When the Cassidy family finds a Liam Murphy (Simon Delaney) dressed in a red vinyl spacesuit passed out on their living room floor they’re happy to believe that he’s an alien rather than a burglar. Murphy adopts the name Zonad and becomes an instant celebrity in the tiny, and very naïve, town of Ballymoran.
Zonad is a lowbrow parody that is clearly inspired by old-school Mel Brooks by way of Gary Ross’ Pleasantville. The majority of its plot is based around Zonad’s conquest to sleep with the entire female population of Ballymoran starting with the young, beautiful and willing Jenny Cassidy (Janice Byrne).
Zonad played at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival where it was met with a general sense of enthusiasm but failed to pick up distribution for a North American theatrical release. Frankly, I’m not surprised. The film is amusing but it isn’t intelligent enough to play to art house audiences and isn’t vulgar enough to appease the mainstream hordes. It’s better than most of Syfy’s original films but can’t compete with the likes of Galaxy Quest, Spaceballs or even the lackluster Paul in terms of budget or wit. In fact, Zonad feels like one of the fantasy stories in Gentlemen Broncos, albeit not nearly as juvenile, stretched into a feature film. I’m not sure if that is a compliment or not.
Bonus features are limited to a fairly boring and sadly generic commentary from directors John and Kieran Carney and a trailer.