Director: Paul Bunnell
Cast: Will Keenan, Creed Bratton, De Anna Joy Brooks, Reggie Bannister, Les Williams, Jed Rowen, Kate Maberly, Paul Williams, Kevin McCarthy
Country: United States

There’s a certain kind of audacity that makes a film likable, regardless of its technical abilities. “The Ghastly Love of Johnny X” is a big love song to a long list of film tropes and genres. The titular Johnny X owes a lot to Marlon Brando’s “The Wild One.” The whole film is an homage to the cheesy, terrible black-and-white science fiction movies of which “Plan 9 From Outer Space” is the most memorable. There’s a romance between a bad girl and a square soda jerk, a desperate ploy to save a rock concert after its star up and dies, and to top it off, the whole film is a musical.

The plot is too ridiculous to sum up, but it follows the efforts of a leather-jacket-wearing group of juvenile delinquents from outer space to earn the right to go back home. The musical numbers are charming (if not always toe-tappingly great), the acting is solid, and — perhaps most importantly — the fellow playing Johnny X has charisma dripping out of his ears. As a bonus, Creed Bratton (of “The Office” fame) steals most of the scenes he’s in, even under a thick layer of corpse makeup.

This is a wild ride of epic proportions, and Cinequest offers you the rare opportunity to see this sure-to-be-cult-oddity on the big screen. If you can’t tell after reading the above whether you want to see it or not, you’re probably not the target audience. If, on the other hand, you think the idea of a 50s-style musical about teenage delinquents from outer space sounds awesome, don’t miss it!

Remaining screenings:
3/6 7:00 PM San Jose Repertory Theatre
3/10 4:45 PM San Jose Repertory Theatre