Quite simply, it's the best movie you'll see this November. And if you love classics from that era, you'll not want to miss The Visitor, as Drafthouse Films rolls out a remastered theatrical release in several major cities. It will also be available this January on VOD and Netflix. This strange hybrid is notorious for giving us one of Hollywood legend John Huston's final performances. He stars as an Obi-Wan type old man sent on an intergalactic mission to defeat a foul-mouthed 8-year-old girl and her pet hawk before their evil can destroy the universe. If that description hasn't sold you a ticket, I'm not sure you're even ready for the expansion of craziness that is spring boarded off this quaint idea.
A bit of history: Before the advent of the modern day Mockbuster, Italian filmmakers in the 70s played at the same conceit by making cheap rip-offs of the day's current hits. Great White is a sterling example, as it was such a perfect Jaws clone, the Supreme Court had it banned and thrown out of the country. Beyond the Door is another, working to Xerox a little of that Exorcist magic for its own financial gain. The Visitor was planned as a Drive-In B movie that would grab a hold of genre audiences hungry for another Star Wars, but as these things sometimes do, it took on a life of its own, with director Giulio Paradisi (aka Michael J. Paradise) and producer Ovidio G. Assonitis deciding to throw everything else at their disposal into the mix, making for a grand duckpress fist to the gut that knocked some moviegoers unconscious.
Today, we're looking at the 10 Essential Classics that were culled together and whip-mixed in a big bowl of holy shit for what stands as one of Italy's grand achievements in 1970s cinema. These are the films we suggest you watch before imbibing in this glorious stretch of celluloid that subverts its schlock roots to become something more than the sum of its iconic parts. Without these movies, The Visitor probably wouldn't exist.
4Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Tagline: Pray for Rosemary's Baby. Premise: A young couple move into a new apartment building to start their life together as expectant parents. Little do they know, their neighbors belong to a satanic cult that is using Rosemary to cultivate the birth of the anti-Christ. The Visitor Connection: Its very similar to The Omen. Barbara is a very special kind of woman. She has the ability to give birth to an ancient evil that lives in a galaxy far, far away. Like Rosemary, an evil cult is behind her latest pregnancy. Unlike Rosemary, Barbara doesn't just stop at squirting out one demonic baby, but as many as she can, for as long as she can. So, essential, if she really put her mind to it, she could birth a satanic army. She doesn't though, as Jerzy Colsowicz is able to save her from this horrible fate.
6Star Wars (1977)
Tagline: Somewhere, in space, this could all be happening right now. Premise: A young moister farmer learns the ways of the force while joining the Rebel Alliance to disarm a galactic space station capable of blowing up a planet with the help of an old man, a pirate, a princess, a dog and two robots. The Visitor Connection: The Visitor sets out to be about the intergalactic struggle between the dark and light sides of the universe. Though his name isn't nearly as catchy, Jerzy Colsowicz is an Obi-Wan like guiding force that comes to save a young child from the darkness within. Only, he does it on earth, which requires him to act as a babysitter (literally, he claims to be from an agency and everything) for Katy. John Huston is clearly molding his Jerzy archetype on Alec Guinness. And he does have an epic duel at the end. But it's his job as babysitter that brings the best line in the whole movie. Recently confined to a wheelchair, mother Barbara insures her boyfriend Raymond that Colsowicz isn't possibly a child molester. She then coyly turns to her lover and says with a straight face, "But I sure hope you're a cripple molester." Yes, that line exists in a movie.
9Joysticks (1983)
Tagline: More fun than games. Premise: Two bumbling nerds team up with their uncle to save the local video game arcade. The Visitor Connection: Video games were just starting to become big business in the late 70s, early 80s, and Joysticks was one of the first movies to cash in on the premise. In The Visitor, Katy is obsessed with her new home entertainment gaming center, which looks like it only contains the game Pong. Instead of getting a light saber duel between her and Jerzy, we get a very slow moving Pong-off. Complete with an old school big screen TV (with the red, green and blue projection system). This is what Jerzy does when babysitting. Things really heat up when Katy flips the PRO switch, bringing some much needed humor to the proceedings. Jerzy doesn't win Pong, giving up just like Obi Wan. Katy strikes him down (or, rather, gets her ball past his 2-bit pipe), and he becomes more powerful than you could possibly image.
The Visitor opens in New York at the IFC Center this Friday, 11/8 and additional markets throughout November. To check for participating theaters throughout the rest of November: 
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