''The Arrival'' is a 1991 American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed by

David Schmoeller David Schmoeller (born December 8, 1947) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is notable for directing several full-length theatrical horror films including ''Tourist Trap'' (1979), '' The Seduction'' (1982), ''Crawlspace' ...

Plot

alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

crash lands and then enters the body of the elderly and near death Max Page (Robert Sampson). Page dies during his 73rd birthday party, but later revives on the autopsy table. Page's health returns to him and he begins to get younger. but he soon finds that he has a thirst for the

estrogen Estrogen or oestrogen is a category of sex hormone responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics. There are three major endogenous estrogens that have estrogenic hormonal acti ...

-laced blood of ovulating women. Page begins murdering the women for their blood. Page hopes for a normal relationship with his nurse as he is now younger, but he finds that his need to murder another woman every 48 hours prevents this. Thirteen weeks later, FBI Agent John Mills (

John Saxon John Saxon (born Carmine Orrico; August 5, 1936 – July 25, 2020) was an American actor who worked on more than 200 film and television projects during a span of 60 years. He was known for his work in Western (genre), Westerns and horror film ...

) arrives to track the new serial killer. He shows the photo of the suspect to Max's son, who is stunned to see his now much younger father. Mills and Max's son deduce that the alien has taken over Page and has been killing the women.

Production

The film was shot in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

Release

''The Arrival'' was shown at the

1991 Toronto International Film Festival The 16th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 5 and September 14, 1991. Jodie Foster's directorial debut film Little Man Tate, premiered in the ''Gala Presentation'' at the festival. A ...

as part of their Midnight Madness screenings.

Reception

From a contemporary review, ''

Psychotronic Video ''Psychotronic Video'' was a film magazine founded by publisher/editor Michael J. Weldon in 1980 in New York City, covering what he dubbed "psychotronic movies", which he defined as "the ones traditionally ignored or ridiculed by mainstream critics ...

'' magazine referred to the film as a "dull movie". Cavett Binion (

AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...

) gave the film a two star out of five rating, noting that "very little is done with the premise of the alien's estrogen requirements, other than to show Max sniffing around in some rather inappropriate places." In his book ''Horror and Science Fiction Film IV'', Donald C Willis described the film as "mawkish and routine except for the gradual-rejuvenation idea." Creature Feature gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, stating that while the exposition on the alien is lacking, that the movie packs an emotional punch. Moira gave the movie 2 out of four stars, praising the ideas of the movie but finding the execution somewhat lacking.

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

found the movie to be lackluster, although it did find the cameos of Carolyn Purdy-Gordon as a drunk and Stuart Gordon to be of note to genre fans.

Notes

References

External links

* American science fiction horror films 1990s science fiction horror films Alien visitations in films American vampire films Films directed by David Schmoeller Films scored by Richard Band 1990s American films Films shot in San Diego Films set in San Diego {{sf-horror-film-stub