Not a spoof but not quite an homage, “Alien Trespass” longs to recapture an era – the 1950s – when sci-fi played upon the fears of its audience and the relative insularity of society to give corny material an impact.

Directed by “X Files” alumnus R.W. Goodwin, “Alien Trespass” has the overly polished sheen and simplistic feel of movies that now seem inutterably dated. The gag is that there’s no gag: Goodwin and writer Steven Fisher never wink at the camera or indicate that they’re joking or poking fun at this material. But neither can they elevate it into something beyond the novelty that it is.

The whole conceit is laid out in the fake newsreel that opens the film: In 1957, a moviemaker announces he’s making “the most important science-fiction film of all time” – only to have it wind up on the shelf in a power struggle with the studio brass. Now, 50 years later, the movie – “Alien Trespass” – is finally being shown.

The “lost” movie focuses on an astronomer named Ted (Eric MacCormack), who lives in the Mojave with his wife and spends all his time with his eye to a telescope, watching the sky. When a flying saucer crashes on a nearby butte, Ted goes to investigate – and has his body taken over by the saucer captain, Urp.

As Urp/Ted later explains, Urp is an intergalactic cop, transporting a monster called the Ghota to a space jail. But the Ghota – a large rubber monster that consumes humans and leaves behind a puddle of goo – caused Urp to crash, then escaped. It the Ghota has time to divide itself into more creatures, it will soon overrun Earth and destroy all humans.

The only local who figures out that Urp is on the level is Tammi (Jenni Baird), the local waitress after whom everyone lusts. She and Urp/Ted join forces to track and capture the Ghota – but not before the monster consumes most of the skeptical local law-enforcement officers.

“Alien Trespass” plays all of this with a straight face, emulating the cheap simplicity of period films. But no matter how affectionate the homage, “Alien Trespass” can’t find a way to make this a movie you want to sit through. There are plenty of dated old sci-fi movies floating around on cable and at the video store. Why make a new one that’s an imitation?

Take a movie like the original “Day the Earth Stood Still” – and then look at its bombastic remake. The new one has no reason for being, other than to make cash registers ring. (Oops, missed on that one.) The old one is slow and dated – but it captures the fear and uncertainty of its time and had something on its mind other than generating work for computer programmers specializing in explosion effects.

But “Alien Trespass” wants to mirror a time that no longer exists and manages mostly to feel like a novelty without roots to past or present. It’s like a lavishly displayed knick-knack, of interest only to its owner. Yes, the display is beautifully rendered – but, in the end, it’s still a knick-knack, no more or less.

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