ALIEN FROM L.A.

Wanda Saknussemm is a nerdy social misfit with large glasses and an unusually squeaky voice who lives in Los Angeles and works at a diner. After being dumped by her boyfriend for "not having a sense of adventure," Wanda is informed by letter that her father, an archaeologist, fell into a bottomless pit and died. She flies to Zamboanga, North Africa ("Deepest Africa," says the envelope's return address). While going through her father's belongings, she finds his notes about Atlantis, the creation of which was apparently the result of an alien ship that crashed millennia ago and sank to the center of the Earth. Wanda comes across a chamber beneath her father's apartment and accidentally sets off a chain of events that ultimately causes her to fall into a deep hole.

An unharmed Wanda wakes up deep within the Earth to find Gus, a miner whom she protects from being slain by two antagonists. Gus agrees to help Wanda find her father, whom she believes is alive and trapped underground. Wanda soon discovers that both she and her father are believed to be spies planning an invasion of Atlantis. People from the surface world are referred to as "aliens" by Atlanteans—who happen to appear virtually identical to surface dwellers—and when Wanda is overheard talking about Malibu Beach by a low-life informant, she soon becomes a hunted woman and must dodge efforts at capture, both from the mysterious "Government House" as well as from thugs in the pay of the crime lord Mambino.

Wanda's efforts at escape are aided by Charmin', a handsome rogue who (briefly) assists her flight and falls in love with Wanda. She is ultimately captured by the evil General Rykov, who wants to kill both Wanda and her incarcerated father. Before the Atlantean leader can decide what to do with Wanda and her father, Gus shows up and helps the duo escape while fighting off General Rykov and her soldiers. Wanda and her father board a ship that takes them back to the surface, and the film ends with Wanda on the beach, wearing a bikini and a sarong. She refuses the advances of her ex-boyfriend, and is soon reunited with Charmin', who inexplicably appears on a motorcycle.

Wanda and her father escape from Atlantis with the help of Gus, fighting off General Rykov and her soldiers, and return to the surface. Wanda ends up back on the beach, refusing her ex-boyfriend and reuniting with Charmin'.

The ending sees Wanda transformed by her subterranean ordeal—no longer the timid misfit, she confidently rejects her old life and reclaims agency over her choices. The return of Charmin' on a motorcycle is a knowingly absurd touch, cementing the film’s embrace of the bizarre. Ultimately, the film closes the loop on Wanda’s journey from self-doubt to self-assurance, all filtered through a playful, tongue-in-cheek sci-fi lens.