COMMUNION (1989)

DIRECTED by Phillippe Mora

SCREENPLAY by Whitley Streiber based upon his book "Communion - A True Story"

STARRING - Christopher Walken as Whitley Streiber, Lindsay Crouse as Anne Streiber,  Frances Sternhagen as Dr. Janet Duffy,  Andreas Katsulas as Alex,  Joel Carlson as Andrew Streiber.

PLOT - Whitley Streiber is a successful writer living in upstate New York with his wife and young son.

Following a brief period of writer's block, Whitley and his family go on holiday to a log cabin that they use as a holiday home. One night a strange light descends upon the cabin and something happens to Whitley and his family.

They awake the next morning with a sense of unease and Whitley has fragmented memories of encountering strange alien creatures.

Doubting his sanity, Whitley undergoes hypnotic regression and uncovers the truth of what really happened that fateful night...

PERFORMANCES - We need to talk about Christopher Walken...

Basically - He totally and utterly DOMINATES this film, to the point where the other actors involved don't really get a look in - they're just sort of there. Admittedly Lindsey Crouse puts up a fairly spirited defence as Whitley's wife Anne (the scene where she starts freaking out under hypnosis is particularly well done) but even she cannot withstand the sheer juggernaut that is Walken in this role - he completely nails the terror and confusion that someone that had been abducted by aliens would feel...oh, and also his performance is completely one hundred thousand percent BATSHIT INSANE !!!!

In fact so manic and eccentric is the performance that the real life Whitley Streiber apparently took issue with it, not liking the way that Walken portrays him as being of (let's just charitably say) "questionable sanity" to begin with. Apparently Walken thought that Streiber's abduction claims where all a load of crap, and when Streiber complained about the portrayal, Walken pretty much turned round and said "well, if the cap fits...".

Streiber (as played by Walken) is seen to be a massive eccentric to begin with - he shouts and talks to his computer monitor whilst writing, he makes sudden intense movements when talking to his wife and kid, but for all this he does come over as being a nice enough chap, just odd.

When the family goes for a weekend break in a snow covered log cabin (Walken in a Winter Wonderland anybody ?) things start to spiral out of control. Aliens arrive. Whitley gets abducted and from this point on his sanity starts to spiral out of control - needless to say Walken ramps up the intensity dial tenfold and it's massively fun to watch. 

Even in the film's slower, talkier moments (and there are lots) Walken makes it all thoroughly entertaining to witness. By the time the film ends and we see Walken "high fiveing" and "dad dancing" with little blue aliens, whilst wearing a 40's style Demob suit (yes REALLY!!!) your mind will have completely melted and you'll be questioning your life choices as to exactly why you choose to watch wall scrabbling weirdness like this, but you know what ? You'll be glad you did.

SEX & VIOLENCE - It's not REALLY sex but could potentially be classed as sexual violence - whilst being experimented upon by extra terrestrials, Whitley is subjected to an anal probe (in the book version Streiber likens it to an act of rape - however this observation is not made in the film version. It's up to you which way you read it...).

There's no violence except for the point where Whitley nearly accidentally blows his wife's head off with a shotgun because he's mistaken her for an alien intruder (We've all been there).

SFX - Aliens, lots and lots of aliens.

First we've got these little chaps...

They come to be known as "The Blue Doctors" - they seem to be the hired help of the main aliens - they get all the shitty jobs to do - carrying out the abductions, administering the anal probes and having to dance with Christopher Walken. They look a lot like those Boglin puppet toys you used to be able to get in the 80's. 

Next you get these weird grasshopper headed insectoid beings.

The effect is basically done but pretty effective.

Last and by no means least there's the actual main aliens themselves. They're basically your typical "gray" aliens (except they're more of a pinkish fleshy colour here).

They work well enough but there's next to no animation in their faces which makes them look a bit cheap and "Halloween masky"...BUT - there's a reason for that, as it's heavily (HEAVILY) implied in the film that the aliens themselves don't actually really look the way that Whitley (and the audience) are seeing them. That these really are masks or costumes of some kind. As the film progresses we get some hints to what they really look like. It's implied that what lies underneath the mask is truly horrific...

The Grays work better in scenes where they're only glimpsed in the shadows. The scene where one of them peers around Whitley's bedroom door in the middle of the night is easily the most unsettling moment in the entire film.

RATING - Irrespective of whether you believe any of this actually happened or not, Communion is a hell of an odd little film.

At times it's slow moving, at times it's frustrating, at other times it's (unintentionally) funny, and at other points it's deeply unsettling.

The best scenes are the abduction flashbacks which are filmed in a surrealist style, imagine E.T. or Close Encounters Of The Third Kind if they where directed by David Lynch and you wouldn't be far off the mark.

And straddling it all like a mighty colossus is the quirky, off kilter performance of Christopher Walken - The real Whitley Streiber may not have appreciated it but I definitely did. Even the dullest moments become wildly entertaining due to Walken.

This pretty much sums up the entire film - it's less than the sum of its parts but when it's good it's bizarrely fun.

3 and a half anal probes out of 5. 

ART -

Below - is the iconic cover for the original novel, and the (much less effective) reissued cover...