There are 2 kinds of awful: so awful it's good then there is the so awful it's just awful and this film is just awful awful. I personally cannot understand how this film is getting 4/10 IMDb stars... maybe 2/10 but 4/10?! Wow! What am I missing here? For me this is not a good zero budget film - some of them I really like but this one does not do it for me.I have not a problem with the idea of an alien craft carrying it's zoo animals and it crashes on planet Earth - that's fine. I don't have a problem with some bad acting (this film has some bad acting but the actors are not all that bad). It's the aliens themselves that are putting me off this film for some reason - they did not do it for me, intrigue me that is. Looked like very burnt hot dogs or trash bags to me and I wasn't able to laugh about it so I was put off by them.If you like really, really bad films (as I do) and you like the zero budget sci-fi films (as I do) plus have a tolerance for silly aliens that are suppose to be taken seriously (and I do not) then you might like this film. Otherwise just pass it by... not much to see here.1/10

The Alien Factor is a halfway decent low budget monster movie, following a small Maryland town plunged into chaos when several creatures intended for an intergalactic zoo are accidentally released. The film features low budget but surprisingly effective monsters, but it is hampered by stilted dialogue and wooden acting.The main thing The Alien Factor has going for it is its monster costumes. Although all of the monsters - with one exception - are obviously guys in suits, the suits themselves aren't that bad looking. Furthermore, the monster designs are creative and not just cookie cutter creatures you've seen a thousand times. The insectoid alien was especially impressive.However, good creature effects alone do not a great monster movie make. The film suffers from a weak script with awkward-sounding dialogue. The script never focuses on a single protagonist, weakening the overall plot. Moreover, the twist ending is telegraphed well in advanced. Still, this is a good monster movie for the undemanding or a boring afternoon.

OK, I know that Cinematic Titanic recently stomped all over this movie, and to be fair, every joke and criticism they leveled against it was deserved.But it isn't really fair to judge a "home brew" effort like this against movies made by actual film studios, or to lump it in with films like "Manos" and "Beast Of Yucca Flats", which are so misconceived and wrong headed from the get-go that they stink on levels that a movie like this can never reach. A movie like "Yucca Flats" has ambitions and just enough "mainstream" quality about it that makes the badness doubly hurtful - "Alien Factor" is just a parochial film that's the victim of being saddled with local talent. If they'd had some money and some outside help with the writing and some dialog coaches, it could have been decent - not groundbreaking, but decent drive-in fare.There are glimpses, here and there, of some good instincts and some hard work. The forced perspective shot of the crashed spacecraft, the reveal of the 2nd alien in the basement, the "sound weapon" that the good guy alien uses on the first creature, the unexpected ironic ending - if all the movie had been like this, "Alien Factor" would have been quite entertaining. As it was, the loose plot threads, the endless walking scenes, the local actors who (while probably perfectly pleasant in person) were simply not photogenic, the goofy monster costumes (especially the 2nd one, where the monster seemed to be walking on fur covered stilts), the flat line readings...it all just dooms the movie to be tedium and goofiness.Best viewed at 3:00 am on the late show, or being pummeled by the good folks at "Cinematic Titanic".

You may remember the TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000, where the captive subjects were forced to watch bad movies? Cinematic Titanic features five of the original cast of talent from that show, and The Alien Factor is one of their latest releases.The scenes with the best riffing: Opening credits! Couple making out in VW. First scene with the Sheriff. The rock band- oh my god! When the "hunting party" goes out looking for aliens. And many more...I've watched this version of The Alien Factor at least 10 times now, and it's really funny. It's definitely worth finding on-line and ordering yourself a copy.Now I need to find AF2!