If the idea of having the aristocratic Priscilla Pointer (Carrie, Nightmare on Elm Street 3) as your Alien Queen appeals to you, the 1982 television of the week film Mysterious Two will be right up your alley. Always adding social flair to his material, here writer-director Gary Sherman (Death Line, Poltergeist III, Vice Squad) took the dangerous reality of the Heaven’s Gate cult and gave it some otherworldly twists. Founders Bonnie Nettles and Marshall Applewhite are reimagined as true planetary presences, embodied by the soft speaking Pointer and the eternally recognizable John Forsythe. 

Popping in and out of the action, these two lure a group of disillusioned seekers to a small desert town to await their eventual ascension to another world. Of course the loved ones of those following He and She, the characters portrayed by Pointer and Forsythe, are none too happy and try desperately to interfere with those plans with increasingly futile results.

Ultimately more of strange character study with Asmovian elements than out and out science fiction, Sherman still works creepy magic here. The scene of a senior male wandering worriedly through a dusty oasis of fallen bodies is beyond chilling. Dread also seeps in through the frames as one realizes that none of He and She’s determined followers are going to escape their shadowy fates.

 Adding to the effectiveness, Sherman also gets multilayered performances from such character actors as horror giant Robert Englund, with whom he also worked with on Dead and Buried, Robert Pine and Vic Tayback, who offers up a portrayal that is far removed from the antics of Alice’s Mel, his definitive role. 

As more and more obscure projects are finally seeing the light of day on DVD and Blu-ray, one hopes that Mysterious Two will eventually get a decent release. Until then the too dark copy available on YouTube and other outlets will have to suffice.

 Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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