40 reviews
Decent enough comedy horror
I'm not the biggest fan of horror comedy, but this one adequately takes the clichés of eighties horror and blends them into a fairly funny little flick. It's obvious that the people involved were horror fans themselves, as the film revolves around an all-too typical horror theme. The lead character is Mike; a horror movie buff, who travels up to a lake-side cabin to spend a weekend with six friends. Mike begins to spot signs of danger, but the others dismiss his theories. However, it turns out that he's not wrong and pretty soon the group fall foul of something living out there in the area surrounding the lake-house. The film doesn't really work as a horror film in its own right; obviously the director was more interested in generating laughter than scares. But the self-referential jokes are quite funny, and the film is good at picking out the various horror movie clichés and poking fun at them. Unfortunately, I saw this on a rather poor VHS copy, but apparently there's a better DVD out now. Overall, There is Nothing Out There didn't do as much for me as it evidently did for others, but it makes for a fun viewing and is recommended to fans of horror comedy.
6.7/10. Recommended
Underrated. Much better than i expected. I've watched a lot of "cult" comedy/horror movies of this era and most of them are not scary neither funny. This one made me laugh at times. Characters are likeable, especially the one who constantly was warning them and everyone ignored. Definitely this movie influenced SCREAM franchise, because there are some "meta" scenes too. It's clever and there are some hot girls here too. What's not to like?
In conclusion, every fan of this genre should watch it. It is a shame this went unnoticed. Of course keep in mind this is a b movie, no big production and so on.
In conclusion, every fan of this genre should watch it. It is a shame this went unnoticed. Of course keep in mind this is a b movie, no big production and so on.
- athanasiosze
- Sep 14, 2023
- Permalink
An enjoyable self-aware horror spoof.
In low-budget horror spoof There's Nothing Out There, seven teenagers - couples Jim and Doreen (Mark Collver and Wendy Bednarz), Janet and David (Claudia Flores and Jeff Dachis), and Stacy and Nick (Bonnie Bowers and John Carhart III), plus 'gooseberry' Mike (Craig Peck) - spend spring break at a rural house in the woods, unaware that a vicious killer alien is lurking nearby.
If anyone should know how to survive a horror film scenario, it's a horror film fan - someone who recognises the warning signs, is familiar with the genre's tropes, and who understands what needs to be done in any given horror situation. That's the premise of There's Nothing Out There, scary movie aficionado Mike being the only one to realise the danger he and his friends are in and act accordingly. While his pals are wandering through the woods at night, skinny dipping in a pond, or having sex, he's preparing himself for a battle against the unknown. Hell, at one point he even suspects that he might be in a horror movie!
This meta approach makes the film more fun than if it were played straight - it's knowingly dumb and deliberately exploits all of the genre clichés, with characters doing the most asinine things guaranteed to place them in peril. In one crazy scene, writer/director Rolfe Kanefsky even has a character grab hold of the boom mic to swing to safety - it's that kind of film! The monster itself is a delightfully shonky, tentacled rubber creature that fires green laser beams from its eyes, there's a modicum of gore (with a wonderfully orchestrated decapitation scene), and all of the girls (and a couple of the guys) shed their clothes: Doreen takes a shower and strips for fireside sex, Janet has her clothes ripped off by the creature, and Stacy gets jiggy with Nick and spends the remainder of the movie running around in a bikini (and looks great doing so!).
It all amounts to a big dose of schlocky B-movie silliness, coated with goopy layer of green alien slime, which should appeal to anyone who can identify with Mike, for whom horror is not just a hobby, but a way of life.
If anyone should know how to survive a horror film scenario, it's a horror film fan - someone who recognises the warning signs, is familiar with the genre's tropes, and who understands what needs to be done in any given horror situation. That's the premise of There's Nothing Out There, scary movie aficionado Mike being the only one to realise the danger he and his friends are in and act accordingly. While his pals are wandering through the woods at night, skinny dipping in a pond, or having sex, he's preparing himself for a battle against the unknown. Hell, at one point he even suspects that he might be in a horror movie!
This meta approach makes the film more fun than if it were played straight - it's knowingly dumb and deliberately exploits all of the genre clichés, with characters doing the most asinine things guaranteed to place them in peril. In one crazy scene, writer/director Rolfe Kanefsky even has a character grab hold of the boom mic to swing to safety - it's that kind of film! The monster itself is a delightfully shonky, tentacled rubber creature that fires green laser beams from its eyes, there's a modicum of gore (with a wonderfully orchestrated decapitation scene), and all of the girls (and a couple of the guys) shed their clothes: Doreen takes a shower and strips for fireside sex, Janet has her clothes ripped off by the creature, and Stacy gets jiggy with Nick and spends the remainder of the movie running around in a bikini (and looks great doing so!).
It all amounts to a big dose of schlocky B-movie silliness, coated with goopy layer of green alien slime, which should appeal to anyone who can identify with Mike, for whom horror is not just a hobby, but a way of life.
- BA_Harrison
- Mar 16, 2022
- Permalink
"I'll Remember That When I'm Getting My Face Ripped Off!"...
After a boffo opening that will have you longing for those mom 'n' pop video stores of old, THERE'S NOTHING OUT THERE begins!
It's spring break, and a group of high school friends head out to a house in the deep woods. When the partying starts, these young people are unaware that something has decided to join them. Something not of this world! Bizarre events take place almost immediately.
The horror fanatic of the group expects grisly disaster at every turn. Luckily for us, he's right! Copious gore and nudity explode onto the screen!
This movie is for the low-budget horror enthusiast, as well as the self-aware parody lover. It's loaded with cheeeze-on-purpose and stereotypical characters. Is there superior acting? No. Deep, philosophical dialogue? Not a bit. More fun than a barrel full of quivering monkey guts? Yes!
The monster is sheer, rubbery perfection! The face melting sequence is incredible-ness itself! The beheading is brilliance on toast, with extra tomato! The final conflict will have you saving light bulbs and praying for a girlfriend like Stacy (Bonnie Bowers)!
This is one of a handful of Troma films that are truly worth watching. Watch it now!
It's spring break, and a group of high school friends head out to a house in the deep woods. When the partying starts, these young people are unaware that something has decided to join them. Something not of this world! Bizarre events take place almost immediately.
The horror fanatic of the group expects grisly disaster at every turn. Luckily for us, he's right! Copious gore and nudity explode onto the screen!
This movie is for the low-budget horror enthusiast, as well as the self-aware parody lover. It's loaded with cheeeze-on-purpose and stereotypical characters. Is there superior acting? No. Deep, philosophical dialogue? Not a bit. More fun than a barrel full of quivering monkey guts? Yes!
The monster is sheer, rubbery perfection! The face melting sequence is incredible-ness itself! The beheading is brilliance on toast, with extra tomato! The final conflict will have you saving light bulbs and praying for a girlfriend like Stacy (Bonnie Bowers)!
This is one of a handful of Troma films that are truly worth watching. Watch it now!
- azathothpwiggins
- May 16, 2021
- Permalink
Oh, there's something out there alright (Possible Spoiler)
- Access Sanctuary
- May 25, 2000
- Permalink
A Decent horror flick
There's Nothing Out There is an erotic horror comedy film directed by Rolfe Kanefsky, the film stars Craig Peck, Wendy Bednarz, and Mark Collver.
Made on very limited budget can easily be termed as c-grade erotic horror film but after watching the film you might not be disappointed.
The plot of the film is simple and has nothing fresh in it, the screenplay of the film is average but will not disappoint you, acting is average to decent and climax of the film is predictable but good.
Overall the film is not a disappointing film and one can be entertaining in pieces.
Made on very limited budget can easily be termed as c-grade erotic horror film but after watching the film you might not be disappointed.
The plot of the film is simple and has nothing fresh in it, the screenplay of the film is average but will not disappoint you, acting is average to decent and climax of the film is predictable but good.
Overall the film is not a disappointing film and one can be entertaining in pieces.
- sauravjoshi85
- Nov 5, 2021
- Permalink
Scream before Scream
- BandSAboutMovies
- Feb 17, 2019
- Permalink
For a low budget horror comedy b film it's awesome!
Ok so the special effects are majorly hokey, but what made the film great was all the nods to all the horror movie aficionados out there, that still stand almost 30 years later. Especially the opening scene in the video store... with all the shots of now classic horror movie posters AND vhs tapes. Plus the character Mike made me laugh and smile the whole way through. And the end... well that was just priceless. All in all it was a fun watch that I can definitely see myself watching again and recommending to fellow horror fans and friends.
- atomik-concia
- Aug 14, 2019
- Permalink
Cheesy slasher spoof released by Troma
- Leofwine_draca
- Mar 23, 2017
- Permalink
Cabin in the Woods
Planning to spend spring break at an isolated cabin in the woods, a group of teenagers suffer grim fates here when they fail to heed the advice of their movie buff friend who recognises the "warning signs" from the countless horror films he has seen. Although nowhere near as well-known, 'There's Nothing Out There' is a curious precursor to the 'Scream' franchise and 'The Cabin in the Woods' with its self-aware approach - and there many amusing moments as the horror buff exclaims "those kids were born to be murder victims" and as he makes side comments like "here's mistake number one". The single best line though has him pausing to think before stating "it's a distinct possibility" when asked if he believes that he is in a horror movie. The fun is not just limited to the dialogue though; there is a zany bit in which a teenager uses a visible boom mike (!) to jump across a room, plus the monster point-of-view shots are highly effective. Unlike 'Scream' though, 'There's Nothing Out There' is never particularly unsettling or scary. The monster always looks fake and hardly menacing and should have remained unseen on camera more often. The elaborate scheme concocted to defeat it is a tad silly too. The film concludes though with a hilarious final line and for a movie made on such a noticeably low budget, it is a notable effort.
Has its moments but not enough
Silly no-budget horror film. Seven college students go a remote cabin in the woods for a weekend. There are three couples and one loner who's a horror movie addict. He soon realizes there's something in the woods with them and keeps warning everyone. They ignore him until it's too late. They're attacked by an alien that seeks to kill the men and mate with the women.
Made on a small budget with a cast of unknowns (who remained unknown). The basic idea is not bad and it has an OK script but the atrocious acting and lousy special effects make this a chore to watch. Also ALL the characters are annoying and you never really get a good look at the alien. Skip it.
Made on a small budget with a cast of unknowns (who remained unknown). The basic idea is not bad and it has an OK script but the atrocious acting and lousy special effects make this a chore to watch. Also ALL the characters are annoying and you never really get a good look at the alien. Skip it.
great DVD edition
Knowingly silly horror spoof
- gridoon2024
- Jun 22, 2019
- Permalink
Has the basics of a good horror movie but it's bad.
- fibreoptic
- Jul 21, 2004
- Permalink
Film Both Mocks and Honors B-Movie Horror Cliches
One of 'Screams' fore-fathers in that it provides a character who has seen tons of horror movies and knows what to expect next! The plot is familiar - students who head out to the woods for a weekend of sex and alcohol are then terrorized by an alien. Yet, the writers definitely did this one up tongue in cheek style. Watch for the classic boom-mic scene. Skeeter gives it 9 for 10!
- Skeeter700
- Dec 7, 1998
- Permalink
Actually pretty funny
This movie is worth watching for the one actor alone who swears there's something out there. He's freaking hilarious.
There's Nothing Funny About This
Seven friends head out to the summer house of one of their parents, unaware – of course – that the area is currently being terrorized by a bright green amphibious monster. "There's Nothing Out There" is supposedly a horror comedy and a spoof, but personally I can't say I noticed myself laughing a lot. The script, courtesy of debuting director Rolfe Kanefsky, is never really witty and observant but merely dull and derivative. The primary parody element of the film exists of a token guy who points out every possible cliché and stereotype linked to the horror situation they are in. For example, when the group requests some skinny- dipping teenagers to leave their holiday territory, the guy says something like: "What are you doing? They're ideal random murder victims and while they're being killing, we have additional time to get the hell out". Get it? Apparently this works sufficiently enough for most people, as the film has quite a large fan base, but personally I found it quite annoying. Even more annoying than the jokes were the incredibly high amount of hectic POV camera shots and the seven infantile main characters. They bicker the entire time and actually behave like the worst friends ever. They collectively lock up the nerd in the basement for a whole night and it takes them more than a full day to realize another couple has gone missing. The monster looks cheesy and ridiculously fires green rays from his eyes, but its killing rate is infuriatingly low. I also never heard about frogs being sensitive for shaving cream? The only horror moment worth mentioning is the amusing melting sequence. Other than that, "There's Nothing Out There" is pretty stupid and very forgettable.
Trying to be Meta, turned out lame.
If you take away anything from this film: Everything hates a mouth full of shaving cream.
- lowlandermg
- Nov 1, 2023
- Permalink
A real gem of the low budget horror/comedy variety
This is an impressive amateur effort from the directing to the writing to the acting to the production. It feels like a good college theater troupe pooled their money to prove their chops because its so much sharper than the usual indie horror comedy. Its even historic in its premise as this is the first self-referential/meta slasher film. It will surprise you how much it predicts (or inspires) both "Scream" and "Cabin in the Woods".
TNOT is dated in some of its jokes and fashion but its a charming and high spirited film that has aged very well and deserves a lot of credit for being so ahead of its time and making the most of its small budget.
TNOT is dated in some of its jokes and fashion but its a charming and high spirited film that has aged very well and deserves a lot of credit for being so ahead of its time and making the most of its small budget.
A "Secret Handshake" Type of Movie
I really want to like this movie, but it feels a little too in love with itself.
The premise: the most generic horror movie ever made, but one guy knows it's a horror movie.
I get the feeling this is one of those "secret handshake" kind of movies, where people who were in-the-know would speak highly of it, but it never managed to break through to wider success like Scream did.
The problem is I don't think it ever transcends its source material. It's a great idea told through D-list writing and F-list actors. It's cheaply made and clearly has a quota to meet for showing skin. Some of that comes with the territory, but "There's Nothing Out There" never proves it is worth its own smug commentary.
It's so proud of how meta its being that there's even a scene where one of the actors willingly shoots the audience a look like, "can you believe this, folks?"
Sure -- you could argue it's supposed to be a parody. The unfortunate part there is that I can count the number of actual, honest-to-goodness jokes on one hand. Mostly, it's like watching a cheesy horror movie next to a loud mouth know-it-all that won't shut up, except now that guy has a starring role in the movie itself.
But I can't hate it. It's got moxie. It's trying something, even if it isn't always successful.
The premise: the most generic horror movie ever made, but one guy knows it's a horror movie.
I get the feeling this is one of those "secret handshake" kind of movies, where people who were in-the-know would speak highly of it, but it never managed to break through to wider success like Scream did.
The problem is I don't think it ever transcends its source material. It's a great idea told through D-list writing and F-list actors. It's cheaply made and clearly has a quota to meet for showing skin. Some of that comes with the territory, but "There's Nothing Out There" never proves it is worth its own smug commentary.
It's so proud of how meta its being that there's even a scene where one of the actors willingly shoots the audience a look like, "can you believe this, folks?"
Sure -- you could argue it's supposed to be a parody. The unfortunate part there is that I can count the number of actual, honest-to-goodness jokes on one hand. Mostly, it's like watching a cheesy horror movie next to a loud mouth know-it-all that won't shut up, except now that guy has a starring role in the movie itself.
But I can't hate it. It's got moxie. It's trying something, even if it isn't always successful.
- Blazehgehg
- Nov 8, 2023
- Permalink
* *1/2 out of 4.
Before we got the likes of Scary Movie, there was this. Smart, fast paced film with a good sense of humor and a game cast is about seven college students going to a remote cabin and falling prey to an alien that is looking to reproduce. This time around though, one of the kids knows that they are part of a horror movie and knows exactly what is going to happen. However, his friends don't pay attention naturally.
Rated R; Sexual Situations, Rape, Nudity, Violence, and Profanity.
Rated R; Sexual Situations, Rape, Nudity, Violence, and Profanity.
- brandonsites1981
- Jun 10, 2002
- Permalink
Absolute Childish Crap
Even don't feel like to think about such garbage.. .even a nursery going child can write ect something better.. . Don't waste your time even if paid to do so.
- pradeepsinghmcd
- Oct 25, 2020
- Permalink
This movie sucks big time
Geeze...... bad acting. Bad music. Bad cinematography. Bad kill scenes. There's nothing here to watch other than a few girls taking money from Hollywood for some naked prostitution.
- willandcharlenebrown
- Feb 16, 2021
- Permalink
yea .......its a thing
HEY EVERYBODY ITS ME (4) and today we review "ghoulies 7 - ghoul patrol!"
so ... "there's nothing out there" odd little film from the 90s ....literally the VERY beginning of the 90s SO basically the 80s when monster flix were the rage, so here we have another E. T. clone .... an alien comes to earth , becomes best friends with a group of teens , they all eat candy and BAM everything is happy fun time .... OR maybe i got that mixed up ...... hmmm
SO alien .... check ...TEENS ....i mean ... check ? .... become friends ?? ....my question is why do all aliens in movies always come here to hook up with earth chicks ? ...i mean , maybe they are just tired of their own women and are into "exotic" chicks ? Lol... i mean HOW do they even know whats the female of our species ? ...look at this little freaky things ..... it looks like a roadkill frog and your going to tell me it understands whos got what ? ....it doesnt even know the difference between people and a flashlight !!!!!!!!!
Over all this film is what you would expect from some late 80/90s cheesy monster movie ... crappy monster.... bad acting ....rough FX ....they actually go "meta" WAY back then before it was a thing ....this film was a trend setter ! .... i mean honestly what more could you want from this film ! Is it terminator ? Is it starwars ? Is it my holiday slide show to nanas ....of course not BUT its still awesomely bad enough to enjoy for that reason alone .... its a bad great monster flix ..... if you liked movies like "ghoulies" - "monster in the closet" - "terrorvision" then you might give it a go ....
5/10 - because its average at best, it doesnt take its self seriously and knows its there to have fun, its nothing new but nothing really that bad either so it deserves at least a 5 ....
so ... "there's nothing out there" odd little film from the 90s ....literally the VERY beginning of the 90s SO basically the 80s when monster flix were the rage, so here we have another E. T. clone .... an alien comes to earth , becomes best friends with a group of teens , they all eat candy and BAM everything is happy fun time .... OR maybe i got that mixed up ...... hmmm
SO alien .... check ...TEENS ....i mean ... check ? .... become friends ?? ....my question is why do all aliens in movies always come here to hook up with earth chicks ? ...i mean , maybe they are just tired of their own women and are into "exotic" chicks ? Lol... i mean HOW do they even know whats the female of our species ? ...look at this little freaky things ..... it looks like a roadkill frog and your going to tell me it understands whos got what ? ....it doesnt even know the difference between people and a flashlight !!!!!!!!!
Over all this film is what you would expect from some late 80/90s cheesy monster movie ... crappy monster.... bad acting ....rough FX ....they actually go "meta" WAY back then before it was a thing ....this film was a trend setter ! .... i mean honestly what more could you want from this film ! Is it terminator ? Is it starwars ? Is it my holiday slide show to nanas ....of course not BUT its still awesomely bad enough to enjoy for that reason alone .... its a bad great monster flix ..... if you liked movies like "ghoulies" - "monster in the closet" - "terrorvision" then you might give it a go ....
5/10 - because its average at best, it doesnt take its self seriously and knows its there to have fun, its nothing new but nothing really that bad either so it deserves at least a 5 ....
- godinamachine
- Apr 29, 2024
- Permalink