The Top 10 Best Sci-Fi Movies You've (probably) Never Heard Of
#3: Anna to the Infinite Power (1982)
What It Is
Anna to the Infinite Power, aside from having the greatest name for a film since Howling II: Stirba Werewolf Bitch, is one of the best unheard-of direct-to-TV movies I have ever seen. If the phrase "direct-to-TV" scares you off, rest assured it is quickly followed by the comforting letters "HBO". That's right, even in the early 80s HBO was putting out incredible, indie content and saying to hell with broadcast norms. Anna to the Infinite Power is a terrific re-working of the tried and true "clone plotline", that's cropped up time and again with varying success (recent traumatic experience: The Island). It tells the story of Anna Hart (Martha Byrne, who would later garner fame in soap operas), a twelve-year old child prodigy with several troubling behavioral issues: she gets headaches from flickering lights, has bizarre traumatic night terrors and is kleptomaniac and liar. In spite of this, her mother, a scientist, thinks the world of Anna and will not hear of any criticism from Anna's father or her brother, Rowan (Mark Patton, another soap actor and Nightmare on Elm Street 2 star). Anna's troubles seem like they will be of the ordinary Brady Bunch variety, but for the appearance of an enigmatic new neighbor, Michaela Dupont, who's gradual insistent presence causes Anna to question the very nature of her existence.
Why You've Never Heard of It
This one's easy. It's an HBO 80's TV movie. How many people had pay-cable in the 80's, and watched indie sci-fi movies on top of that? Sure, there was a VHS and even a DVD release (most recently just 3 years ago in 2010), and the DVD even features some really great interviews with Byrne and Patton, but let's be honest here: the only people who were likely to find out about or watch this movie were people like me: insane shutins huge science fiction fans.
I personally found out about it by just flipping through wikipedia's "list of science fiction movies" by era, and the title looked cool. I'm not embarrassed at all to admit that; a band by the same name thought the same thing as me.
I personally found out about it by just flipping through wikipedia's "list of science fiction movies" by era, and the title looked cool. I'm not embarrassed at all to admit that; a band by the same name thought the same thing as me.
Why It's Worthy of Inclusion
So again, besides having a cool name (it just sounds cool; try saying it out loud and pretend it doesn't wax epic), why is this movie so great? Earlier I said it even had a "Brady Bunch" style of plot at the beginning.
Well, that's actually why I really, really like it. The blurb for Anna to the Infinite Power: "Discovering that she is the result of a scientific cloning experiment, a young girl sets out to find her "sisters" connected by telepathy", did not fill me with much confidence. I expected the usual kind of 80s fare: a sort of blend of Firestarter and The Clonus Horror, where the young girl would be taken from her idyllic family life, only to return at the head of a vicious army of clones to wreak devastation on her former captors and creators. You know, the tired and re-hashed Frankenstein-esque type of sci-fi/horror done time and time again. But, for whatever reason (let's face it, it was the bitchin' title), I tracked it down about six months ago and gave it a spin.
What I found was a movie that took me in completely unexpected directions I had never seen before and have yet to see since. It establishes this very homey, aw-shucks American style family, with ordinary problems and an ordinary dynamic, and proceeds to corrupt it with insidious imagery and implied backroom dealings. It works really, really well. I don't know if the producers were aware of how subversive they were in their artful takedown of the picturesque 80s lifestyle, but I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt based on their casting choices and use of colour palette. It looks and feels for all the world like we're watching daytime sitcoms, when really we're taking a creepy look behind that mask. I think this is communicated especially well in the film's choice of Jack Gilford (smiling rosy-cheeked comedy legend) as the sinister-but-cheerful Dr. Jeliff.
The relationships traverse the same kind of arc, from stock mom-and-pop with two kids who hate each other but learn they really love each other, blah-de-blah...but actually, these relationships turn sour and then into something altogether more interesting than I thought possible in this style. Her father, upon learning of the experiment, leaves in disgust. Her brother reacts as if she is a kind of alien. Her mother, who it must be noted was in on the whole thing, just keeps smiling and pretending everything is all right. It's weirdly engaging.
The offset I mentioned of insidious imagery against this family backdrop is perhaps best encapsulated by the picture above. How many people looked at that and thought I made a terrible mistake? Perhaps I accidentally posted a picture from Casablanca? Nope, still Anna to the Infinite Power.
I wish I could say with absolute confidence that everyone will enjoy this movie on the level that I did, but I may have talked it up more than I should have. This is not to say the content itself is not worthy of praise, but I think a lot of what engaged me in this movie rested on playing against expectation. That being said, it remains a worthy achievement and one that people should see. And yes, the title is very, very cool.
So again, besides having a cool name (it just sounds cool; try saying it out loud and pretend it doesn't wax epic), why is this movie so great? Earlier I said it even had a "Brady Bunch" style of plot at the beginning.
Well, that's actually why I really, really like it. The blurb for Anna to the Infinite Power: "Discovering that she is the result of a scientific cloning experiment, a young girl sets out to find her "sisters" connected by telepathy", did not fill me with much confidence. I expected the usual kind of 80s fare: a sort of blend of Firestarter and The Clonus Horror, where the young girl would be taken from her idyllic family life, only to return at the head of a vicious army of clones to wreak devastation on her former captors and creators. You know, the tired and re-hashed Frankenstein-esque type of sci-fi/horror done time and time again. But, for whatever reason (let's face it, it was the bitchin' title), I tracked it down about six months ago and gave it a spin.
What I found was a movie that took me in completely unexpected directions I had never seen before and have yet to see since. It establishes this very homey, aw-shucks American style family, with ordinary problems and an ordinary dynamic, and proceeds to corrupt it with insidious imagery and implied backroom dealings. It works really, really well. I don't know if the producers were aware of how subversive they were in their artful takedown of the picturesque 80s lifestyle, but I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt based on their casting choices and use of colour palette. It looks and feels for all the world like we're watching daytime sitcoms, when really we're taking a creepy look behind that mask. I think this is communicated especially well in the film's choice of Jack Gilford (smiling rosy-cheeked comedy legend) as the sinister-but-cheerful Dr. Jeliff.
The relationships traverse the same kind of arc, from stock mom-and-pop with two kids who hate each other but learn they really love each other, blah-de-blah...but actually, these relationships turn sour and then into something altogether more interesting than I thought possible in this style. Her father, upon learning of the experiment, leaves in disgust. Her brother reacts as if she is a kind of alien. Her mother, who it must be noted was in on the whole thing, just keeps smiling and pretending everything is all right. It's weirdly engaging.
The offset I mentioned of insidious imagery against this family backdrop is perhaps best encapsulated by the picture above. How many people looked at that and thought I made a terrible mistake? Perhaps I accidentally posted a picture from Casablanca? Nope, still Anna to the Infinite Power.
I wish I could say with absolute confidence that everyone will enjoy this movie on the level that I did, but I may have talked it up more than I should have. This is not to say the content itself is not worthy of praise, but I think a lot of what engaged me in this movie rested on playing against expectation. That being said, it remains a worthy achievement and one that people should see. And yes, the title is very, very cool.
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