2025 Popcorn Frights Film Festival Coverage
Astral Plane Drifter review
A peaceful trek through the desert with space vampires and snake people.
Festival movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Astral Plane Drifter
Directed by Scott Slone
Written by Mike Caravella
Starring Mike Caravella
Astral Plane Drifter Review
Astral Plane Drifter is the rare movie streaming as part of a film festival that I had to watch twice. I didn’t do that because it was an overly confusing high concept piece. Though, it does present itself as one in the abstract. I didn’t do that because it was so entertaining that I wanted to take advantage of the time before the festival ended to see it again. I’d describe it as pretty good…especially when you meet it at its level. In fact, I’d say I enjoyed it more the second time, which is a good sign for the quality of the film. No…I watched Astral Plane Drifter a second time simply to see if I missed something. Namely…the point of it. What it was trying to say or do or be…anything that would ground the plot enough for me to write a review of it.
A repeat viewing of Astral Plane Drifter revealed that I hadn’t missed anything. At least not anything that could be gleamed from a second watch. I can’t sit here and tell you what the point of this movie is with any authority. That’s ok. Movies don’t actually need to have an easily understood point or message or even reason for existing. You rarely see one like Astral Plane Drifter though. It tells you repeatedly that there is a point. It even shows it to you in its own strange way. The issue is that I don’t buy any of what it’s saying or showing. There’s a reason I used the word issue instead of the word problem. It isn’t a problem that I walked away from two viewings of Astral Plane Drifter not understanding the point. In fact, it’s one of the highlights of the movie.
The story uses a lot of sci-fi/fantasy jargon. Put plainly…it’s about a Drifter (Mike Caravella) wondering around the desert dealing with multiple situations. His girlfriend is threatened by space vampires. His sidekick is being tortured by a maniac who dresses like he’s from another planet…in the 70s. There are untrustworthy snake people everywhere. You know…that old story. The Drifter believes himself to be a mystical being. He might be right. At least, if being able to shoot a laser from your crotch during battle factors into assigning the designation.
By now you’ve probably figured out that Astral Plane Drifter is a strange movie. The Drifter…uh…drifts…from one weird experience to another. Despite the potentially (and allegedly) cosmic repercussions of his mythic quests…he’s about as laid back as a person can be. Not just in this situation…in any situation. A battle with a space vampire is upon him…but not before he finishes off his slice of pizza. A battle that he wins thanks to that crotch laser, by the way.
The story is set in the desert…and mostly features the Drifter repeatedly wandering around said desert. If you’ve ever seen that episode of Star Trek where Kirk fights Gorn…it looks a lot like that. You know, if Kirk got really high and was often very aloof about what he was doing most of the time. The space vampires look about a half step up from a community theater production. The snake people look about a half step back from one. It’s all with purpose, of course. These are aesthetic choices to heighten the camp aspect of the film. It doesn’t hurt that the locations and costumes are cheap…a heavy production investment would feel completely out of place here.
When I said that not understanding the point was one of the highlights of Astral Plane Drifter…what I mean is not believing there even is a plot is one of the highlights of Astral Plane Drifter. There’s a clear narrative to follow. Traverse the desert, save your friend from the maniac, don’t trust the snake people. I chose to view it as a stoned man wandering around the desert after forgetting to pick up his girlfriend. It’s almost surely not that simple…but the wackier the things the story added on top of itself the more entertained I was with my read on it. It’s usually not a positive description of a plot to say that it simply doesn’t matter. It is here, though. I’m not sure if the plot even exists. And that’s wonderful.
It works because the movie understands how to make that work for itself. Astral Plane Drifter presents an odd world and puts us in the point of view of someone who barely notices how odd it is. That tone works from start to finish because the actors get how to play it. They find the right line to walk between being a part of the camp…but not playing up to the camp. It’s much funnier to see a space vampire and barely register that it’s strange than it is to react as if you’re looking at a space vampire. Astral Plane Drifter is full of these odd choices. It’s also much funnier if you barely let them influence your journey through it.
Scare Value
No matter how you view what Astral Plane Drifter is saying…it’s worth checking out just to see what it says to you. Maybe you’ll find the key to saving the universe. Maybe that’s what the Drifter’s quest is all about. It may just be the story of a stoner who wandered off after a bad day. It doesn’t change what he experiences…but it does change the way we experience it with him.
