George Stover on The Alien Factor Movie Review

When I was offered a role in The Alien Factor, I couldn't believe that my dream of being in a science-fiction film was finally going to come true. However, there were many obstacles to overcome in producing a low-budget 16mm feature, especially one that was ambitious enough to require several different monster costumes, stop-motion animation, and other special-effects scenes.

Not since John Waters started making feature films late in the previous decade had any local fimmaker produced a full-length motion picture in Maryland. Don Dohler – whose background included underground comics and publishing Cinemagic magazine – spearheaded the project and was the glue that kept cast and crew together until filming was completed on this story of the crashlanding of a spacecraft transporting several alien creatures.

Considering its minuscule budget and the fact that it was a first-time effort for Dohler and company, The Alien Factor enjoyed a surprising amount of success. It was blown up to 35mm and screened in Baltimore theatres, on 42nd Street in New York City, as well as at a film festival in France. Not only was The Alien Factor released on prerecorded video, it also enjoyed a long run in TV syndication and was even broadcast on WCBS-TV in New York and shown nationwide on Ted Turner's SuperStation WTBS. Extensive press coverage followed, including a review in Variety and an appearance by one of the film's alien creatures on the cover of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. It could almost be said that The Alien Factor is to Baltimore what Night of the Living Dead is to Pittsburgh and I'm very proud to have been a part of this local success story.

– George Stover, “Steven Price” in The Alien Factor.