Kamillions is a 1989 film directed

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 by Mikel B. Anderson

Mike B. Anderson

Mike B. Anderson, sometimes credited as Mikel B. Anderson, is a television director who works on The Simpsons and has directed numerous episodes of the show, and was animated in "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson" as cadet Anderson. While a college student, he directed the live action feature films...

 from a story by Robert Hsi and a screenplay Anderson wrote in collaboration with Harry S. Robins

Harry S. Robins

Harry S. Robins, known as "Hal", is a voice artist and screen writer. Robins is best known for his vocal work in the Half-Life series of computer games, and has made a return as the voice of Tinker in Dota 2. He is also a prominent member of the Church of the SubGenius as Dr. Howland Owll...

. The film was re-edited by producer

Film producer

A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...

 Teresa Woo, who later admitted she did not really understand an English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

, and was expecting more of an action film

Action film

Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...

. The film was shot primarily in the Dunsmuir House and Gardens

Dunsmuir House

The Dunsmuir House and Gardens is located in Oakland, California on a site. The Dunsmuir House has a neoclassical-revival architectural style and is listed in the US National Register of Historic Places...

 in Oakland, California

Oakland, California

Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

.

Plot

Robins plays

Acting

Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....

 bumbling mad scientist

Mad scientist

A mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, specifically science fiction. The mad scientist may be villainous or antagonistic, benign or neutral, and whether insane, eccentric, or simply bumbling, mad scientists often work with fictional technology in order to forward their schemes, if...

 Nathaniel Pickman Wingate, of the Miskatonic University

Miskatonic University

Miskatonic University is a fictional university located in Arkham; a fictitious town which is said to exist in Essex County, Massachusetts. It is named after the Miskatonic River . After first appearing in the H. P...

. He works on opening a portal to another dimension

Parallel universe (fiction)

A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...

 while his wife, Nancy (Laura O'Malley) and family

Family

In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...

 prepare his fiftieth birthday party. When he succeeds with contact

First contact (science fiction)

First contact is a common science fiction theme about the first meeting between humans and extraterrestrial life, or of any sentient race's first encounter with another one....

 with the new dimension, two creatures escape that look like horseshoe crab

Horseshoe crab

The Atlantic horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, is a marine chelicerate arthropod. Despite its name, it is more closely related to spiders, ticks, and scorpions than to crabs. Horseshoe crabs are most commonly found in the Gulf of Mexico and along the northern Atlantic coast of North America...

s. These creatures can mimic anything

Universe

The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...

 and take on the appearance of Nancy's cousin, Count Desmon (Christopher Gasti) of Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein

The Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over , and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. The biggest town is Schaan...

 and Jasmine, a model from son Sam's (Dan Evans) poster (Dru-Anne Cakmis).

Jasmine is friendly and intelligent. Because of her telepathic abilities she quickly becomes Sam's girlfriend

Girlfriend

Girlfriend is a term that can refer to either a female partner in a non-marital romantic relationship or a female non-romantic friend that is closer than other friends....

. Desmon is ill-behaved and surly. For example, Lindy (Allison Rachel Golde) overuses the phone, so Desmon stuffs the receiver in her mouth, causing her to go to the ER to have it extracted. Handyman Floyd (Chuck Bartelle) is hurt by some cut wires Desmon moves with psychokinesis

Psychokinesis

The term psychokinesis , also referred to as telekinesis with respect to strictly describing movement of matter, sometimes abbreviated PK and TK respectively, is a term...

 giving him a severe electric shock

Electric shock

Electric Shock of a body with any source of electricity that causes a sufficient current through the skin, muscles or hair. Typically, the expression is used to denote an unwanted exposure to electricity, hence the effects are considered undesirable....

. Unable to control his new body, Desmon frightens off the maid

Maid

A maidservant or in current usage housemaid or maid is a female employed in domestic service.-Description:Once part of an elaborate hierarchy in great houses, today a single maid may be the only domestic worker that upper and even middle-income households can afford, as was historically the case...

 Emma (Lynn Applebaum) when he tries to seduce her. Reverend Lawrence Newman (David Allan Shaw), Nathan's college roommate

Roommate

A roommate is a person who shares a living facility such as an apartment or dormitory. Similar terms include suitemate, housemate, flatmate , or sharemate...

, tries some bedroom antics with Nathan's sister, Angelica (Kate Alexander). Desmon, clinging to the ceiling above them, loses control and causes a dragon

Dragon

A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...

 spring from his pants.

Sam, Jasmine and Sam's best friend, Alex (Andrew Ross Litzky) run to get coolant

Coolant

A coolant is a fluid which flows through a device to prevent its overheating, transferring the heat produced by the device to other devices that use or dissipate it. An ideal coolant has high thermal capacity, low viscosity, is low-cost, non-toxic, and chemically inert, neither causing nor...

 supplies from the university, which are necessary to prevent an explosion that will destroy half the planet. Jasmine is concerned with doing anything she can to stop Desmon and get back to their own dimension. She spends time, though, with Sam in a '50s-style malt shop, sharing a milkshake with two straws.

Edit

The film came in at 121 minutes in a rough cut that Robins believed to be the director's cut until Anderson corrected him. Robins continues to pay to have the original elements stored in refrigeration in hopes of a director's cut, which the 90 minute cut released on video and television is not. According to Anderson, such a cut would be longer than 90 minutes, but shorter than 121 minutes. Robins's late brother, Jeff, barely appears in the 90 minute cut (in the malt shop scene, and in the party scene that ends the film), but has a larger supporting role (Albert) that has been essentially excluded from release. The film was sold in German-speaking markets as The Wingates. The film was shopped around outside the hands of any of the creators, and the VHS released that cropped up from a company called SBM of Chatsworth, California in 1991 was not authorized, and Robins, who subsequently acquired the rights to the film, dislikes the artwork. The packaging compares the film to David Cronenberg

David Cronenberg

David Paul Cronenberg, OC, FRSC is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror or venereal horror genre. This style of filmmaking explores people's fears of bodily transformation and infection. In his films, the...

's The Fly

The Fly (1986 film)

The Fly is a 1986 science fiction horror film co-written and directed by David Cronenberg. Produced by 20th Century Fox, and Brooksfilms, the film stars Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis and John Getz. It is a remake of the 1958 film of the same name, but retains only the basic premise of a scientist...

 and Joe Dante

Joe Dante

Joseph "Joe" Dante, Jr. is an American film director and producer of films generally with humorous and science fiction content....

's Gremlins

Gremlins

Gremlins is a 1984 American horror comedy film directed by Joe Dante, released by Warner Bros. The film is about a young man who receives a strange creature—called a Mogwai—as a pet, which then spawns other creatures who transform into small, destructive, evil monsters. It was followed by a sequel,...

. Unlike Dante, the film is more concerned with social comedy than referential comedy. Teresa Woo was more used to action films like the Iron Angels series she was involved with, was confused by the brevity of fighting action in the film and whittled it down accordingly, though later regretted it.

External links

• Official site remnants at archive.org