Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Beach Babes from Beyond Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 14, 2022

David DeCoteau's "Beach Babes from Beyond" (1993) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of First Run Features. The supplemental features on the disc include archival behind the scenes program and original trailer. In English, without optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Pick a planet with plenty of good looking boys, okay?

You are most likely not willing to admit it and all these years later you probably have some good reasons that justify your decision, but deep inside you know that Beach Babes From Beyond and the many other films like it used to make your local independent video store a pretty cool place to visit. The companies that distributed these films definitely knew how to make them look attractive and trick you to rent them, didn’t they? And you did, more than once, too. I did as well. However, in the independent video store that I used to frequent I usually rented the more ‘serious’ such genre films, like the various thrillers Shannon Tweed made, and the ‘strange’ ones, like Hardware, which was actually in a category of its own.

The truth about these genre films is that they have been around for decades, but it was only after Cinemax and HBO started showing their more recent reincarnations very late at night that it became trendy to dislike them. Before that they were liked but largely forgotten by the mainstream critics. Frankie Avalon for instance appeared in most of the best during the ‘60s. Do you remember them? Muscle Beach Party, Bikini Beach, Beach Blanket Bingo, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, etc. They all offer the exact same type of entertainment Beach Babes From Beyond does, but with slightly less skin. And guess what? All of these films were marketed in pretty much the same way as well. They had very colorful posters with semi-naked young men and women arranged in pretty interesting, often suggestive ways, usually with plenty of sun, seawater and sandy beaches around them.

I liked renting these films on VHS and when DVD came around purchased plenty for my library. Yes, it is true that there were some genuine turkeys amongst them, but there were plenty of really, really stylish and funny gems as well. For example, Animal Instincts and Impulse (there are a couple of different films with the same title and I refer to the one with Jeff Fahey and Theresa Russell) were two of my favorite ‘serious’ acquisitions. From the sillier ones, I always had copies of Hard Ticket to Hawaii, School Spirit, Pink Motel, and Summer Job in my library. And yes, I saw, enjoyed and still own a copy of Nic Cage’s ‘masterpiece’ Zandalee. Alright, what I am trying to clarify here is that there were plenty of these films around and there were days, or in my case nights, when they weren’t just good films to relax with, but the only films to relax with. If you brought one of them home, like I often did, you knew exactly what type of entertainment you had paid for.

Beach Babes From Beyond is one of those good-for-late-night-viewing-only films. It promises and delivers a very straightforward and silly type of entertainment that involves a lot of semi-naked bodies. Okay, so there are some fully naked bodies too, female and male, but you already knew. Does it have a good story? No. Three alien beauties crash their goofy spaceship in sunny California and begin exploring their sexuality with a couple of visiting ‘dudes’ who have gone there for the exact same reason. There are a few decent laughs here and there, but the only thing the film emphasizes is the California atmosphere.

What else is there to say about Beach Babes From Beyond? It has a stunning cast -- sort of. Linnea Quigley has a small part and then there are sizable contributions by Don Swayze, Joey Travolta, Joe Estevez, and Jackie Stallone. Swayze, Travolta, Estevez, and Stallone in a film about hot fun in the Golden State? You did not know these Hollywood greats had collaborated on a such an exotic project, did you?

*Full Moon’s release of Beach Babes From Beyond features David DeCoteau’s slightly longer, once deemed unsuitable for TV and available only on home video Director’s Cut of the film, which is approximately 80 minutes long. But there is no need to get overly excited. The extra footage isn’t raunchier than what you would see in Adrian Lyne’s uncut version of 9½ Weeks.

Beach Babes from Beyond Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Beach Babes From Beyond arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Full Moon Features.

The release is sourced from a recent and very nice organic master, but the technical presentation is seriously disappointing. Here's why:

The encode is so mediocre that it produces a wide range of issues whose impact on the visuals is pretty dramatic. As a result, delineation, clarity and depth are below average, often even unacceptable, though the native qualities of the master remain solid. What generates these issues is the repetitive collapse of frames where most everything turns into digital mush. Indeed, for every proper frame, the encode collapses the following frame, so what is displayed on the screen is essentially a long succession of smeary visuals. You can see what a proper frame looks like in screencapture #8, and you can see what a collapsed frame looks like in screencapture #6. When the transition between the proper and improper frames occurs, the screen usually reveals plenty of standard artifacts like the ones seen in screencapture #14. Again, all of this is very unfortunate because the master has nice organic qualities and is wonderfully graded as well. Needless to say, an opportunity was missed to deliver a very fine, likely definitive home video release of Beach Babes From Beyond. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Beach Babes from Beyond Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English Dolby Digital 5.1 and English Dolby Digital 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are not provided for the main feature.

I started viewing the film with the Dolby Digital 2.0 track and then went to the Dolby Digital 5.1 track. I kept switching them quite a bit, but ultimately did not think that there was a significant difference between them. They are not poor or mediocre, but both struggle to impress because their dynamic intensity is quite inconsistent. Indeed, some areas are fairly decent, possibly even good, but elsewhere the audio sounds uncharacteristically flat. The fluctuations are not distracting, but it definitely feels like work was needed to optimize the audio as best as possible. The lack of lossless audio options is disappointing as well.

Beach Babes from Beyond Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Behind the Scenes - this very long program features plenty of raw footage from the shooting of Beach Babes From Beyond. In English, not subtitled. (88 min).

• Trailer - original U.S. Rated-R trailer for Beach Babes From Beyond. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

Beach Babes from Beyond Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Beach Babes From Beyond delivers exactly what the original poster that was prepared for it years ago promises, which is silly late-night entertainment. Some of the best such films were made during the late '80s and early '90s and unfortunately only a select few have transitioned to Blu-ray. (This is why I hope that Bill Lustig and his crew at Blue Underground launch a dedicated genre line and start bringing them to Blu-ray. There are some real gems amongst them that will look gorgeous on the high-definition format). Sadly, even though it is sourced from a solid organic master, First Run's Blu-ray release offers a very problematic technical presentation of Beach Babes From Beyond, which makes spending a night with it something of an endurance test. If you really have to have a copy of it in your library, find a way to rent and test it first.