Foes (1977) User Reviews

well its 1980 sci fi direct to tv what did you expect

[kaefab · 7/10 · 27 July 2019]

The acting is very normal there is nothing wooden about it, some people should look at today b movies for that.

The FX are basic 1980 effect reminded me of firefox with clint eastwood at some point, nothing out of this world but for the time quit normal.

All in all a good entertaining sci fi movie direct to tv from the end of the 70

Even The Aliens Were Bored

[jack-63651 · 7/10 · 1 October 2022]

I give this film six stars. Two of those stars are for the temerity of the producers. I have heard that the National Sleep Institute is recommending this movie for various forms of therapy. Don't quote me on that.

Young couple in love, in charge of a lighthouse somewhere of the coast of an English speaking country. A flying saucer appears, straddles their island ominously. They look at it. They stare. They glance at each other. They say, "Hmm," a fair amount, saunter from building to building. There is no sense of urgency. The woman is burned badly. They move like mud. The communications equipment goes awry. No one opens a panel and looks in. If they stopped and made a nice lunch, I would not have been surprised. Anyway, someone went to the trouble of making the movie, the only one for the writer and director, Coates, I believe. He had a dream. He followed it. I watched it. Heck, I'm kicking in another star.

Atmospheric sci-fi obscurity that is not bad at all

[kastrino · 7/10 · 18 February 2020]

Watched a few days ago the recent Blu Ray release of this obscurity and it was a solid effort from visual effects artist John Coates. The story line is pretty basic and presented in a calm and slow-burn manner by the director. The whole thing has a good pace and excellent special effects for its minimal budget, but for me the best thing is its music, a swirling bass-heavy experimental/ dark ambient electronic music that sets the tone and gives the movie more atmosphere and tension. Credibility also comes from the well known first-billed duo (MacDonald Carey and Jerry Hardin, here playing sort of a predecessor of the Deep Throat character he played in The X Files. However, their contribution is trivial at best and the Director's Cut that is included in the Blu Ray omits their scenes altogether giving the movie a more fast pace and less talk. The rest bunch of relative unknowns (one of them is the director) are the real protagonists that do a generally good acting job throughout. Overall, a worthwhile rarity that will appeal equally to The X-Files fans and also fans of obscure 70s low budget scifi

Anybody remember this obscurity? I do!

[tarwaterthomas · 9 July 2019]

Well do I remember this low-budget science fiction obscurity. I caught it on TV back in 1984, it was shown in the wee ours of the morning on KBHK Channel 44. It's about a gigantic flying saucer that lands on an island off the California coastline after blasting an Air Force F-15 Falcon out of the sky, and from this UFO emerge several 30-foot glowing life forms to terrorize several people, including lighthouse keeper Lawrence Summers and his wife Diane. Made for just peanuts, FOES benefits from very good location photography and an astounding amount of excellent special visual effects and extensive use of miniatures that were supervised by director John Coats. Unfortunately, the dialogue and acting is as wooden as a forest. Veteran actor MacDonald Carey heads the cast as "Dr. James MacCarey". John Coats has come a long way since FOES. His other film credits include RAMBO III (1988), DEEP BLUE SEA (1999), AUSTIN POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER (2002), COLLATERAL DAMAGE (2002), THE LAST SAMURAI (2003), STARSKY & HUTCH (2004), WHITE CHICKS (2004), BLOOD DIAMOND (2006), and THE HOST (2013). FOES was released directly to television stations in 1981 by Gold Key Entertaiment. I had this movie on tape, and silly me went and taped over it. I had been looking for this movie ever since but it never turned up. Well, this year FOES was released on Blu-Ray by Garagehouse Pictures. FOES is a mixed bag to be sure, but special effects fans might want to check it out.

Got an update for you: I just got through watching the 72-minute cut of FOES on YouTube; that version did not have MacDonald Carey in the cast. His scenes had been filmed for the 91-minute version. Your favorite reviewer is currently watching the extended version on YouTube. Now I remember what happened to lighthouse keeper Larry Summers (John Coats); he had been incinerated by the incandescent beings from the flying saucer, and his better half Diane Summers (Jane Wiley) had been burned by radiation from the spaceship but she survived. Two deep sea divers also had their own close encounter of the third kind, and one of them also died. MacDonald Carey headed the cast in the 90-minute version as Dr. James McCarey, an expert on unidentified flying objects. He's been drafted by the Air Force to look into the strange activity on Pershing Island off the California coastline; there's a communications outage and a rescue helicopter crashes into the Pacific Ocean after its own close encounter with the UFO. There's a scene of the Air Force personnel at a radar surveillance control facility who could stand some serious haircuts and mustache trims. The acting is not that good, but the visual effects by John Coats is still remarkable in 2024. Come to think of it, Coats had been all over this production; he served as director, actor (as Larry Summers the lighthouse keeper), screenwriter, and visual effects supervisor. So there you have it. Think of FOES as a feature-length TWILIGHT ZONE episode. It's on YouTube. What are you waiting for?

Great idea which goes awry due to lousy dialogue, acting and photography!

[BryanLindop · 2/10 · 4 June 2004]

Spoiler. Great idea which sadly goes awry due to lousy acting, dialogue and photography. At its worst photographically it looks like 8mm blown up to 35. Many shots completely out of focus and poorly composed for the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The acting is particularly wooden, the casting poor and the dialogue banal. It's almost a Turkey but just misses the mark, otherwise this could have become a cult film. The idea on the other hand is a good one, and once the banality of the first two reels is over the plot becomes quite engaging. Special effects are surprisingly ingenious for such a low budget film and you can clearly see where John Coats' real talents lie. By no means the worst film I've ever seen and worth a look at if your on the hunt for fresh turkey meat, otherwise dodgy.

Slow

[recjr · 1/10 · 31 July 2022]

Pacing of the movie was so slow that it was hard to follow. I found my thoughts drifting or even nodding off due to the lack of pace. The writing was dull and uninspiring and the delivery lacked any emotion.

You never got to know anything about the aliens ... where were they from, why where they on earth and why they chose an island with only 2 inhabitants. Also, you never new why the scuba divers were there; what they were looking fore.

I kept thinking that it would get better but it didn't.

Basically, it was a waste of time. Yawn!

Loved it Greg Clemens was cute

[shimkusd · 10/10 · 4 March 2005]

Tacky movie but A lot of fun Greg Clemens was cute ! Mr Clemens was also in the classic It Slithis I wish I could find copies of these movies but I can't. He also was in an episode of Knightrider and then in Silk Stockings. He has done several plays in the LA - Ventura areas in California and is a wonderful character actor! "The Greeks" at the Odyssey Theater was one of his stage shows. Mr Clemens is originally from Bakersfield Ca and continues to reside in California. I know Mr Clemens is an avid surfer even now (into his 50's) and can be seen in the morning hours when the surf is good hitting the waves at Ventura Beach. I look forward to any of the work he has done and hope I can find some of this on tape somewhere.