Based on the allegedly true story of novelist Whitley Strieber and his encounters with alien beings, “Communion” is a hilarious mess from beginning to end but I just could not resist its charm. It stars Christopher Walken (“Batman Returns”, “The Prophecy”) as Strieber and he transforms this movie into something very enjoyable.

After strange experiences at a log cabin in the woods, struggling writer Whitley Strieber begins to descend into madness. While questioning reality and his own mental health, he begins to believe that he had encounters with aliens. With the help of a psychiatrist (Frances Sternhagen “Outland”, “Misery”), he begins to recall the experiences in greater detail.

Christopher Walken is allowed to be as crazy as he wants to be and is just wonderful to watch. Every single scene has him acting in a way that only he can. He utilises the most ridiculous material and delivers it with such style that you cannot take your eyes off him. The aliens in the movie are absolutely laughable and look about as realistic as the goblins in “Troll 2”. Even 1950s sci-fi films such as “Robot Monster” feature monsters more believable than the ones in this movie. The interactions between Strieber and the aliens are just brilliantly bizarre.

The dialog is often atrocious, the costumes for the aliens are pathetic and the story is often non-sensical but somehow Walken’s over-the-top performance makes it all work. This is one of those movies that I really think is so bad that it’s good. The fact that this seems to have been intended to be serious just makes it even more amusing. If you like Christopher Walken at all then you need to see him here in what seems like a completely unfiltered form. If you watch and hate it then I can totally understand why but I cannot honestly claim that I did not enjoy “Communion”.