Verdict
Summary
The movie is just great fun from start to finish, with every ingredient you can ask for to make the perfect horror jambalaya. It’s all done tongue in cheek, but it’s exactly right for fans of the genre in every way.
Plot:
Some friends having a vacation at a cabin in the woods encounter a monster that picks them off one by one.
Review:
Six friends hit the road during a college break and go to a cabin in the woods for the weekend. One of the guys – Mike (Craig Peck) – has seen every horror movie ever made and annoyingly warns the rest that they’re headed into a cliché: He even spots an accident on the side of the road and declares this their “warning.” No one listens, of course. Mike is a know-it-all movie geek, but of course he’s correct. There’s something out there, and it’s headed straight for the cabin. What is it? It’s not a psycho killer in a mask or an escaped lunatic, no, it’s probably an alien from space, and we get some pretty good glimpses of it – it’s green and it slithers around like an octopus, and it has laser eyes that can make anyone who gazes into them its slave, which means that absolutely anyone is fair game and can instantly turn into an enemy. Mike’s friends (two guys, three babes) go skinny-dipping against his advice, they have sex, drink, and do all the things you’re not supposed to do in a horror movie, and adding insult to injury, they all lock Mike in the basement overnight for being annoying and spoiling their fun. This does not bode well for the good-timers, and as the creature slithers its way around the cabin and starts eliminating everyone, starting with the alpha male, only Mike’s movie knowledge can save them, but by the time he gets out of the basement it might be too late to save who’s left!
From underrated maverick filmmaker Rolfe Kanefsky, There’s Nothing Out There has been a personal favorite of mine for many years. I’ve championed Kanefsky as one of the unsung indie horror and comedy filmmakers still working, and this is the perfect place to start with his work. It’s stylish, sexy, fun, and gory when it needs to be, and it predates all the hip horror films like Scream, which obviously copied it. The movie is just great fun from start to finish, with every ingredient you can ask for to make the perfect horror jambalaya. It’s all done tongue in cheek, but it’s exactly right for fans of the genre in every way. If you’ve never seen a Kanefsky flick, this one will surely turn you into a fan, and I envy anyone who gets to start their Kanefsky journey for the first time.
Ronin Flix has just released a hugely packed two-disc set on Blu-ray for There’s Nothing Out There with multiple commentaries, short films (some available for the first time here including two feature films never seen by the public), and a fun short called Mood Boobs, starring Tiffany Shepis that was previously only available in a hard-to-find DVD. This is the ultimate Kanesfsy connection!
Bonus Materials
• DISC 1 (Feature Presentation & Bonus Material)
• High Definition Blu-ray 1080p Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1)
• Limited Edition Slipcover & Retro Movie Poster featuring Original Poster Art (1st Pressing Only)
• NEW Ronin Flix 2023 2K restoration of the film
• English Lossless 2.0 Stereo DTS-HD Master Audio
• NEW English subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
• NEW Commentary with Director Rolfe Kanefsky and Cast Members Jeff Dachis and John Carhart
• NEW Commentary with Film Journalists Heidi Honeycutt and Amanda Reyes
• NEW Never-Before-Seen Opening Sequence Storyboards
• Archival Features: There’s A Movie Out There – Interview with writer/director Rolfe Kanefsky and Editor Victor Kanefsky, 40 Years Of Cutting – Interview with Victor Kanefsky, Interview with Actor Craig Peck, Interview with Rolfe Kanefsky, Copycat – Short
• DISC 2 (Collection of the Director’s Early Films & Shorts)
• A collection of 10 early shorts and films made by writer / director / producer Rolfe Kanefsky back in the 1980s complete with newly recorded Director’s Introductions, many of them never-before-released: The Hunt (Short), Crazed (Short), Breaking and Enter
• Features a New Ronin Flix 2023 2K restoration
• Made by then 20-year-old screenwriter / director Rolfe Kanefsky who went on to be a prolific and award-winning horror filmmaker
• Includes new Limited Edition slipcover and 16′ x 20′ retro mini-poster featuring the original poster art (initial pressing only), PLUS reversible artwork
• Collectible 2 Disc Set with over 10 hours of new never-before-seen and archival bonus materials
