Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has prepared a new 2K film restoration (from the original camera negative) of actor-turned-filmmaker Richard Benjamin’s 1988 “sci-fi” comedy, My Stepmother is an Alien, starring Dan Aykroyd and Kim Basinger, for release on Blu-ray this coming Dec. 14.
It was a long and winding road getting My Stepmother is an Alien into production. The process began in the early 80s when screenwriter Jerico Stone arrived in Hollywood and began pitching an idea about an alien encounter, but over time it mutated into a comedy about aliens with actresses ranging from Raquel Welch to Bette Midler to Julie Andrews all being ballyhooed as being attached to the film.
It then went into what they call “turn-around” and the original studio, Paramount, dropped it and 20th Century-Fox optioned it through Jerry Weintraub’s production company. Suddenly Joan Rivers is the trades as being a possible candidate. Ditto for Cybill Shepherd. It was all just noise.
It wasn’t until Richard Benjamin came onboard as the director that the film finally moved forward with Shelly Long in the lead. She didn’t last long as the age-old “creative differences” issue bubbled up and suddenly Kim Basinger is the lead actress. Also, on the acting front, Juliette Lewis made her film debut with My Stepmother is an Alien.
The film became a big deal with a solid budget and a “Presidential” preview in Washington D.C. prior to its opening in December of 1988.
As to the story itself, at the Haddonkirk Research Laboratory they do the same thing over and over again hoping to hear from the pair of “dwarf” galaxies called the Megellanic Clouds that appear to “orbit” the Milky Way. Dr. Steven Mills (Dan Akyroyd) has high hopes that someday they will make contact, but the head of the project, Dr. Budlong (Joseph Maher) has his doubts.
On this particular night, it is pouring down rain, and Mills wants to make one last tweak to the array before heading out for “date night” — he has been a widow for the past five years, raising his 13-year-old daughter, Jessie (Alyson Hannigan — as Michelle in the American Pie films, as Lily in the How I Met Your Mother sitcom, plus such films as Dead Man on Campus, Date Movie, etc.).
One thing leads to another and a monster signal is sent dozens of light years away to the planet Cosine N to the 8th, affecting its gravity … the lab is destroyed and Mills is fired!
What he doesn’t know is that the planet has dispatched a space ship with an alien crew and their database about earth is just a little off. Their leader, Celeste (Kim Basinger), transforms into a human and seeks out Mills to send up another beam to undo the damage.
Chaos and calamity follow as Celeste, with her “assistant” Bag (voiced by Ann Prentiss), who takes the form of a magical purse, but is actually a one-eyed snake (in more ways than one), try to convince Mills to undo the damage. Their only point of reference for understanding the culture of the planet is what they’ve learned from television sitcoms.
Bonus features include a newly-prepared commentary from film critic Bryan Reesman and newly-minted featurette titled “Cosmetic Encounters: Directing My Stepmother is An Alien.”
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