Parasite

Year releasted: 1982

by Keith Phipps
September 26th, 2002

Billed as "the first futuristic monster movie in 3-D," Parasite takes place in the far-out year of 1992, when most of the populace walks around in tatters, silver coins have become the national currency, and objects fly directly at the audience for no apparent reason. Toting a mysterious futuristic thermos, renegade scientist Robert Glaudini crosses the wasteland looking for a little peace and quiet. Thinking he's found it in the ramshackle boarding house of stage and screen star Vivian Blaine, he sets up shop in his rented room. "You've got nothing I haven't seen before," the cheeky Blaine says as she barges into Glaudini's room, little suspecting the existence of the bubbling, growling growth in her new tenant's gut, the result of an experiment gone horribly awry. Attempting to find a cure for his condition, Glaudini takes the time to enjoy some pricey canned soup at an establishment run by chatty barkeep Al Fann, whose other customers include a gang of oversized juvenile delinquents and a friendly local played by Demi Moore. The nomadic nogoodniks get more than they bargain for when they steal Glaudini's thermos, and are soon menaced by what looks like an angry, flesh-eating trout. As the gang wrestles with their new discovery, Glaudini attempts to evade a former coworker intent on bringing him and his creation back to the lab. After the monster teaches Blaine a few moves she never learned in her years playing Miss Adelaide in Guys And Dolls, all the interested parties combine for a showdown in the desert sun. Finally, a giant explosion blows the monster into oblivion, sending pieces of debris directly at the camera.