TV Reviews : ‘Not of This World’: A Monster of a Slug

If you were terrified by Reddy Kilowatt as a child, then there is a remote chance that the TV movie “Not of This World”--which, by way of special effects, offers an abundance of shooting sparks and buzzing electrical currents--will set off some scary flashbacks. If, however, you were spared that trauma, don’t expect tingles from this burnt-out sci-fi thriller (tonight at 9 on Channels 2 and 8).

In this totally straight-faced scenario, a tiny meteor lands in a small town where a sizable power plant is about to go on line. Coincidentally, the alien life form therein happens to feed on electricity, as well as the innards of hogs, dogs and hapless human beings. It’ll be up mainly to sexy chief engineer Linda Fletcher (Lisa Hartman), her curious and crafty 8-year-old son (Luke Edwards, winner of the Lukas Haas Big Ears Lookalike Award) and her small-town doctor dad (Pat Hingle) to thwart the ruthless space critter.

Instead of the incomprehensible polarity-reversing climax offered here, you may find yourself wishing that Hingle would simply recall his recent nasty role in “The Grifters” and just whop the monster senseless with a towel full of oranges.

Films of this sort exist primarily to provide gross-out effects. Given that this one was made for prime-time TV, there are virtually none, negating its entire reason for being. When the creature (designed by Alex Rambaldi, a relation to Carlo) does appear, it looks like a giant slug that picked up a charge from scooting across the carpet in a hurry. Grossness or lack of same aside, there was more suspense in any five minutes of John Carpenter’s “The Thing” than the whole of these tedious two hours.