The 1970s Sci-Fi Horror Star Wars Ripoff Too Crazy To Believe, Stream Immediately Without Netflix
They don’t make movies quite like The Visitor anymore. This 1979 Italian film is a truly weird and wild sci-fi that cribs from Hollywood hits like Star Wars and The Omen while also being completely off the rails. If that sounds like something you’d be willing to indulge in, there are plenty of free places to stream it.
There’s Nothing Quite Like The Visitor
The Visitor is directed by Giulio Paradisi (credited as Michael J. Paradise) and based on a story by Ovidio G. Assonitis. Surprisingly, the cast of this film is stacked with some old-school Hollywood talents like John Huston, Shelley Winters, Mel Ferrer, Glenn Ford, and Sam Peckinpah. It also features an early performance from a young Lance Henrikson.Needless to say, like many insane B-movies from the 1970s, The Visitor has established quite a cult following over the years. However, it’s unlikely that you have ever seen anything quite like this film. While some of Paradisi’s inspirations are clear, there’s really no telling where the story will go next as you watch it.
A Cosmic Warrior, Pet Hawk, And The Devil
To make the plot as straightforward as possible, The Visitor follows an ancient cosmic warrior who comes to Earth to stop a demonic child and her pet hawk from summoning Zateen, aka Satan. That’s just a slight taste of the craziness that ensues, and Paradisi does make an incredibly entertaining film. It’s truly a mind-boggling movie, and a few choice scenes should be enough to sell you on checking it out.
Franco Nero As Jesus
First of all, the movie opens with Jesus Christ, played by Franco Nero, speaking to a group of bald children about an alien named Zatteen who creates new evil incarnations on Earth. This narrative leads us into the conflict between John Huston’s Christ-like figure, Jerzy Colsowicz, and a little 8-year-old girl named Katy, who is the latest incarnation of Zateen. So far, we have the intergalactic destiny trappings of Star Wars, the demonic incarnation of Satan from The Omen, and a cosmic exorcism ala, The Exorcist.
The Visitor Gets Weirder
Really, what’s not to like about all that? Shortly after this setup, The Visitor improbably takes us to a basketball game at the Omni in Atlanta. Paradisi shoots this scene with all the panache of the big game at the end of a sports movie. Also, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is there as himself.
Also, the little demon girl has a pet hawk, which seems like it should be a thing in more movies. To continue to detail scenes of The Visitor would veer into spoiler territory and ruin some of the delightfully bizarre surprises that the movie has in store. Needless to say, there is plenty more outside of these two scenes that make it one of the weirdest B-movies out there.
