In an isolated house in the country inhabited by Grace Clark (Maureen O'Sullivan) and her recently orphaned teenage granddaughter Deirdre (Ione Skye), the two are set upon by a group of five extraterrestrials who take shelter in their home. In a panic the aliens kill a visitor to the household as well as one of several police officers and a standoff ensues between the police and the aliens. Sheriff McMahon (Joe Morton) arrives on the scene trying to keep the situation from escalating as a vengeance seeking grieving father Vernon (Michael Greene), a shadowy agent named Anderson (Susan Barnes) and the muddled intentions of the aliens themselves further complicate matters.
Stranded is a 1987 sci-fi thriller that marked the feature directorial debut of nature photojournalist and documentarian Fleming "Tex" Fuller. After failed attempts at trying to sell a Roshomon like feature of his documentary Death Row, Fuller instead decided to look for a more high concept low budget genre piece and selected Alan Castle's script (then called Shockwave) after responding to the film's themes of fear and intolerance mixed with a tense The Desperate Hours type setup. After the film was put into production, New Line didn't give the film a wide release instead opting for regional play with the film reaching various parts of the U. S. in November 1987 but not even reaching New York or Los Angeles until two months before its video release. Stranded has been largely forgotten which is unfortunate because despite being low budget genre fare it's made with a certain level of craft and intelligence that shows sincerity to Fuller's script and Castles direction.
To an extent, Stranded's setup has more than a few bits and pieces taken from the framework of E. T. and Starman with broken/struggling protagonists as well as certain lighting choices mirroring the setup such as the memorable backyard scene from E. T.. But Stranded very much finds its own voice and goes in a unique direction by using the strong setup of a standoff/hostage situation which with the extraterrestrial element comes from a place of miscommunications rather than any malicious intent. Veteran actress Maureen O'Sullivan and Ione Skye are very likable as the grandmother and granddaughter Grace and Deidre respectively and their interactions with the extraterrestrials are quite engaging especially with O'Sullivan and her interactions with the alien known as "Jester" played by Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. But giving the best performance is Joe Morton as Sheriff McMahon who is torn between his duty and the unprecedentedness of the situation as he wants to bring about the events to a peaceful conclusion but also needs to bring justice to the two men killed while keeping in check the town's anger at his lack of "explosive action" on the aliens and dealing with the shadowy goings on of Agent Anderson. A big criticism of the movie has been the alien designs themselves and yes, they do feel like disposable humanoid races you'd see on one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and forget about, but they are well acted and they do what they're supposed to so I really didn't feel that let down by it (especially after having seen much lesser efforts like Hyper Sapien which was bereft of ideas).
In many ways I see Stranded almost as a companion piece to 1985's Zone Troopers in that both are films with small budgets and big ideas that show clear signs of effort and passion to their craft in making these concepts work with what they've got. I think in both cases these movies feature fantastic writing and were it not for their low budgets and limited distribution they'd be better regarded than they are. It's honestly a shame Fuller only directed this and an obscure TV (Prey of the Chameleon) because with proper support I feel he could've really gone places.
Stranded is a 1987 sci-fi thriller that marked the feature directorial debut of nature photojournalist and documentarian Fleming "Tex" Fuller. After failed attempts at trying to sell a Roshomon like feature of his documentary Death Row, Fuller instead decided to look for a more high concept low budget genre piece and selected Alan Castle's script (then called Shockwave) after responding to the film's themes of fear and intolerance mixed with a tense The Desperate Hours type setup. After the film was put into production, New Line didn't give the film a wide release instead opting for regional play with the film reaching various parts of the U. S. in November 1987 but not even reaching New York or Los Angeles until two months before its video release. Stranded has been largely forgotten which is unfortunate because despite being low budget genre fare it's made with a certain level of craft and intelligence that shows sincerity to Fuller's script and Castles direction.
To an extent, Stranded's setup has more than a few bits and pieces taken from the framework of E. T. and Starman with broken/struggling protagonists as well as certain lighting choices mirroring the setup such as the memorable backyard scene from E. T.. But Stranded very much finds its own voice and goes in a unique direction by using the strong setup of a standoff/hostage situation which with the extraterrestrial element comes from a place of miscommunications rather than any malicious intent. Veteran actress Maureen O'Sullivan and Ione Skye are very likable as the grandmother and granddaughter Grace and Deidre respectively and their interactions with the extraterrestrials are quite engaging especially with O'Sullivan and her interactions with the alien known as "Jester" played by Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. But giving the best performance is Joe Morton as Sheriff McMahon who is torn between his duty and the unprecedentedness of the situation as he wants to bring about the events to a peaceful conclusion but also needs to bring justice to the two men killed while keeping in check the town's anger at his lack of "explosive action" on the aliens and dealing with the shadowy goings on of Agent Anderson. A big criticism of the movie has been the alien designs themselves and yes, they do feel like disposable humanoid races you'd see on one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and forget about, but they are well acted and they do what they're supposed to so I really didn't feel that let down by it (especially after having seen much lesser efforts like Hyper Sapien which was bereft of ideas).
In many ways I see Stranded almost as a companion piece to 1985's Zone Troopers in that both are films with small budgets and big ideas that show clear signs of effort and passion to their craft in making these concepts work with what they've got. I think in both cases these movies feature fantastic writing and were it not for their low budgets and limited distribution they'd be better regarded than they are. It's honestly a shame Fuller only directed this and an obscure TV (Prey of the Chameleon) because with proper support I feel he could've really gone places.