History Film / PodPeople

[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pod_people.png]]

* ArcSymbol: The Big Dipper. [[RuleOfCreepy For some reason]], it appears on the forehead of anyone Trumpy's mother kills.

* RefrainFromAssuming: There actually was a [[https://www.discogs.com/Various-Los-Nuevos-Extra-terrestres-Extraterrestral-Visitors/release/3054922 soundtrack EP]] released, and the title of the song popularly known as "Burning Rubber Tires" or "Hear The Engines Roar Now" (or "Idiot Control Now") is listed in Spanish as "Rugen los motores" ("The Motors Roar").

* AlliterativeTitle

* AssholeVictim: One of the poachers finds a bunch of eggs at the beginning and decides to smash them all [[ForTheEvulz just for fun.]] Shortly after, Trumpy's mother [[MamaBear shows up and kills him.]]
%%* BMovie

%%* TheBrainlessBeauty: Laura

* TheDitz: Laura is referenced as an idiot in-universe, and certainly seems to have trouble reading a room.

%%* {{Housewife}}: Tommy's mom

* JerkAss: Rick (the leader of the band) and Bill (Tommy's uncle).

* MegatonPunch: Trumpy's mom kills two or three of the cast by punching them in the face.
** Many of them she appears to kill by simply pushing them over.

** And then there's Laura who, after the girlfriend of the man she wanted to get with expressed her resentment toward her, decided her best course of action was to go running away from the safe camper and wandering around a twilit, foggy forest she was obviously unfamiliar with.

* KarmaHoudini: Despite cheating on his girlfriend and even bringing his second girlfriend on their camping trip, the [[InfidelityIndex bastard boyfriend]] is one of the four survivors.

* KarmaHoudini: Despite cheating on his girlfriend and even bringing his second girlfriend on their camping trip, the BastardBoyfriend (and to be fair his first/real girlfriend too) is one of the four survivors.

%%* HollywoodNight

* ItsAllMyFault: Sharon, who'd splashed Laura with coffee, blames herself after she gets lost in the woods and falls off a cliff after storming away from the campfire.

* MoodWhiplash: The movie can't decide if it's trying to be a cutesy ''E.T.''-like movie or a monster movie, [[TakeAThirdOption so it settles on being both.]][[note]]It was apparently supposed to be a straight horror movie until Film/ETTheExtraterrestrial came out and raked in boatloads of cash, at which point the producers demanded that the script be rewritten to make it more like that movie.[[/note]]

* NonindicativeName: The movie doesn't really contain any pods, much less people who come from pods.

* WordSaladTitle: Despite what the title implies, the aliens of the title don't come in pods and don't look like people.

** A couple of band members also pour whiskey down her throat to warm her up, which is terrible on two levels. First, alcohol doesn't actually warm you up; alcohol dilates the vessels and brings blood toward the skin which causes ''feelings'' of warmth, but in drawing that heat toward the skin it draws it ''away'' from the body's core and the vital organs there, which can cause the body's core temperature to drop to dangerous levels. Second, drinking alcohol after suffering a head injury (and potentially brain damage) is even more dangerous, as alcohol can enhance the negative effects of brain injury and inhibit recovery as well. Third, giving fluids to an unconscious person risks the fluid going into the lungs instead of the esophagus.

* CreepyChild: There's something ''wrong'' about a boy who wants to collect ''specimens''. Doesn't help he's dubbed by an adult female.

* DisposableWoman: Laura doesn't even make it to the end of Act 1 before falling off a cliff while trying to escape the poachers.

* {{Fanservice}}: When Kathy gets out of bed to take a shower, it's shown that she was sleeping [[PantsFree with no pants on.]]
* FoodSlap: Sharon throws a mugful of water into Laura's face after Laura smugly suggests that Sharon's jealous of her and starts talking about what she and Rick were doing in the woods.

* ItsAllMyFault: Sharon, who'd splashed Laura with water, blames herself after she gets lost in the woods and falls off a cliff after storming away from the campfire.

* RefrainFromAssuming: There actually was a [[https://www.discogs.com/Various-Los-Nuevos-Extra-terrestres-Extraterrestral-Visitors/release/3054922 soundtrack EP]] released, and the title of the song popularly known as "Burning Rubber Tires" or "Hear The Engines Roll Now" (or "Idiot Control Now") is listed in Spanish as "Rugen Los Motores" ("The Motors Roar").

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Trumpy's parent goes on this, justifiably. First, all but one of the eggs on its ship are senselessly smashed by a poacher, then, when it approaches two more poachers by a campfire, they lure it closer, then shoot and wound it without provocation. After that, you'd understand why it kills everyone it sees; it thinks HumansAreTheRealMonsters.

** If you're poacher number two and you see a random teenage girl walking through the woods, then clearly your only reasonable response has to be to grab her and make a joke about wanting to rape her. Even poacher 3 refuses to help him when she runs off, telling him "you better run!" The only reason this doesn't end with him behind bars is that she dies instead after jumping off a cliff to escape him. Of course, he still proves Too Dumb To Live when...

** When Laura falls off the cliff landing on her back, the other campers find her and carry her around. Obviously they had to get her someplace safer and warmer, but even someone not trained in medicine should have known to keep her spine straight, perhaps even build an improvised stretcher from the many branches all around. These idiots don't even so much as try to carry her steadily, much less anything like that. Also, Tommy's mother seems to think the cure for a crushed spine is a good night's rest.
** A couple of band members also pour whiskey down her throat to warm her up, which is terrible on two levels. First, alcohol doesn't actually warm you up; alcohol dilates the vessels and brings blood toward the skin which causes ''feelings'' of warmth, but in drawing that heat toward the skin it draws it ''away'' from the body's core and the vital organs there, which can cause the body's core temperature to drop to dangerous levels. Second, drinking alcohol after suffering a head injury (and potentially brain damage) is even more dangerous, as alcohol can enhance the negative effects of brain injury and inhibit recovery as well.

Not to be confused with PeopleJars, which involves Jar People, or ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers'', which features [[ReplicantSnatching pod people]], unlike this movie.

The film is as much of a mess behind the scenes as it is on-screen. ''Los Nuevos Extraterrestres'' began its life as a low-budget horror film. Then, after the initial script had been written, [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086026/trivia the producers demanded the addition of the subplot about the little kid adopting the alien]], in a blatant attempt to [[FollowTheLeader cash in on the success]] of ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial''. It was filmed in Spanish and French. For the US release it was (badly) dubbed into English and retitled ''The Unearthling''. Then, when the copyright expired, the distributor Film Ventures International purchased the film, slapped the credits from a ''completely different film'' onto the beginning and end, and changed the name to ''[[http://www.mst3kinfo.com/mstfaq/subtle.html Pod People]]''.

You can check out WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob's [[http://www.thecinemasnob.com/the-cinema-snob/et-week-extra-terrestrial-visitors review]] of the film, this time under the title ''Extra-Terrestrial Visitors''.

* AssholeVictim: One of the poachers finds a bunch of eggs at the beginning and decides to smash them all [[ForTheEvulz just for fun.]] Shortly after, Bad Trumpy [[PapaWolf shows up and kills him.]]

* DisposableWoman: Laura doesn't even make it to the end of Act 1 before falling off a cliff while trying to escape the poachers.

* ItsAllMyFault: Sharon, who'd splashed Laura with water, blames herself after she goes off a cliff angrily running away from the campfire.

* KillEmAll: This movie manages a very respectable body count. It's even lampshaded in the [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]] presentation.

* MoodWhiplash: The movie can't decide if it's trying to be a cutesy ''E.T.''-like movie or a monster movie, [[TakeAThirdOption so it settles on being both.]]

A little boy named Tommy (who has an extensive array of pets he likes to call "specimens") finds an alien egg to hatch, somewhat like Horton. When it hatches, Tommy names the creature--who manages to use his snout to suck up peanuts and warp time and space with his fingers--Trumpy. Unfortunately, Trumpy's mom is found by poachers (who destroy all of her pod-like eggs) and goes on [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge a killing spree in response]]. To add to the terror, a group of unappealing young people takes a break from recording [[FakeBand nightmarish "pop" music]] to travel by RV up to the scene of the alien foothold. When one of their members is killed by the alien, they are drawn into the hunt for the culprit.

* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy: Just after the opening credits, an asteroid is seen approaching the familiar face of the Moon...which is so familiar because it always faces the Earth, meaning the asteroid is ''leaving'' the Earth, not approaching.

* UnfortunateNames: "Trumpy" to British audiences, because in the UK "trump" is a word for "fart".

* BittersweetEnding: Trumpy and Tommy are both safe, but Trumpy's mom has been killed and Tommy had to pull the BreakHisHeartToSaveHim on Trumpy, and that's most likely the last thing Trumpy ever heard from Tommy.

* AssholeVictim: One of the poachers finds a bunch of eggs and the beginning and decides to smash them all [[ForTheEvulz just for fun.]] Shortly after, Bad Trumpy [[PapaWolf shows up and kills him.]]

* StupidEvil: The poachers find some weird eggs which, for all they know, could be really valuable. Rather take them to sell on the black market or anything they instead decide to smash them all just to be dicks.

* BehindTheBlack: Perplexingly ''inverted'': at one point the characters apparently see something odd/disturbing on another character after they are attacked by the monster but it only shows us their reaction and not what it is they are reacting to. As Tom Servo puts it
-> "Uh, remember us? The audience? Can we see it, please?'

** And then there's Laura, who after girlfriend of the man she wanted to get with expressed her resentment toward her, decided her best course of action was to go running away from the safe camper and wandering around a twilit, foggy forest she was obviously unfamiliar with.

** When Laura falls off the cliff landing on her back, the other campers find her and carry her around without even ''attempting'' to keep her spine straight. Also, Tommy's mother seems to think the cure for a crushed spine is a good night's rest.
** A couple of band member also pour whisky down her throat to warm her up. Not only does alcohol not do that, but it's actually ''dangerous'' to drink after a head injury.

* DeadpanSnarker: One of the back-up singers (the redhead with the shortish hair) constantly makes sacrastic jokes, occasionally at her own expense.