Tag Archives: Alien

Redneck Mutants (2023)

June 1, 2026 Ken Miller Leave a comment

I love to watch stop-motion monsters fight each other!

Starring Titus Himmelberger, Natalie Himmelberger, Ken Van Sant, Samantha Coolidge and Steve Diasparra. Written and directed by Brett Piper. Produced by Brett Piper, Mark Polonia, Anthony Polonia and Ken Van Sant.
Polonia Brothers Entertainment.

An extraterrestrial craft executes a crash landing in a misty swamp zone in the US. The alien pilot exits the downed space vehicle and attempts to rectify the damage by using a floating, glowing metal & glass power-orb, but a local yokel (Diasparra) intervenes and shoots the alien, which vaporises as it expires. When the yokel grabs the hovering orb he is zapped to nothingness, leaving only his boots!

The alien pilot encounters a trigger-happy local... — The alien pilot encounters a trigger-happy local…

We’re now introduced to a bickering couple, Claire and Lee (played by married actors Titus and Natalie Himmelberger), as they drive through the boondocks. After they end up crashing their car avoiding something that runs across the road, Claire and Lee soon find themselves prisoners of two redneck brothers, Bart & Mart (both played by Brett Piper movie regular Ken Van Sant), who take the couple to their tall, wooden shack home (a cool miniature model building). One of these brothers, Bart, who has somehow been mutated, possesses a deformed head with a big, round, blinking eye! The redneck bros don’t seem to know what to do with the couple, but when their mother, Maw (Coolidge), gets home, the decision is finally made to lock them in the barn. Claire and Lee continue to bitch about each other, but writer/director Brett Piper shows there’s affection running beneath their thorny outer relationship when he has Claire put a coat over her husband as he sleeps in the barn. With Bart glowing in the dark, and Maw looking younger than her sons due to some random time-space fluctuation event, it’s obvious that the area is being affected in various ways by the presence of the spacecraft wreckage.

Claire (Natalie Himmelberger) doesn't enjoy sharing the dinner table with Bart (Ken Van Sant) — Claire (Natalie Himmelberger) doesn’t enjoy sharing the dinner table with Bart (Ken Van Sant)

Claire and Lee find an opportunity to escape from the rednecks, and they head through the ‘dead place’ zone within the woods. Here they encounter a giant, goofy mutant frog – and then a large reptile-bug-beast pursues the couple back to the redneck family’s house. There’s some great footage of the stop-motion pointy-limbed monster as it rampages near the scale-model shack-building! The reptile-bug-thing clambers up the lean-to roof, chasing after Claire and Lee, but the creature runs away after Bart starts playing loud music.

The monster chases Lee and Claire up the lean-to roof!

Later, the ghostly life-force of the alien pilot (the extraterrestrial seen in the pre-credit sequence) enters Lee’s mind, and Lee sees how the alien’s ship had hit an asteroid, forcing it to land on Earth. When Bart & Mart decide they’re going to smother the couple to death and dump them back in their car, Lee and Claire manage to thwart the attack thanks to the new electro-powers Lee can wield due to the fact the alien life-force is residing within him.

Lee uses his new alien powers to thwart the redneck attack — Lee uses his new alien powers to repel the redneck attack

Lee now feels compelled to find the floating alien orb-gizmo, and he realises that the redneck family knows where it is hidden. Lee and Claire follow the rednecks into the dead place area, they see Bart uncover the orb, but then a huge part-animal part-tree/plant monster enters the scene! This amazing-looking stop-motion beast has root-like appendages, a long neck, Demogorgon-esque mouthparts, and a ring of teeth within its maw! And it has an extendable projectile-tongue too! This creature, which has two forelegs that it uses to drag the legless rear portion of its body along the ground, also has roots & branches clustered on its back. I love the design of this stop-motion puppet! This plant-animal monster proceeds to have a fight with the spike-limbed reptile-bug-beast! Woot! This is a wonderful nighttime battle of the beasts, highlighting Brett Piper’s filmmaking superpower… basically, it doesn’t matter what his film’s budget is, or how gifted the thespians he hired are: once Brett adds his animated creatures to the film it immediately becomes bigger-scale and so much fun!

The part-plant part-animal critter fights the reptile-bug-beast!

The gizmo-globe mutates Bart’s face even more, and he eventually transforms into a humongous, gnarly, stop-motion man-thing! This Bart-monster has gigantic, bulging eyeballs, whisker-like barbels on its face, a very swollen right leg, and a skinny left leg!

Bart turns into a grotesque stop-motion man-monster!

And now the reptile-bug-beast (which beat the plant-animal hybrid-thing in the earlier fight) rocks up yet again, ready to take part in another clash of creatures! Woot! An entertaining stop-motion monster skirmish ensues!

Above: two shots from the second stop-motion monster battle!

Mart gets hurled to his doom by the victorious Bart-monster, then it takes hold of the orb-gizmo, which vaporises the man-beast. As the third act nears its end, Lee and Claire reach the vicinity of the crashed alien craft, which has mutated all the nearby plants à la COLOR OUT OF SPACE (2019) and DIE, MONSTER, DIE! (1965). Here Lee uses the glowing gizmo (which is actually the ship’s brain) and a hand-held controller device to reactivate the spaceship so that they can fly off to help complete the alien pilot’s mission.

The Bart-monster lifts up his brother Mart, who holds the glowing alien gizmo

REDNECK MUTANTS is a load of fun! The budget is small, the acting on show is certainly variable in quality, and the story exists as an excuse to include all the wild moments, but this doesn’t detract from the enjoyment to be had viewing this flick. The backgrounds are often artificial-looking digital/miniature creations (such as the mutated swamp), but this all adds to the film’s sci-fi/pulp/cult entertainment value. And Brett’s decision to include a lot of stop-motion puppets in the movie is what ensures REDNECK MUTANTS is definitely worth watching, especially if you’re a stop-motion/live action movie addict like me! The extraterrestrial pilot seen in the pre-credit sequence is a good example of stop-motion animation being used well in this flick, to create a very novel-looking character: this alien has an extra eye positioned at the back of its bulbous head, it has a thin waist, and it has four arms – two that are equipped with pincers and two that are equipped with slim fingers – plus the alien has feet that are toeless pads, and it seems to have no mouth, just some bristly protuberances located at the front of its visage. Let’s face it: this movie boasts TWO giant battling beasts sequences, so OF COURSE I adore this film!

The crashed alien spacecraft in the mutated swamp

A shot of the extraterrestrial pilot during the pre-credits sequence — A shot of the extraterrestrial pilot seen during the pre-credit sequence

Here are some behind the scenes shots of the stop-motion puppets and the building miniature…

The reptile-bug beast puppet and the animal/plant monster puppet (plus a puppet of Mart) ready to animate in front of a blue screen — The reptile-bug-beast puppet and the animal-plant monster puppet (plus a puppet of Mart) ready to be animated in front of a blue screen

The reptile-bug-beast puppet and the wooden shack-building miniature — The reptile-bug-beast puppet and the wooden shack/building miniature

REDNECK MUTANTS is available as a Brett Piper Double Feature DVD release from Alpha Video. The other movie is the id-monster flick BUSTER (2024).

A 30-page extravaganza that dives into the entertaining world of writer/director/animator Brett Piper’s stop-motion movies is included in Imaginator Magazine’s Stop-Motion special Edition. Check out the details HERE!

The Primevals (2023)

December 8, 2024 Ken Miller Leave a comment

Starring Juliet Mills, Richard Joseph Paul, Leon Russom, Walker Brandt, Tai Thai and Eric Steinberg. Written by David Allen and Randall William Cook. Directed by David Allen. Produced by Charles Band, Vlad Paunescu, Debra Dion, Albert Band, Danny Draven and Wendy Grossberg. Full Moon Features and Castel Film Romania.

After the body of a huge yeti is discovered and displayed at a university, a small team of scientists head to Nepal to learn more about this amazing creature. With the help of grizzled adventurer Rondo Montana, the group makes its way into an isolated, hidden, forested valley that is kept free of snow thanks to the ancient machinery of an alien race. Soon the protagonists discover that these aliens still exist…

The yeti's body is displayed at a university — The yeti’s body is displayed at a university

I can’t believe THE PRIMEVALS has finally seen the light of day! This is a film project I have read about and followed the progress of for decades! It seemed destined to be one of those legendary projects that never got made.

Alien lizard-men fight a giant yeti in an arena! Woot!

Back in the late 1960s David Allen (stop-motion animator on THE DAY TIME ENDED, THE CRATER LAKE MONSTER, Q: THE WINGED SERPENT and more) developed a fantasy film treatment called RAIDERS OF THE STONE RING. Hammer Films eventually got to hear about it (at the time Jim Danforth and David Allen were working on WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH), the idea momentarily morphed into a concept called ZEPPELIN VS PTERODACTYLS (now that’s a title!), and Hammer put out a ‘coming soon’ ad for the project that boasted a striking illustration by top Hammer artist Tom Chantrell. But funding wasn’t found and the project stalled.

Hammer Films would've added zeppelins and pterodactyls into the mix! — Hammer Films promo art rocked. Fact!

David Allen continued to return to the project, hoping to expand on the treatment, and he finally co-wrote a screenplay with Mark McGee. The concept’s title continued to fluctuate, with it being called THE GLACIAL EMPIRE and, later on, PRIMORDIUM: THE ARCTIC WORLD. A new outline was written in the mid-70s by Allen, who now called it THE PRIMEVALS. Allen would then go on to write a script with Randall William Cook, who had a potential financial backer, but, yet again, the funding disappeared. The script for THE PRIMEVALS would continue to be tweaked, altered and updated over time, and it finally became the foundation for the film that was eventually made.

The explorers approach a skull-faced cave entrance in THE PRIMEVALS

Producer-director Charles Band was shown a promotional reel for the film that David had shot and he agreed to fund the production through Charles Band Productions. But, once more, THE PRIMEVALS project ground to a halt after just a few months of preproduction. Then, in the early 1980s, the project was heavily advertised as part of Charles Band’s Empire Pictures slate of upcoming movies… but (you guessed it) THE PRIMEVALS failed to go beyond the preproduction stage at the studio. Damn it!

A stop-motion alien lizard-man with a ray gun, as seen in the finished film. What's not to like?! — A stop-motion alien lizard-man with a ray gun, as seen in the finished film. What’s not to like?!

THE PRIMEVALS concept was revived again when Charles Band started Full Moon Entertainment. This time the project did move past the preproduction stage! In 1994 much of the principal photography was shot in Romania. Other footage was filmed in the Dolomites mountain range in Italy. But then (there always seems to be another ‘but’ in this story!)… Full Moon got into financial difficulties, which interfered with the completion of the production, though Allen did continue, between other projects, to work on the film at irregular intervals.

David Allen and Chris Endicott pose with stop-motion puppets

Then the ultimate tragedy occurred… when David Allen passed away, aged just 54, in 1999.

David Allen had left the film elements, stop motion puppets, the storyboards, and all of his equipment in the care of his colleague Chris Endicott. Finally, in 2018, Charles Band launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to obtain completion funds for THE PRIMEVALS, and this resulted in enough money being raised to allow Chris Endicott to team-up with stop-motion animator Kent Burton and other talented visual effects artists to work on getting David Allen’s passion project finally finished. In 2023 the completed film was premiered at the Fantasia festival and it is now available for us to watch.

A crowd of reptile-aliens sit above the arena, watching the combat below

I must say I was over the moon when I eventually got to view THE PRIMEVALS and discovered I was about to be immediately treated to an opening mountain fight scene between sherpas and a big yeti. This is such a great stop-motion set piece! Honestly, this is as good as the creature sequences in Ray Harryhausen’s fantasy films. The yeti hominid creature is definitely a wonderful creation: it looks so good! In fact, this marvellous, massive yeti is so fine, the creature is a joy to look at even when it is displayed as an unmoving exhibit during the scenes at the university.

The amazing yeti roping scene that occurs at the start of the film!

The film moves into explorers-on-a-quest mode next, as the protagonists trudge through cave systems and discover a lost valley. THE PRIMEVALS really exudes an old school adventure-fantasy vibe here, reminiscent of such productions as THE ISLAND AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD (1974) and JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH (1959).

I love scenes where characters explore caverns!

Once in the valley, through which a river runs, the group run across primitive hominid humans (actors in man-ape costumes) living in nicely-designed huts that are held aloft by stilt-like arrangements of branches. The scientists concur that the future-tech towers they’ve encountered must be part of a warming system that allows this hidden world to remain free of snow and harsh Himalayan weather.

The group approaches one of the alien towers

Soon our heroes discover a parked flying saucer, and this leads them to an encounter with alien reptile-people who live in a barbaric domain within the valley! The explorers are taken prisoner and placed in an arena, where they witness crowds of reptilian beings cheering on as a yeti is goaded (via fiendish implants) until it fights captured hominids! Can our heroes escape their predicament?!

A lizard-dude gunner zaps the yeti to make the creature fight in the arena

This film, for me, is like the cinematic equivalent of a well-made dish of comfort food: it has all the ingredients I adore, including characters journeying into a lost world, nice-looking stop-motion critters, a rousing orchestral score (by Richard Band), and a no-nonsense, pulpy adventure plot.

Another shot of the yeti on display in the university

I would’ve liked to have seen at least one more stop-motion sequence in the mid-section of the film, but I understand that the filmmakers were constrained, needing to build on what was already shot and what they could achieve with the crowdfunding budget and the time that was available. There is one scene in the movie where characters talk about creatures they’ve spotted in the valley that are not normally-evolved animals, but we never see these beasts. So I assume this dialogue relates to scenes that were never completed. I remember seeing a concept drawing of a massive, horned River Lizard attacking a raft in an old issue of the magazine Cinefantastique, and this was definitely going to feature in the film, but, alas, the filmmakers were not able to complete the stop-motion for this part of the film. However, on the ‘David Allen Version’ disc (which is part of THE PRIMEVALS 3 Blu-ray Collection) the River Lizard sequence is presented with animatics based on Ron Lizorty’s design.
(There’s more info on the River Lizard in a feature at the end of this review…)

The issue of Cinefantasique that featured the river lizard preproduction drawing — The issue of *Cinefantasique* that featured the river lizard preproduction drawing

But, hey, I’m not here to quibble. I appreciate what everyone (including those who contributed to earlier iterations of the project) did to help get this David Allen love letter to fantasy-pulp-adventure yarns onto the screen.

One of the protagonists, Matt Connor (played by Richard Joseph Paul), is held prisoner by the alien reptile folk

The main selling point of THE PRIMEVALS is obviously the effects: the stop-motion animation, plus the miniatures, the optical effects, the props, the makeup effects, the hominid body suits and the matte paintings. They all help make this such an entertaining film. The creative people (who toiled on the final revival production and others who were part of the 1978 crew) include David Allen (of course), Chris Endicott, Kent Burton, Kim Blanchette, Mark Sullivan, Trey Thomas, Wes Caefer, Ken Ralston, Paul Mandell, Dave Carson, Jena Holman, Brett White, Dennis Gordon, Phil Tippett, Randy Cook, Jim Danforth (who was a VFX production consultant), Kevin O’Neill, Doug Beswick, Andrea Von Sholly, Peter Kermode, Steve Neill, Dave Matherly and many more talented folks. Thank you all!

The stop-motion animation in THE PRIMEVALS is such a delight!

The long-armed lizard-men aliens are varied in their looks, wearing different bits of clothing, headgear and armour – and all of them have big-eyed, mean, scowling expressions. Their animation is wonderfully smooth, and the puppets are exquisitely detailed. They’re meant to be the cruel, savage descendants of the original reptile alien visitors, and the animators manage to convey the leering lizard-folks’ spiteful natures well.

The reptile-men always look a bit pissed off!

The yetis are simply awesome. I presume the same puppet was used for the different yetis, and it is a stunning model. The yetis in THE PRIMEVALS are so fine-looking and impressive they will definitely become top fan-favourites with many stop-motion animation aficionados.

The cast, including Juliet Mills, is good, though Richard Joseph Paul, playing Matt Connor (the student who predicted the existence of yetis), tends to have an open-mouthed expression that unfortunately makes him look a little vacant some of the time! Leon Russom, however, is great as the magnificently-named Rondo Montana, contributing an old school, manly presence to the movie.

But as I’ve said already, I’m not here to complain: if you want to watch a movie with they-don’t-make-them-like-that-anymore vibes, that boasts extremely professional stop-motion animation, apemen suits, skull-faced cave entrances, retro sci-fi tech, stone arenas and medieval weaponry… then this is definitely the film for you!

'A civilization lost in time... invaded one million years ago.' — ‘A civilization lost in time… invaded one million years ago.’

THE RIVER LIZARD

Ron Lizorty, Production Designer on THE PRIMEVALS, put lots of work into redesigning the original River Lizard, because David Allen had never cared for some of the anatomy choices on the earlier, original version of the reptile (made for RAIDERS OF THE STONE RING). Lizorty co-designed the armature with Allen, did most of the armature tooling, then did the build-up of the beast with a detailed skin he sculpted and stretched over the muscles, using a puppet-building approach similar to the techniques sculptor and model-maker Marcel (KING KONG) Delgado utilised on his films. Lizorty’s model was truly magnificent-looking, and it would’ve been an astounding stop-motion addition to the movie, that is for sure.

The magnificent River Lizard stop-motion puppet! — The wonderful River Lizard stop-motion puppet!

Chris Endicott confirmed that this horned lizard was definitely intended to be in David’s finished film, but, for various reasons (the original camera negative for most of that sequence was lost by Full Moon, and Full Moon was never prepared to allocate the money nor the time to complete the film entirely, and so compromises had to be made), the reptile wasn’t included in the released movie. However, because Full Moon had created all the promotional artwork for THE PRIMEVALS long before the film was released, the River Lizard does feature in much of the promo art…

Details from two promo illustrations, showing the horned lizard, even though the beautiful brute never made it into the film. Shame! — Details from two promo illustrations, showing the horned River Lizard, even though the beautiful brute never made it into the film. Shame!

Contamination (1980)

July 21, 2024 Ken Miller Leave a comment

'You feel them in your blood!' — ‘You feel them in your blood!’

Look into my hypnotic eye... — Look into my hypnotic eye…

Starring Ian (ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST) McCulloch, Louise (BLACK MIRROR) Marleau, Siegfried (THE URANIUM CONSPIRACY) Rauch, Marino (TENEBRAE) Masé, Gisela (DEVIL HUNTER) Hahn and Carlo (THE SCORPION WITH TWO TAILS) Monni. Written by Luigi (STARCRASH) Cozzi and Erich (BLOODY MOON) Tomek, directed by Luigi (THE ADVENTURES OF HERCULES) Cozzi, produced by Claudio (THE WITCHES’ SABBATH) Mancini. Special effects by Giovanni (ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS) Corridori.

Ian McCulloch as the alcoholic ex-astronaut Hubbard

Large, green, alien eggs are discovered in a cargo ship and their presence on Earth is linked to a recent space expedition to Mars. One of the astronauts from this martian mission, Commander Hubbard (McCulloch), teams-up with Colonel Stella Holmes (Marleau) to investigate the appearance of these deadly eggs, which burst open when they are disturbed, spraying a sticky fluid that causes victims to explode if it lands on their bodies!

Torso eruptions! There are lots of these gut-plosions!

Hubbard, Holmes and New York police detective Tony Aris (Masé) eventually find themselves in a South American plantation, where a big, cyclopean alien (which had been brought to Earth from Mars as a seed) is using mind control powers to oversee a plan to stockpile vast quantities of the killer green eggs!

Also known as ALIEN CONTAMINATION and TOXIC SPAWN, this Italian-German schlocker is a mishmash of sci-fi, splatter and spy story, with a very nifty music score by the group Goblin that really enhances the viewing pleasure of this fun flick.

Above: two shots of the green, slimy alien eggs

Somehow CONTAMINATION, which is too cheesy and absurd to be taken seriously, found itself on the United Kingdom’s infamous DPP list of ‘video nasties’ in 1984, no doubt because it featured all those shots of people bloodily exploding their intestines and innards everywhere after getting splashed by the goo from the green eggs. These erupting body scenes, obviously inspired by the chestburster incident in ALIEN (1979), are the standout moments in the film, along with the finale, where we’re introduced to the (rather immobile) one-eyed alien. This critter is a pretty cool creation: it has a single, luminous eye, a face that narrows in the middle, and it has several mouths, one of which is on the end of a slimy appendage. The manner in which the alien gobbles up its victims is simultaneously comical and rather revolting. The extraterrestrial beast is well-lit in all its scenes and it makes up for its lack of movement by possessing the psychic ability to FORCE its victims to willingly walk up to it and wait to be eaten!

The appendage-mouth gets ready to start munching a victim!

The silly, ridiculous plot exists purely to give the filmmakers an excuse to include the scenes of bodies detonating in slow motion (plus the lingering shots of the aftermath of these body-eruptions), the shootouts that boast multiple bloody gunshot squibs, the cyclops-alien climax, and the various shots of noisy, glowing eggs.

Above: some of the many bloody scenes from the movie — Above: some of the many splattery moments from the movie

There’s one scene with Stella trapped in a bathroom with an about-to-explode glowing & moaning egg that seems to go on forever: it’s an awesome sequence!

Is this movie (directed by Luigi Cozzi going by the Anglicised name Lewis Coates) a sci-fi-horror classic? Well, it obviously isn’t, but the film IS a slimy, gloopy, gory, gonzo B-movie that is a joy to the eyes and ears, especially if you’re a fan of 80s-era Italian exploitation cinema. Oh, and there’s an exploding rat to look out for too!

Here are some posters for the movie…

Here’s the Arrow Video Blu-ray cover…

Finally, one last look at the splattery action…

Unearthly Stranger (1963)

July 2, 2024 Ken Miller Leave a comment

'Terrifying... weird... macabre!' — ‘Terrifying… weird… macabre!’

Starring John (THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN) Neville, Philip (THE SHINING) Stone, Gabriella (CASINO ROYALE) Licudi, Patrick (VAMPIRA) Newell, Jean (RETURN TO OZ) Marsh and Warren (THE TROLLENBERG TERROR) Mitchell. Script written by Rex (BLOOD OF DRACULA’S CASTLE) Carlton, based on an idea by Jeffrey Stone. Directed by John (OUT OF THE DARKNESS) Krish.

Jean (WILLOW) Marsh plays Dr. Mark Davidson's secretary, Miss Ballard. But who is she really? — Jean (WILLOW) Marsh plays Dr. Mark Davidson’s secretary, Miss Ballard. But who is she really?

A group of British scientists work on a way to project their minds to other worlds (this is never shown or explained) but it turns out that aliens have already learnt how to project their minds to our planet.

The story is set at the Royal Institute for Space Research

Dr. Mark Davidson (Neville) records his outlandish story — Dr. Mark Davidson (John Neville) records his outlandish story

The main protagonist is Dr. Mark Davidson (Neville), who is married to Julie (Licudi), a pretty Swiss woman with some odd traits, including the habit of sleeping with her eyes open and being able to hold hot objects like oven dishes with her bare hands.

Julie can pick up a really hot casserole dish with her bare hands and doesn't feel any pain — Julie picks up a really hot casserole dish and doesn’t feel any pain

Mark seems rather too unwilling to accept that his wife is not human (even though he is at first suspicious), but he’s so in love with her his judgement is clouded. Finally it is revealed that Julie is, in fact, the physical ‘creation’ of an alien’s mind projection: she is actually flesh and blood whilst the alien focuses on keeping her ‘real’, but the alien’s concentration can falter, which is why she forgets to blink and sleeps with her eyes open, etc.

UNEARTHLY STRANGER is a nicely-shot, inexpensive, b&w, low key British science fiction movie with some memorable moments, most notably when the wife ‘Julie’ cries with emotion because Earth children can sense she’s alien… and her tears eat into her skin like acid. This is an effectively-handled sequence, a striking visual idea that illustrates how the alien Julie is so upset she is physically scarred by her own tears. But some viewers might ask why the tears are so corrosive? One could argue that the distraught alien intelligence momentarily forgot what tears were made from and caused acid tears to flow. Or did the alien, which was sent here as a would-be assassin, hurt itself because of guilt? Whatever the reason is, this is a sublime scene that wedges itself in your memory.

All the schoolchildren become aware that Julie is 'different'... — All the schoolchildren become aware that Julie is ‘different’…

...and Julie is upset and begins to cry... — …and Julie is upset and begins to cry…

...and the tears burn her flesh like acid — …and the tears burn her flesh like acid

There are other examples showing what happens when the aliens lose their focus. For instance, when the aliens decide to cease keeping their projections ‘alive’, these ‘people’ simply vanish, leaving behind empty, discarded clothing.

We never see the actual aliens, who are all presumably still residing on their home planet, we only see the human-looking simulacra/projections that the extraterrestrial minds have created.

Discarded clothing after a flesh-and-blood mind projection ceases to exist

Warren Mitchel, who became famous as the bigoted Alf Garnett in the television series TILL DEATH US DO PART, appeared in a whole bunch of genre films, including UNEARTHLY STRANGER, where he plays the doomed Prof. Geoffrey D. Munroe. Garnett was also in THE TROLLENBERG TERROR (1958), THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF (1961), THE NIGHT CALLER (1965), MOON ZERO TWO (1969) and JABBERWOCKY (1977).

Warren Mitchel plays Professor Munroe — Warren Mitchel as Professor Munroe

Patrick Newell is effective as the callous Major Clarke, John Neville is fine as the nervy & distraught hero, and Gabriella Licudi manages to be both rather exotic and sweet-natured at the same time, as the alien who cannot bring herself to kill her designated victim because she has fallen in love with him.

Unseen things out of Time and Space!' — ‘Unseen things out of Time and Space!’

The (rather poor) UK one sheet poster — UK one sheet poster

UNEARTHLY STRANGER is low budget but highly unique.

Let’s finish with a poster from Italy, which tries to trick potential viewers into thinking the movie might feature aliens with sucker-tipped fingers and tentacles…

Sputnik (2020)

January 26, 2024 Ken Miller Leave a comment

Starring Oksana Akinshina, Fedor Bondarchuk, Pyotr Fyodorov and Anton Vasilev. Written by Oleg Malovichko and Andrey Zolotarev. Directed by Egor Abramenko.

That's a rather bloody helmet — That’s a rather bloody helmet

In 1980s Russia an independently-minded doctor, Tatyana Klimova (Akinshina), is taken to a military base to help with research focusing on a cosmonaut, Konstantin Veshnyakov (Fyodorov), who has formed a symbiotic bond with a cortisol-consuming alien creature living inside him. Tatyana discovers that the alien can exit its host to feed on live human victims provided by the military authorities. Horrified by this revelation, Tatyana sets out to help Konstantin… but is the cosmonaut complicit in what happens to the victims?

The alien is a funny-lookin' bugger — The alien is a funny-lookin’ bugger

First of all, you shouldn’t go into this Russian film thinking that it’s going to be a full-on sci-fi-horror flick like ALIEN. This is not a monster-on-the-loose film: it focuses more on the unravelling of what the link is between alien and host, what the military are actually planning to do, how the relationships evolve between the main characters, and so on.

The extraterrestrial has got a whole bunch of eyes

But don’t worry, you do get alien attack scenes too!

I really enjoyed the movie, which is handled expertly by first-time director Egor Abramenko. The musical score, by Oleg Karpachev, is very good too, adding to the tension.

A leaping, long-legged critter! — A leaping, long-limbed critter!

SPUTNIK is definitely worth a watch, with a story that works really well, with interesting reveals happening as the plot progresses.

'Man has a new inhabitant' — ‘Man has a new inhabitant’

It's a nasty little critter — It’s a nasty little beastie

Forbidden World (1982)

December 10, 2022 Ken Miller 3 Comments

This slimy, mutant muck gets everywhere!

Slimy lumps of self-replicating meaty protein! — Watch out for the lumps of self-replicating meaty protein!

Please don't step in the mutated gunge — Please don’t step in the mutated gunge

Directed by Allan (PROGRAMMED TO KILL) Holzman, written by Tim (GHOST WARRIOR) Curnen, from a story by Jim (CHOPPING MALL) Wynorski and R.J. (BEASTMASTER 2) Robertson and starring Jesse (SILENT RUNNING) Vint, Dawn Dunlap, June Chadwick, Linden Chiles, Fox Harris and Michael Bowen.

Also known as MUTANT and SUBJECT 20, this Roger Corman-produced ALIEN rip-off is lurid, colourful, exploitative and splattery. It uses some of the sets that were featured in Corman’s GALAXY OF TERROR (1981), a film on which James Cameron was the production designer.

This story concerns space ranger Mike Colby (Vint), who arrives at a research station that is under threat from a mutant organism that has evolved from an experimental life form, known as ‘Subject 20’, that has been created by the group of scientists on planet Xarbia.

SAM-104 (Don Olivera) and Mike Colby (Jesse Vint)

With some oddly edited moments and an okay electronic score, this film presents us with a mutated creature that turns its human victims into lumps of self-replicating meaty protein.

There's lots of fluid dribbling and dripping about — There’s lots of fluid dribbling and dripping about the place

As the organism evolves, it gains a maw full of big teeth

Venturing out onto the planet's surface... — Venturing out onto the planet’s surface…

...they come across this toothsome thingy — …they come across this toothsome life form

A cocoon-type thingy attached to the rocks

Obviously aiming at the young male market, the movie has the two female characters, Tracy Baxter (Dunlap) and Dr. Barbara Glaser (Chadwick), taking saunas & showers… even though there’s a monster on the loose!

Tracy Baxter heads for the sauna/sunbed room, which is, of course, essential on all distant research bases! — Tracy Baxter heads for the sauna/sunbed room, which is, of course, an essential feature of all distant research bases!

Dr. Barbara Glaser is rather, erm, underdressed

Tracy and Barbara even try to communicate with the creature whilst wearing very short bathrobes. This doesn’t end well when one of the women gets transfixed by a spiked tentacle. Ouch!

"I know! Let's try to communicate with the revolting mutant beast whilst wearing bath robes!" — “I know! Let’s try to communicate with the revolting mutant beast whilst wearing bathrobes!”

So is this a classic creature feature? Well, it certainly doesn’t reach the heights of science fiction greatness, that’s for sure, but it manages to be a pretension-free sci-fi-horror flick that is a perfect example of the kind of exploitative, pulpy, gaudy production that got made in the 80s.

And the film definitely scores points for giving us a finale with a difference: we get to see the hero performing DIY surgery on a scientist suffering from cancer, so that he can remove the large tumour… and then feed it to the creature, which then proceeds to vomit itself to death!

Classy stuff!

The creature suffers from terminal upchucking!

Some posters…

Some other cool stuff…

Scream Factory SteelBook cover with artwork by Laz Marquez

And here’s a behind the scenes shot…

The Legend of the Golden Pearl (1987)

November 12, 2022 Ken Miller Leave a comment

Directed by Teddy Robin Kwan, written by Philip Cheng, Gerald Liu & Yuen-Leung Poon, starring Samuel Hui, Ti Lung, Teddy Robin Kwan, Joey Wong and Bruce Baron.

Ti Lung, Samuel Hui and Joey Wang — Ti Lung, Samuel Hui and Joey Wong

Also known as THE LEGEND OF WISELY, the film’s hero, Wisely (Hui), helps a very short mate steal a sacred pearl from some monks in Nepal, which involves lots of acrobatic fighting. Wisely, who is an adventurer-photographer-science-fiction writer, then becomes involved with an underworld boss and his sister.

A space vessel, with a dragon-shaped head, takes to the sky

The middle portion of this Hong Kong movie is, unfortunately, rather uninteresting, though things get livelier once the action returns to Nepal…

That ain't really a pearl, kid... — That ain’t really a pearl, kid…

Here we get a monk-burning, humanoid alien, who wants the ‘pearl’ back because it is, in fact, a solar piloting computer for his spaceship. Finally, the stellar vessel bursts out of the side of a mountain, in the (basic) shape of a dragon, and flies the nasty alien home.

The nasty extraterrestrial dude sets monks aflame — The nasty extraterrestrial dude (Bruce Baron) sets monks aflame

That big spike of ice is gonna break, dudes... — That big spike of ice is gonna break, dudes…

The film boasts some decent sets and includes novel action moments, such as a fight atop an aircraft that’s ready to take off, but the mishmash of genre elements, including kung fu, car chases, exotic location-hopping, science-fiction & adventure, doesn’t really come off and, even though a lot of effort was put into the production, the story just runs out of steam, but effects designer Yiu Yau Hung’s fleetingly seen dragon ship is rather nice to look at.

The 'dragon' ship flies out of the clouds — The ‘dragon’ ship flies out of the clouds

Here are some posters for the movie…

Some VHS, DVD and Blu-ray covers…

I'm sure there isn't a Star Destroyer in this film... — I’m sure there isn’t a Star Destroyer in this film…

And a final look at the big dragon spaceship…

The Thing From Another World (1951)

September 18, 2021 Ken Miller 2 Comments

Here comes the Thing... — Here comes the Thing…

Based on the 1938 novella WHO GOES THERE? by John W Campbell, THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD tells the story of a U.S Air Force crew, plus some scientists, who discover an alien being in the ice near a crashed flying saucer in the Artic. The block of ice that encases the extraterrestrial melts (after an electric blanket is thrown over it) and everyone is forced to defend themselves against the single-mindedly vicious killer alien.

Some advice: don't put an electric blanket on this ice block... — Some advice: don’t put an electric blanket on this ice block…

This is an extremely good 50s sci-fi horror movie that will always remain one of my all-time favourite flicks.

The iconic moment the crew mark out the shape of the spacecraft buried beneath the ice

I love this movie’s overlapping dialogue, the way characters don’t finish what they’re saying as someone else cuts in. The cast acts naturalistically, are likeable, and Kenneth Tobey, playing Captain Patrick Hendry, is such a cool bastard!

Tobey is a really cool character in this film. Fact.

I love this movie's ensemble cast — This movie’s ensemble cast is ace!

The Thing itself is a memorable creation: it is a hairless, sentient vegetable-being that can regrow its limbs, has thorn-like spikes on its hands and can reproduce asexually via seeds that germinate when fed on blood. This otherworldly killer (played by James Arness) regards humans (and Huskies) simply as food and has a raw intellect that is without passion or empathy.

One of the standout sequences involves the characters fighting off the Thing by hurling kerosene at the creature and setting it alight. It’s very thrilling stuff!

Flaming thrills! — Flamingly good action!

The shutting-the-door-fast scene is another great moment!

Our level-headed heroes finally defeat the Thing, but will more be coming?

“Keep watching the skies!”

The Glitterball (1977)

September 5, 2021 Ken Miller Leave a comment

In the UK two boys make friends with a stranded alien that resembles a small, metal ball. They try to help the silvery being return home, but have to deal with a crook called George “Filthy” Potter. A mothership eventually arrives and it disgorges a whole swarm of alien metal balls to deal with Potter.

Bad guy Potter gets rolled away by the Glitterball's buddies! — Bad guy Potter gets rolled away by the Glitterball’s buddies!

This low budget British kid’s flick, made for the Children’s Film Foundation, features an extraterrestrial that looks just like a metal ball bearing. This silvery alien is hunted by the military and likes to eat a lot! As so often happens in these CFF movies, the main villain is a small-time criminal (played here by Ron Pember), but there’s never any real threat: it’s all very child-friendly.

Max (Ben Buckton) and Pete (Keith Jayne)

FX-wise, in many scenes the Glitterball is just a small, metal ball rolled along the floor, but for scenes where, for instance, it gobbles-up some food, stop-motion animation is used.

Glitterball's got the munchies! — Glitterball’s got the munchies!

The Glitterball prepares to eat a banana... — The Glitterball prepares to eat a banana…

The Glitterball: you can't get a simpler-looking alien creature! — The Glitterball: you can’t get a simpler-looking alien creature than this!

THE GLITTERBALL was directed by Harley Cokeliss, who’d made the non-science-fiction movie THE BATTLE OF BILLY’S POND the year previously, also for the Children’s Film Foundation. Harley went on to be second unit director on THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980), then directed flicks like DREAM DEMON (1988), BLACK MOON RISING (1986) and WARLORDS OF THE 21ST CENTURY (1982).

Pete reads a copy of poster magazine SCI-FI MONTHLY

Brian Johnson did a lot of the special effects on THE GLITTERBALL, which was quite a coup for such a cheap production. Brian came on board after Harley, through a mutual friend, met up with Brian, who was supervising the model and effects work on Gerry Anderson’s SPACE: 1999 at the time. Brian was happy to help out, but needed Gerry’s okay to do so. Harley met with Gerry at his Bray Studio offices and Gerry generously gave his blessing to the project. Brian and his crew then created flying scenes of the mothership and made a working model of the Glitterball’s own min-spacecraft, complete with lights and an opening hatch.

The hatch of the Glitterball’s mini-spacecraft opens... — The hatch of the Glitterball’s mini-spacecraft opens…

Barry Leith, who’d worked on the British children’s TV series THE WOMBLES, did the stop-motion animation.

Barry Leith animated sequences such as when Glitterball eats some fruit — Barry Leith animated sequences such as when the Glitterball eats some fruit

THE GLITTERBALL was recently released on DVD by the BFI as part of a triple bill of Children’s Film Foundation movies, which also includes SUPERSONIC SAUCER (1956).

A close-up of the Glitterball’s mini-spacecraft

Without Warning (1980)

August 27, 2021 Ken Miller 2 Comments

People are hunted by a tall humanoid extraterrestrial that kills his victims using spinning, living projectiles.

It preys on human fear... — ‘It preys on human fear’…

'Man is the endangered species' — ‘Man is the endangered species’

Directed by Greydon (SATAN’S CHEERLEADERS) Clark, this low budget film is structured like a backwoods slasher movie but with an alien instead of a maniac.

WITHOUT WARNING features lots of shots of people falling victim to the flying, fleshy, toothy blobs, showing the red tendrils sinking into human flesh to suck blood and exude yellow gunk.

Red tendrils sink into a victim's face — Red tendrils sink into a victim’s face

Though the film’s pace sometimes flags, the attack scenes are messy, gory fun, with loads of close-ups of the tendrils digging under the skin or through clothing!

Tendrils dig through clothing — Tendrils pierce through clothing

Predating PREDATOR by seven years, WITHOUT WARNING has a (mainly unseen), silent, blue-skinned alien hunting humans (using those killer pancake organisms) for sport. The extraterrestrial hunter is played by Kevin Peter Hall, who also played the Predator in the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.

Eek! It's the alien! — Eek! It’s the alien!

The colourful cast, which enthusiastically chew the scenery, includes Jack Palance, Martin Landau, Neville Brand, Cameron Mitchell and Ralph Meeker. The movie also features a young David Caruso wearing very small shorts!

Martin Landau plays unhinged Vietnam vet Fred 'Sarge' Dobbs — Martin Landau plays unhinged Vietnam vet Fred ‘Sarge’ Dobbs

Big ol' Jack Palance — Big ol’ Jack Palance

The grungy, satisfying practical FX were created by Greg (VAN HELSING) Cannom.
Makeup effects legend Rick Baker did uncredited work on the film, too, building the alien’s big-domed head.