with wonderful tonal and genre shifts. This Deaf Crocodile Films release takes in a lovely print and a small but worthy selection of extras.