MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN [1998 / 2021] [Blu-ray] [UK Release]
He married a girl from out of town… Way out of town!
Dan Aykroyd, Kim Basinger and Jon Lovitz star in a fish-out-of-water comedy with a sci-fi twist that question whether a romance between two star-crossed lovers who are literally worlds apart can ever work.
When widowed astronomer Steve Mills [Dan Aykroyd] inadvertently causes a gravitational disruption in deep space, a race of hyper-advanced alien lifeforms sends one of their own to investigate, disguised in the alluring human form of Celeste Martin [Kim Basinger]. Tasked with seducing the lovelorn Steve Mills in a bid to gain access to his scientific research, Celeste Martin finds herself falling for the man she’s been sent to swindle. But they’ve reckoned without Steve Mills young daughter Jessie Mills [Alyson Hannigan], who’s none too thrilled by the prospect of a new mother – especially not one from another planet.
Funny and touching in equal measure, ‘MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN’ is an offbeat and at times surprisingly risqué comedy that confirms the adage that what unites us is far greater than what divides us… even if what divides us happens to be an entire galaxy.
FILM FACT: Screenwriter Jericho Stone developed the story under the working title ‘They’re Coming’ as a drama, an allegory about child abuse. Jericho Stone pitched this version of the story to Paramount Pictures in 1981. Paramount Pictures agreed to option the story and paid him to write the screenplay, but felt it would be more believable as a comedy. Subsequently, the production moved to 20th Century Fox, which hired Herschel Weingrod and Timothy Harris to rewrite the screenplay. 20th Century Fox considered Cybill Shepherd and Joan Rivers for the role, but ultimately never produced the film and it went into turnaround to Weintraub Entertainment Group, where the title was changed to ‘Two Kids.’ Don Correia served as the choreographer for ‘MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN.’ Micaela Esdra dubbed for Kim Basinger in Italian while Choi Seong-woo dubbed for Kim Basinger for South Korean audiences. Dan Aykroyd and Kim Basinger performed impressions of Jimmy Durante from ‘The Man Who Came to Dinner’ singing “Did You Ever Have the Feeling” in ‘MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN.
Cast: Dan Aykroyd, Kim Basinger, Jon Lovitz, Alyson Hannigan, Joseph Maher, Seth Green, Ann Prentiss (The Voice of Bag), Wesley Mann, Tony Jay, Peter Bromilow, Nina Henderson, Harry Shearer (voice), Adrian Sparks, Juliette Lewis, Tanya Fenmore, Karen Haber, Amy Kirkpatrick, Suzie Plakson, Robert Benedetti, Jim Doughan, Jay McCaslin, Jim Jackman, Kevin McDermott, Robyn Mundell, Lisa Croisette, Sophia Bowen, Shea Bowen, Gabi, Gina Raymond, Susan Carlsberg, Max Wasa, James Edward Veurink, Earl Boen, Michele Rogers, Chere Rae and Peanut (Dave the Dog)
Director: Richard Benjamin
Producers: Art Levinson, Franklin R. Levy, Jerry Weintraub, Laurence Mark and Ronald Parker
Screenplay: Jerico Stone, Jonathan Reynolds, Herschel Weingrod and Timothy Harris
Composer: Alan Silvestri
Costume Design: Aggie Guerard Rodgers
Cinematography: Richard H. Kline, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Special Effects: Hans Metz and Ray Svendin
Special Effects Coordinator: Phil Cory
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 107 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Columbia Pictures / Weintraub Entertainment Group / ARROW VIDEO
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN’ [1998] Widowed astronomer Steve Mills [Dan Aykroyd] pushes the limits of a work experiment too far, and maybe way too far, with the unexpected result being a race of highly advanced aliens sending one of their own down to Earth to investigate what has caused the sudden cosmic disruption.
Watching television transmissions to get a flavour of the planet while travelling to it, one of the aliens takes the form of a human female and dispatched onto Earth is Celeste Martin [Kim Basinger]; a beautiful woman tasked with seducing Steve Mills to find out as much as she can about his scientific experiments. However, Celeste Martin didn’t count on actually developing real feelings for him.
None too happy about the new woman in Steve Mills life is his young daughter Jessie Mills [Alyson Hannigan], who begins to figure out that Celeste Martin might not be all she seems… one giveaway being the ability to grab red hot items from the oven with her bare hands.
‘MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN’ is a typical example of a wacky 1980’s comedy; over the top physical skits, one liners delivered with almost a wink to the camera, and an ending that you know is certainly going to happen.
I remember when ‘MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN’ was released in 1988. There was a pretty big buzz surrounding the film. Dan Aykroyd was obviously a big star thanks to ‘GHOSTBUSTERS’ and Kim Basinger had just come out of the hit film ‘9 1/2 Weeks,’ so there was some star power on display. So, when the film came out and sort of did ok, especially as it is a very weird film. As it stands, ‘MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN’ is a decent romantic sci-fi comedy with some good laughs thrown in for good measure.
Probably best enjoyed while indulging in your favourite alcoholic beverages, this release looks and sounds really great, while also having a bonus of some good special features, including an interesting audio commentary track by Bryan Reesman and director Richard Benjamin.
MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN MUSIC TRACK LIST
KISS (Written by Prince) [Performed by The Art of Noise and Tom Jones]
ROOM TO MOVE (Written by Simon Climie, Rob Fisher and Dennis Morgan) [Performed by Animotion]
I LIKE THE WORLD (Written by Larry Blackmon and Simeo Overall) [Performed by Cameo]
ONE GOOD LOVER (Written by Kristin Haas and Robert Massi) [Performed by Siren]
PUMP UP THE VOLUME (Written by Steve Young and Martin Young) [Performed by M.A.R.R.S.]
DID YOU EVER HAVE THAT FEELING (Written Jimmy Durante) [Performed by Jimmy Durante]
BE THE ONE (Written by Robert Brookins) [Performed by Jackie Jackson]
WHOLE NIGHT (Written by Mighty Sparrow aka Slinger Francisco) [Performed by The Mighty Sparrow]
HOT WIVES (Written by Peter Aykroyd) [Performed by Dan Aykroyd and Kim Basinger]
NOT JUST ANOTHER GIRL (Written Ivan Neville) [Performed by Ivan Neville]
THEME FROM THE MONKEES (Written by Bobby Hart and Tommy Boyce)
I’M POPEYE THE SAILOR MAN (Written by Sammy Lerner)
I’M LOOKING OVER MY DEAD DOG ROVER (Written by Dave Whited and Hank Landsberg)
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Columbia Pictures, Weintraub Entertainment Group and ARROW VIDEO presents the film ‘MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN’ in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and the 1080p presentation is sourced from a new 2K restoration performed by Sony. The 35mm original camera negative was scanned in 4K. It's a shock, at the very least, to see this film receive such attention, but here we are and I’m happy to say the end results are very good! The restoration has cleaned things up perfectly, a majority of the film is looking very clean and immaculate. As expected, some of the optical effects in the film can look a bit rough around the edges, but that's about it. The digital presentation is also clean and stable. The film ends up being grainier than I would have ever expected yet it’s rendered in a clean and natural looking manner. Details are good, though the finer ones rarely pop all that much, which I think is more of a limitation of the film stock and the original photography. Colours are bright and lively, with some gorgeous blues and violets in a few places. Reds also look rich and clean, especially with that red dress Kim Basinger wears early on at the start of the film. Blacks and shadows are also rendered very cleanly. Despite the slightly dated effects, this still comes out looking surprisingly good. It’s a level of effort that went into restoring this film. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Columbia Pictures, Weintraub Entertainment Group and ARROW VIDEO brings us the film ‘MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN’ which is presented here in 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio. It’s sharp and clear, no noise or damage present. Voices are clear and sharp as well. Sound effects move naturally between the speakers while the composed film score by the wonderful Alan Silversti adds atmosphere to the movie and the Tom Jones cover of Prince’s “KISS” push the volume levels up a notch or two.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative
Special Feature: Audio Commentary by Bryan Reesman [Audio only] [2021] [1080p] [1.85:1] [104:18] With this featurette, we get to hear this new audio commentary by New York Entertainment Journalist and critic Bryan Reesman for the film ‘MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN’ which he feels looks like a typical 1950’s movie title, which was very common for a B-movie theme of this genre, but as to the film itself, Bryan Reesman says it was not a film on a B-movie budget, but it was made for $20,000,000 back then, but if filmed today it would probably cost around $46,000,000, but of course it was not a big box office hit when released, but with the modern home movie market, has now probably got its money back, which Bryan Reesman hopes happens with this ARROW VIDEO Blu-ray release. Bryan Reesman mentions the Tom Jones song “KISS” that was written by Prince and performed by The Art of Noise and Tom Jones which revived this Welsh singer’s career and especially internationally. Bryan Reesman says the film is a typical sci-fi film theme with heavy rain, thunder and lightning to set the scene, and was the period when CGI technology started to appear in films of this genre, but also feels it was a very basic CGI special effect, especially the computer graphics you would view on the 4x3 television that looks like a computer game and on top of all that, and also say that at the time they did not have widescreen televisions, but if filmed today they would, but of course at the time everything was so different in the 1980’s period, especially in those days they had video tapes and would show widescreen films on a 4x3 television, which looked ghastly and now with the release of this film on this Blu-ray release and viewing it on a widescreen television we are seeing this film in top notch quality. At around 6:48, Bryan Reesman points out the word KLYSTRON on the door that Dan Aykroyd is trying to get into the room that is full of the electronic Satellite equipment is and informs us that this word is real and goes into detail explain what KLYSTRON is and informs us that a KLYSTRON is a specialized linear-beam vacuum tube, invented in 1937 by American electrical engineers Russell and Sigurd Varian, which is used as an amplifier for high radio frequencies, from UHF up into the microwave range, I wonder if they had to pay a fee to use that name? When you see that the jacket get pushed up against the wire frame and the metal buttons makes all the electronic equipment go crazy and over the top, Bryan Reesman says this is a typical old school science fiction film, and with the massive electrical lightening effects, he feels this is like a Frankenstein moment. When Dan Aykroyd throws his dark goggles in the air and then cuts to his daughter throwing the basketball towards the net, Bryan Reesman feels this is like a scene from the film ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ moment. Bryan Reesman talks about the young actress who plays Dan Aykroyd’s daughter and feels she is a great little actress, who went onto do lots of American TV series. At just over 12 minutes, Bryan Reesman mentions the alien spaceship sequence where Kim Bassinger as the alien is putting on a stocking, and compares the scene with Jane Fonda in the 1968 science fiction film ‘Barbarella,’ but in that film you see Jane Fonda stripping off. But when the alien spaceship appears, Bryan Reesman compares the scene to the film four Star Trek movies and also like with the ‘Superman: The Movie.’ At chapter five, we are at the party scene and this where alien Kim Bassinger turns up to mingle, and Bryan Reesman mentions all the idiots at the part, but when alien Kim Bassinger is welcomed into the party, the fun begins, and again Bryan Reesman talks about the stunning red costume Kim Bassinger is wearing and mentions is was designed by Aggie Guerard Rodgers, and of course we get to see the first contact with Kim Bassinger and Dan AcKroyd and a whole new ball game begins between the two actors that worked out so well in this sci-fi screwball comedy. Bryan Reesman starts to reel off all the films that actress Kim Bassinger has appeared in and especially with some top Hollywood actors, but feels her performance in this film is her best performance. When we see Kim Bassinger in Dan Ackroyd’s lab of electronic equipment and we get to see the animatronic eye come out of Kim Bassinger’s bag, which drove the actress crazy, and they also had a lot of technical problems with the animatronic eye. Then Bryan Reesman reels off a lot of information about the career of director Richard Benjamin, first he mentions some of the films he has appeared in like ‘Goodbye, Columbus,’ ‘Catch-22.’ ‘Diary of a Mad Housewife,’ Portnoy's Complaint,’ and ‘The Sunshine Boys,’ but also mentions the TV series he has appeared in like “He & She,” “Quark” and “Vacation Playhouse,” but also mentions that in an interview Richard Benjamin wanted to change his career and go into directing films from 1986 – 2008. Now Bryan Reesman talks about the actress Kim Bassinger and especially as a young child at school was very shy and hated to be called out to read something in front of the classroom and to read something out loud, but when she appeared in a Pageant and everyone one was so surprised when at 17 Kim Bassinger entered America's Junior Miss Scholarship Pageant, and to the surprise of everyone Kim Bassinger sang word for word a song from ‘My Fair Lady,’ and won at the city level and was crowned Athens Junior Miss and Kim was offered a modelling contract with the Ford Modeling Agency, but turned it down in favour of singing and acting, and enrolled at the University of Georgia. But at the height of her acting career started getting offers to appear in films as a wife and a mother and turned them down, as the actress wanted parts that challenged her acting career, and was very selective in what films she wanted to appear in. At chapter five, we not get the scene in the bedroom with Dan Ackroyd and Kim Bassinger and where she performs her sexy erotic dance that gets Dan Ackroyd well sexed up, and of course Kim Bassinger as the alien on her planet do not do the sexual act anymore and when Dan Ackroyd gets very very intimate with Kim Bassinger, she does not want him to stop and does not understand why a human has to have a rest. Bryan Reesman mentions the film did not do very well at the box office, but despite this the film ‘MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN’ got released in the USA and Canada on the 8th December, 1998, and was also released in Australia, Brazil, Philippines, Portugal, Greece and various other countries in Europe and also East and West Berlin, especially when the Berlin Wall was still erected, and of course before Kim Bassinger can perform sex with Dan Ackroyd, goes into the bathroom with her alien bag and asks the alien animatronic eye what sex is, and of course alien Celeste sees a video screen explaining everything to her about sex, on top of all that, the bag produces the adult video tapes of “Debbie Does Dallas,” “Debbie Does Des Moines” and “Debbie Does Dusseldorf” and sees a clip of an actress slowly stripping off, and of course when Celeste goes into the bedroom where Dan Ackroyd is in the bed, and does to do her erotic dance in front of him and of course you get to see Dan Ackroyd get sexually aroused, which is totally hilarious, and at chapter six we see Dan Ackroyd with a great big smile on his face after the session he had with Celeste. But one of the other funny scene in the film is where Celeste gets hold of some of the books and scans the and first up id the complete works of William Shakespeare and has a big grin on her face, but them we see her scan the book “The Shinning” and you see Celeste is horrified and shocked, which is quite amusing with her expression, but then Celeste scans the Shirley MacLaine book “Out On A Limb” and you see Celeste really laughs out loud, and Bryan Reesman thinks this was included for an in-joke as Shirley MacLaine was into UFO’s. Bryan Ressman now talks about youngsters who hate films made before 2000 is ancient and especially the pre-digital effects, whereas Bryan Reesman feels movies are like time travel, and like me, I like all types of films despite their age and does not worry me how old they are, as some old movies are truly wonderful classics, and I can truly related to the older classic movies and how they look, the songs, and you see some wonderful classic actors who give their greatest performances. Bryan Reesman says that if the film ‘MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN’ had been a success then they might have done a franchise of this film, as that is what the studios like to do with certain films, like have seen with other big blockbuster movies, which he mentions quite a few. When you get to chapter eight, we see the older actor who is head of the satellite facility who gets a phone call while in bed with his wife from Carl Sagan, but of course it is voiced by the alien animatronic eye and the voice is by Harry Shearer who does Mr. Burns in the TV series “The Simpsons,” and Harry Shearer was also in the film ‘Spinal Tap.’ When we get to just over 60 minutes, we see the silly breakfast scene where Celeste has gone well over the top with the breakfast with massive amount of food, and I thought personally it was totally ridiculous and far too silly, but of course Celeste the alien was told a good wife must cook a good breakfast, and of course Dan Ackroyd should of listened to his daughter who warned him she is an alien because she is acting far too weird, especially seeing Celeste drinking the car battery fluid, and seeing her take out the boiled eggs out of the boiling water in the saucepan. At chapter ten, Dan Ackroyd finally find out his wife is an alien, which of course his daughter kept warning him, but of course at the time did not believe her. Bryan Reesman stars rambling on about military people who say they have witnessed UFO’s and reckons that about 20 different aliens have visited Planet Earth, and also says that Dan Ackroyd believes in ghosts and has also talked about UFO’s on talk shows in America. At around 90 minutes we are back at the satellite base, where Kim Bassinger, Dan Ackroyd and his actress daughter are there because of the thunder and lightning to save Celete’s planet as requested by the three aliens we see appear in the sky, but at the same time have said they are going to blow up Planet Earth and especially via the alien animatronic eye. Bryan Reesman now talks about the award winning film composer Alan Silvestri and the composed film score for this movie came early in his career and worked on the films ‘Romancing The Stone’ and ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ and many many more iconic films. Bryan Reesman also talks about the alien bag of Celeste that has the alien animatronic eye inside it, and informs us that they had six bags and each cost $400, but the bag with the alien animatronic eye cost $50,000 and was worked with a computer each time it comes out of the bag, and the people involved with the workings of the back were called designer / engineer /actor / puppeteer / bag people. At 97 minutes we get to see the alien spaceship come back and land in a carpark, where Celeste and the group of them from the satellite facility and talk to the three aliens above them, and Bryan Reesman feels the alien spaceship coming back is like a classic 1980’s moment having the alien spaceship coming back, and says “gosh,” and of course apart from Celeste, the other humans are the first to witness the alien craft that brought Celeste to Planet Earth. As we get near to the end of the film, Bryan Reesman says, “Oh well that is it, this is my Stepmother and Aliens, and this has been a very cult film since it came out, and there has been some interesting things going on in the move, especially the actors really got into it being in the film, and extra layer to it, and with the credits we get scenes from the end of the film, instead of random clips from the movie. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed watching or revisiting this movie and enjoying Peanut playing the role of the dog, and hopefully be speaking to you on another ARROW VIDEO commentary and thank you very much for listening and at that point the Bryan Reesman audio commentary ends.
Special Feature: Cosmetic Encounters: Directing ‘MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN’ [Audio only] [2021] [1080p] [1.78:1] [14:08] With this featurette, we get to hear a brand new interview with director Richard Benjamin, and of course informs us how he was approach to direct this alien comedy sci-fi film, because he thought it was going to be a very funny sci-fi movie, and at the same time we get to view random clips from the film ‘MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN’ and not in the order you view in the actual movie, but on reading the original screenplay it was going to be a horror sci-fi movie and of course he was not at all keen to direct the film, so they went back to the drawing board with the screenplay to turn it into a much more enjoyable movie, and it all stemmed from the fact that they used Jimmy Durante mantra of happiness, and that is what really appealed to Richard Benjamin. Then of course the director had the task to hire a female actress to play the part of the alien, and someone recommended to him the actress Kim Bassinger and felt instantly the actress would be perfect and of course he was proved right. Richard Benjamin goes into great detail about other actors who came to the audition. On top of that, Richard Benjamin says that he was heavily influenced by all those 1940’s and 1950’s science fiction films and wanting to take them to another level and them instead funny, especially when it comes to the massive satellite dish that was central to the film, and of course all the electronic equipment we get to see going over the top. Richard Benjamin talks about the CGI effects, especially with the alien spaceship, which was much more difficult to do in the 1980’s, because you have to be do precise. Richard Benjamin says that Celeste the alien being a bit naïve arriving on Planet Earth because of where she has come from billion light years away, they know everything, but in reality they don’t know anything, which is a good start for a comedy sci-fi film, especially alien Celeste trying to please all the time in trying to be the perfect wife, and of course when comes the sexual relationship in the film with Dan Ackroyd. Richard Benjamin talks about the person who wanted the “KISS” song at the start of the film, which of course was written by Prince, and somebody reckon that Prince would not allow it to be used in the film and so someone called Prince on the telephone and explains the outline of the film, and surprise, Prince was very keen for them to use the song in the film with Tom Jones singing the song, and that folks is the reason it is used in the movie. Richard Benjamin was very happy with the finished film, but he worried that the film was coming out at Christmas and they were up against a lot of other blockbuster movies, and again was still very worried, whereas Jerry Weintraub was very insistent that the movie should be released at Christmas 1988, but Richard Benjamin was again very worried, as the general viewing public viewing the film at the time knew nothing about the film and especially with all the hard work put into making the movie. At that point of Richard Benjamin’s audio commentary ends. This was a very decent audio commentary with Richard Benjamin, especially the director sharing his memories around the production, from its early draft as a more serious sci-fi film to it bombing in theatres. Richard Benjamin still feels very blessed that he was able to get Kim Basinger in the key role, knowing no one else would have come close to pulling it off, and Richard Benjamin mentions his surprise at how “sexy” the film now looks. It’s a fine reflection, but admittedly doesn’t delve too deeply into the material.
Special Feature: Trailer [1988] [480i] [1.37:1] [0:32] With this featurette, we get to view the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN.’
Special Feature: Image Gallery: With this featurette, we get to view 12 colourful 1080p images of scenes related to the film ‘MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN.’
BONUS: Also included is a 20 page colourful booklet and features a short essay by film historian Amanda Reyes and touches on some of the same topics Bryan Reesman does in his audio commentary track and even opening with mention of the presidential screening for President-elect George Bush, though the concise nature of the essay, which also touches on other “stepparent” films of the period like ‘The Stepfather’ and ‘Wicked Stepmother’ — and how this film taps into the same subject matter that those more sinister films contain — makes it a better academic addition to the release. Also included are a couple of images from the film ‘MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN.’
PLUS: Reversible sleeve featuring an original and newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch.
Finally, ‘MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN’ [1998] during the period when Richard Benjamin wasn't acting in any movies, he turned to directing, and this sci-fi film was one of the results. It features nerdy astronomer Steven Mills [Dan Aykroyd] accidentally doing something that causes alien Celeste Martin [Kim Basinger] to get sent to earth. Naturally, she has to learn about everything step by step, causing some really wacky situations. This movie has some good laughs. You probably really like the scene where Celeste asks her purse "What is sex?" Also starring Alyson Hannigan, Jon Lovitz and Seth Green. Ok, I admit to a guilty pleasure at enjoying and recommending this movie. Dan Aykroyd and Kim Basinger, who have some of the funniest lines in the movie. They are both excellent as “fish out of water” and Dan Aykroyd as a nerdy social misfit and Kim Basinger as the space travelling investigator who has to find out how Dan Aykroyd's character was able to contact her planet from a primitive Earth. It is a movie that definitely grows on you with repeated viewings. As a summary, I could sit down and watch this film with any of my friends. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
