There are many levels to the dissection, break down and analysis of a film.

From source material to shooting location and from cast to crew, everything should be taken into account when attempting to understand the piece. This is especially true if the filmmaker and other elements of the production are from different cultural backgrounds than the content that they attempt to tackle. Finnish filmmaker Marko Mäkilaakso’s It Came From the Desert takes on two staples of American pop culture– one being the monster genre, and the second is the video game-to-screen adaptation. Amidst the slapstick and pulpy, bloody humor lies a deceptively introspective look into a European director and his team’s perspective on the American youth culture as portrayed in the action-horror-comedy genre.

It Came From the Desert is a postmodern buddy-comedy fueled by motocross and monster killin’ based off of a computer game by Cinemaware. It plays out in front of a dreamlike desert landscape (beautifully shot in Almeria, Spain, and Turku, Finland), and pays homage to a 1989 cult-classic American video game and 1950s “B” movies. In the spirit of these multiple eras in reference, the film takes on a strange hybrid of American cinema pastiche.

Right off the starting line, the narrative mixes dirt-biking rivalries, common in the Grindhouse action films of the seventies, with the “red cup” style party comedies of nineties, assisted by horny teenage angst and the current day, hipster “nostalgic meets biker-bro” fashion. The game’s iconic Monster Ants make the transition from the original source material to the film’s present-day storyline relatively smooth by maintaining a relatable visual framework for the viewer. Mäkilaakso and his team are able to explore their brand of self-referential humor in each of these cultural tropes without compromising the film’s fun, visceral focus.

Keeping up with the current post-modern trends, ‘It Came From the Desert’ provides a nostalgic vibe that remains respectful to its computer game roots.

It is also important to consider that the principal cast is primarily composed of young English talent, making their performances of such archetypal American antiheroes a stylized parody in and of themselves. Harry-Lister Smith, Alex Mills, Vanessa Grasse and the rest of the cast give their best meta interpretations of American youth as depicted in Hollywood monster cinema, each bringing their metaphorical jigsaw pieces of sex, alcohol, bad decisions and eventual triumphant comradery to their traditional character arcs.

Mäkilaakso, along with the director of photography, Juge Heikkilä, and the production designer, renowned Kari Kankaanpää, all hail from Finland and seem to be tossing their own self-referential fuel on the fire. The gorgeous stylistic lighting of the desert, fifties-esque military facility and thematic feel of the film are just a few tips of the hat to the project’s muses. While the mixing of the present-day narrative with the aforementioned “almost-retro” wardrobe, along with the party behavior and setting, serve as interesting depictions of American cinema’s portrayal of youth culture through a contemporary European lense. Not to say that this was or was not Mäkilaakso’s intention, as the film is really more in it for the fun than the artistic statement. However, their approaches to the depiction of certain social aspects of the culture are interesting bi-products of their satirical take on American cinema.

The action-horror-comedy genre is a difficult field to navigate, with many fires to tend. In this case, the film’s over-the-top choices blend well with the gory, yet very lighthearted, approach to the content. Keeping up with the current post-modern trends, It Came From the Desert provides an easy to digest (though I wouldn’t recommend eating while watching) nostalgic vibe that remains respectful to its concept’s roots. Like its source material, it has the potential to find its niche audience.

‘It Came From the Desert’ is not rated. 90 minutes. Available for streaming on May 29th, pre-order here: http://radi.al/ItCameFromTheDesert