Aliens have landed in Cool.

Well, they actually landed several years ago and were dug up by some visiting moviemakers who found the perfect farmhouse to film in while scouting locations.

As co-producer Michael Sasse explained it during filming last Sunday for “Confined” in Colfax, the farmer unearths the buried aliens’ spaceship while digging out stumps and kills one. Big mistake for him. Good opening for a movie plot, though. The aliens are not only hungry, now they’re angry.

“Confined,” with a cast of relative unknowns, wrapped up a 22-day shoot in El Dorado and Placer counties on Wednesday. Besides filming in Colfax’s historic business district and interior shots at the newly opened Evangeline’s restaurant on West Depot Street, the cast and crew utilized the infamous Tunnel Chute on the Middle Fork of the American River for the crucial climactic scene.

Sasse assembled a production team that included film veterans from Los Angeles, Nevada and Chicago to make the movie. But he also dipped into the local talent pool for some key skill slots. Members of Auburn’s hospitality industry were happy campers with “Confined” in the house. The assemblage booked a total of 500 room stays.

Sasse had checked out the area previously with Beverly Lewis, director of the Placer-Lake Tahoe Film Office. The area is beautiful, hadn’t been extensively shot and provided enough options to film all 22 days of the shoot here, he noted.

The last film to turn Colfax on its ear was “The Independent,” shot a decade ago this June and starring TV funnyman Jerry Stiller. It was finally released on DVD earlier this year to a round of great reviews. The Tunnel Chute, blasted out of solid rock by miners to rechannel the river to get to the gold, was the setting for an adventuresome “George of the Jungle” scene.

The Cool farmhouse — where the “Confined” production spent a majority of its working days and nights — was a moviemaking rookie despite its age. Sasse said he honed onto the turn of the 19th century house because it was vacant but still wired for electricity to shoot some crucial night scenes.

And, with any horror sci-fi film worth its extra-terrestrial salt, it had a great cellar.

With a wrap on shooting, the post-filming editing and color work will now be taking place in Los Angeles while sound and music will be added in the Bay Area.

Sasse, who said this is his first film venture, is mulling the festival route to get some business buzz and a possible distribution deal. But he added he’s also finding that there’s interest out there to forego that direction and get the film into theaters much quicker.

---

15 MINUTES OF LITIGATION

Auburn’s Amoreena Lukens and ex-boyfriend Jared Leland got their day in court Tuesday — in front of TV’s “Judge Joe Brown” and a nationally syndicated daytime audience.

The Brown show highlighted 20-year-old Lukens’ attempt to retrieve $1,590 she said was owing from her 22-year-old ex after a pre-planned trip to Hawaii was called off and she was left paying for an $800 promise ring purchased on her credit card.

Leland countered that he wasn’t paying for the promise ring because she broke up with him. He also counter-sued to retrieve $300 he said he gave Lukens for their Hawaiian trip — plus an additional $300 for the time he claims the plaintiff ruined his cowboy boots with bleach.

The No. 2 courtroom show in the land airs during noon hours weekdays on Sacramento’s KMAX.

---

OPENING EXCITEMENT

When the “Tosh Meets Marley” world tour drops into Auburn June 20 for Party in the Park, the reggae road show will be topping a bill that now includes a homegrown musician steeped in reggae and world beat sounds.

Justin Ancheta, a Meadow Vista expatriate who’s now based in San Francisco, has been tabbed as the show’s opening act. Ancheta, who recently dropped into Auburn for a CD release party of his band Pills & Jackets, cites reggae groundbreaker Bob Marley as one of his major influences. He’ll be in the presence of Junior Marvin, guitarist for Marley & The Wailers on many of the band’s most loved songs. The “Tosh” in “Tosh meets Marley” is Fully Fullwood, who provided bass grooves for reggae legend Peter Tosh for many years. Ancheta promises to pull out a reggae-tinged set that will touch on his Pills & Jackets work. The new CD, by the way, was produced by Grammy winner Matt Shaw, who has been behind the buttons for recordings by Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins and Gin Blossoms. Ancheta and guests – including a possible horn section – take the Party In The Park stage at around 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. They’ll mix original music in with some covers.

Media Life’s Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com, or phone (530) 852-0232.