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The best thing about this movie was also the best thing about Carnival of Souls. Namely that its lower budget led to hazily filmed, sometimes unclear and murky scenes. In both movies it made the mood creepier, while in the case of This is Not a Test it also gave it something of a documentary feel.

One surprising thing about this movie was that it was filmed completely at night, which is an added expense and unusual for such a low budget movie.

But to me the most surprising thing was the gratuitous animal cruelty. I'm not referring to the famous strangled puppy scene which took place off camera and was only implied, but to the chicken scene. When the psycho character comes back to discover the truck has left, he takes his anger out on some unfortunate chickens. Besides smashing wooden cages on the ground, releasing REAL chickens, he picks up at least two and smashes them to the ground like an angry child. I've watched the scene several times and they were real chickens. Okay, not earth shattering but an interesting look at something filmmakers will never do again.

Apparently, after a worldwide search for the perfect script writer, director Bill Rebane happened upon a little known writer named Barbara J. Rebane to pen his vision. Where he discovered her is unknown to me, but the two of them created magic together.

She took two bold steps in this film, one original and one copied later with a much higher budget.

First, she broke the survivor-typecast protocol that most writers would dare not violate. Rather than give longevity to the handsome brooding Native American or the outdoorsy Canadian, she gives the nod to the chunky, bearded, bespectacled cretin in the Sherlock Holmes hat. Under normal circumstances, this type of character would be lighting his own gas in the corner of the room while the others formulate a plan and then meet with an untimely, yet slightly humorous death. Rebane, on the other hand, even gives this guy the girl.

The other place where she unwittingly deserves credit is for utilizing the aliens-under-the-ground scenario for a lot less money than Tom Cruise probably paid for his "War of the Worlds" travesty. I'd be curious to know whether she got a "based on an idea by" or an "inspired by" credit in Cruise's film.

PS - despite the fact that I consider these two areas worthy of compliment, I am in no way recommending anyone actually watch this movie.