source: The Return

In fact, the cheesiness of the whole thing lends itself quite well to the overall alien encounter stuff. Nothing is really explained. Some odd things happen. It never really drags. And it is not the low point in the career of any of the cast. So it has that going for it.

I had actually never heard about this sci-fi thriller titled "The Return" from 1980. I stumbled upon the movie by random chance here in 2023, and while I am not overly keen on sci-fi movies in general, then I still opted to watch "The Return", as I sat it had Cybill Shepherd and Jan-Michael Vincent on the cast list. Writers Ken Wheat, Jim Wheat and Curtis Burch didn't exactly manage to put together an overwhelmingly interesting or entertaining script for the movie. I was rather bored throughout the 91 minutes that the movie trotted on for; especially since everything felt random and didn't have much of any red thread to. The acting performances in the movie were fair enough. Nothing grand, though. The special effects in "The Return" were nothing spectacular. There were some effects, and some actually played out well enough, while others were dubious at best. I am sure that die-hard sci-fi fans could get a kick out of watching "The Return". But me, as a casual viewer, didn't find much enjoyment in director Greydon Clark's 1980 movie. My rating of "The Return" lands on a three out of ten stars.

Graydon Clark. We have him to thank for Satan's Cheerleaders, Without Warning, Wacko and many more. Here he brings together Cybil Shepherd and Jan-Michael Vincent as a couple that were taken by aliens as children. Yes, the romance is anything but torrid, but sometimes, we work with what we've got. While stopping at a gas station late one night, a young girl on vacation and a local boy are taken by a UFO. Twenty-five years later, that boy is the sheriff of that town, Wayne (Vincent). There have been several cattle mutilations in town, which brings Jennifer (Shepherd), a scientist in to help. Of course, she's the girl from the beginning. It turns out that the cows are getting all messed up because the aliens also visited a prospector (Vincent Schiavelli!) who has been using an energy knife to slice up the bovines and send them into space using a teleporter the extraterrestrials left behind. Somehow, this movie was able to acquire the star power of Martin Landau, Raymond Burr and Neville Brand. In her book Cybill Disobedience: How I Survived Beauty Pageants, Elvis, Sex, Bruce Willis, Lies, Marriage, Motherhood, Hollywood, and the Irrepressible Urge to Say What I Think, Shepherd said that the cast was "a rather sad group of actors, all trying to resurrect our diminished careers. Raymond Burr read his lines off a TelePrompter." But wait - there's more! Darby Hinton, yes, the star of Malibu Express, also makes an appearance, as does Playboy Playmate of the Month for January 1977 Susan Kiger, who also appeared in Andy Sidaris' Seven.

The story of the two children who have an encounter with an extraterrestrial spaceship in a small town and 25 years later the children meet again is good and could have been developed in a better way, but as it is, the film is an eyesore.

THE RETURN stars Cybill Shepherd and Jan Michael-Vincent as adults who meet again, years after a childhood incident involving extraterrestrial activity. Jennifer (Shepherd) is now a scientist, and Wayne (Jan-Michael Vincent) is a lawman who enjoys shooting car stereos. Events lead the duo to remember what happened to them that fateful night. Jennifer's dad (Raymond Burr) arrives in town, pontificating furiously due to a local cattle mutilation epidemic. Enter rancher / hot head, Walt (Neville Brand), who yells a lot in a gruff voice. This man definitely knows his cows! Simultaneously, the sheriff (Martin Landau) is on the case, while trying to figure out how to dunk doughnuts in a can of beer. Could alien mischief be behind all this? Can Waynifer figure things out, before the sheriff dunks his first doughnut? And, what about the peculiar prospector, his mini- light saber, and his devil dog? And, why does he have a black hole in his cave? Annnd, just why did Wayne drive his motorcycle through that window, in slow-motion? Was Mr. Vincent symbolically recreating his final scene from WHITE LINE FEVER? Regardless, this is one hilariously funny movie, and you will believe! In aliens? No, in the power of love, doughnuts, light sabers, Raymond Burr, and the ability to float elegantly in black holes!...

The Return (1982) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Jennifer (Cybill Shepherd) is a scientist who goes to a small New Mexico town after seeing some bizarre images. Once there she begins to notice that a few things aren't quite right and she teams up with the Deputy Wayne (Jan-Michael Vincent). At first some strange cattle mutilations are happening but before long humans are being killed and it all might be connected to something Jennifer and Wayne witnessed as children. Despite a terrific cast, Greydon Clark's THE RETURN has pretty much been forgotten and overlooked. It was certainly an attempt to try and cash-in on the sci-fi boom that took off after the success of Steven Spielberg's CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND and I think this film was meant to try and be in the same league. With that said, there's no question that they were dealing with a very small budget here that prevented that but on the whole THE RETURN was more entertaining than I thought it would be. The film certainly has some flaws and I will start with them. This includes the ending, which I won't spoil here but I think it fell well short of the emotional punch that the director was going for. I'd also argue that the film started to drag during the final twenty-minutes, which was another problem. The special effects certainly aren't as good as one would hope for but considering the budget this here can be forgiven. With all of that being said, the film does start off pretty strong and hold your attention throughout most of it. I thought the cattle mutilation sub-plot was actually interesting and it was done in a good manor. I liked how the townspeople, backwards rednecks, were more worried about the scientist and their dumb fears that she was the ones killing the cows. We get some very familiar faces here so this also helps hold your attention throughout. Vincent and Shepherd make for a good team but we also get veteran actors like Martin Landau, Raymond Burr and Neville Brand. Vincent Schiavelli, the one and only, also appears in a good role. I'm sure a higher budget would have allowed the film to do a bit more but if you look at THE RETURN the same way you would the "B" sci-fi movies of the 1950s then you should find enough to keep you entertained.

Cybil & Jan-Michael are great in this weirdly fun movie. Cybil is gorgeous & sassy; Jan-Michael is sexy & cool. They had good chemistry together. I enjoyed watching their attraction grow into a romantic liaison. Jan-Michael was good in the action scenes. Supposed to take place near Alamogordo NM but was actually filmed in CA. The NM location makes a connection to the Roswell incident. Had just enough UFO/unexplained activity going on to hold my attention. Parts of it are corny but Raymond Burr adds some authority to help it along. I like 50s style movies & this reminded me of that era only with psychedelic special effects. Is free on Amazon Prime.

" The Return" views like a puzzle that is impossible to solve. It features some intriguing actors including, Neville Brand, Martin Landau, and Vincent Schiavelli, in supporting roles. A small New Mexico town is visited by aliens, putting on a light show. Two children and Schiavelli, are "contacted" for an unknown purpose. Fast forward twenty five years when Cybil Shepherd and Jan Michael Vincent, are enlightened that they were the two chosen children. Chosen for what is of course unknown. Meanwhile Neville Brand, playing a local rancher, is dealing with cattle mutilations, that he blames on scientist Shepherd. Raymond Burr, Shepherd's Father, deduces that the aliens left some sign carved on a rock for an unknown purpose. "The Return" is a movie asking all questions while revealing zero answers, and is a very frustrating viewing experience. - MERK

Many years ago during the early 80s, my dad hired this movie from a local video store. All I remembered about this film was a little girl and boy encountering a UFO flying above there heads encasing them in a strange light. But oddly enough, that was all I could remember of it. It wasn't until five years ago that I heard about this film and was wondering if this was the same movie that I saw years before in the 80s. It turned out that it was and wanted to see it again. I've recently managed to get hold of a copy and I'm glad I did. Because although special effects wise it's not brilliant. But it does have a good story which is why I gave it a 4 out of 10 rating. If I was basing this movie just on special effects alone, I would have given it a 2 out of 10. The basic story centres on two young children who as I said earlier encounter a UFO. But 25 years later the girl played by Cybill Shepherd who is a scientist comes to a small town doing some research and meets up with a deputy sheriff of the town played by Jan-Michael Vincent. But later on discover that they have a lot more in common than they realised. In truth when Cybill's character Jennifer discovers that this was the same town where she had her encounter, she then tells Jan-Michael Vincent's character Wayne about her encounter and that nobody would believe her. Wayne then says that no one believed him either and she then realises that he was the little boy she met that night. I did feel that the story got ruined when it introduced cattle mutilations, then later on human murders and mutilations as this made the movie extremely far fetched. The writers should have stuck to the original idea of Jennifer and Wayne trying to solve the puzzle of there UFO encounter. So for a movie in general, don't expect too much. With it being made during the early 80s it is very dated and doesn't hold up to the test of time. Where special effects is concerned, I give it a thumbs down. (I suspect that was due to the budget constraints they had while making it, it's not a Close Encounters of the Third Kind or Star Wars Clone) But where the story is concerned, It's OK. I would have given it a thumbs up if it wasn't for the introduction of cattle mutilations and human murders and mutilations. I must say that I admire Wayne's literature in this film, because just like him I also have a strong interest in the paranormal and UFOs, I've been studying this subject ever since I was a little kid and I still do to this day.