‘A horror film of comic proportions’
There’s Nothing Out There is a 1990 [released 1991] American science fiction comedy horror film written and directed by Rolfe Kanefsky. Producer Victor Kanefsky, Rolfe’s father, was an editor (Blood Sucking Freaks; Ganja & Hess). It stars Craig Peck, Wendy Bednarz and Mark Collver.
It’s Spring Break, and seven high school students head to a secluded cabin in the woods for the weekend. Mike, a keen horror film fan, tries to warn his friends of impending danger. However, they scoff at him. That is, until sinister things begin to happen and they are attacked by a creature that wants to eat the men and mate with the women…
On January 11, 2011, Troma Entertainment released the film as a 20th Anniversary DVD with the following extras:
- Interviews
- Commentary by the Director
- Pre-Production Footage
- Still Photos
- Trailers
- Auditions
- Behind-The-Scenes
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Reviews:
Cheap, schlocky and gleefully trashy, There’s Nothing Out There is an effective mix of low budget horror and goofy, tasteless comedy. The film wallows in genre clichés and needless T&A to good effect, resulting in a film that’s completely watchable and simultaneously horrible.” Ian Jane, DVD Talk
“While the movie is schlocky, it’s also able to point out some fun clichés that predated Scream by nearly a decade. There are riffs on the stray cat jumping out of the darkness, people’s willingness to get naked at the drop of a hat, the unnecessary need to learn the back story of the villain that always serves zero purpose toward survival, goofy romance music playing during the sex scenes…” Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
“This 16mm horror/comedy has decent special effects and camerawork, and like the earlier Final Exam and later Wes Craven flick Scream (1996), it includes a horror movie geek (Craig Peck) whose fright film knowledge comes into play.” Brian Albright, Regional Horror Films, 1958 – 1990
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“The monster is entertainingly cheesy and its movements hilariously stilted. Clothing is ripped off, cat’s jump out of nowhere, one character makes advantageous use of a dipping microphone boom (which is not cropped by the widescreen framing), eyes glow, faces melt, and there’s a nifty bit involving plate glass.” Eric Cotenas, DVD Drive-In
“Fast-paced, smart in script and surprisingly well-edited, it’s a very cheaply produced but stylish parody which falls short of credible acting while impressing with consistently good compositions. More pertinently, it’s fun. Rolfe Kanefsky directs with energy and imagination, compensating for the lack of finesse with a happy mix of snappy dialogue, occasional nudity and schlocky exploitation scenes.” Stuart Willis, Sex Gore Mutants
“In general, this no-budget parody of screen schlock is barely better than the dreck it imitates.” Carol Schwartz, Jim Olenski, VideoHound’s Cult Flicks & Trash Pics
“Making fun of horror films while embracing them at the same time is a tricky balance to strike. Yet, I thought There’s Nothing Out There! did an excellent job mixing horror and comedy.” House of Self Indulgence [review contains a plethora of choice images]
Main cast:
Craig Peck, Wendy Bednarz (Vampires and Other Stereotypes), Mark Collver, Bonnie Bowers, John Carhart III, Claudia Flores, Jeff Dachis, Lisa 
Grant, Sissy Frye, Cyrus Voris, Ronald St. Denis.
Choice dialogue:
Stacy: “He is a horror film – a walking, talking horror film!”
Mike: “We don’t know anything about this creature other than it, like everyone else, hates a mouth full of shaving cream.”
Filming locations:
Piermont, New York, USA
Running time and aspect ratio:
91 minutes | 1.78: 1
Trivia:
Rolfe Kanefsky was 20 years-old when he directed the film; his parents re-mortgaged their house in order to raise money for the budget of $350,000.
Principal filming took place over twenty-four days in the summer of 1989.
Various horror films are referenced, including Psycho (1960).
