Headscratchers / There's Nothing Out There

• Why did Nick have to drive out to town? There was a phone at the house, and the plumbing truck has the phone number at the side.
• If the alarm going off will "bring police in a half hour", then logically there must be a police station a half hour away. Where there is a police station, there's probably civilization. If civilization is a half hour away, where did Nick go all day?
• If the creature has mind-control powers, why doesn't it use them on the girls before it tries to rape them? Why didn't it call Doreen out in the woods for hanky-panky before endangering itself by attacking the humans? Mike's right - this creature IS pretty stupid!
• When Mike ties the creature to a tree, they make no effort to keep it there, examine it or kill it while they have it temporarily incapacitated. This makes Mike just as bad as everyone else.
• This creature is small. No one tries jumping or stomping on it.
• Stacy spends half the movie inexplicably barefoot and in her bikini, despite having plenty of time to get changed or put shoes on before the final battle.