Tag Archives: aliens

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. He then filmed a promo reel for it. 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 would’ve added a zeppelin and pterodactyls into the mix!

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 the promotional reel for the film 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 of 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 Cinefantasique, 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 decent, 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!

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…

Riddick (2013)

January 19, 2024 Ken Miller 2 Comments

Watch out for the monster's pincer-tail, Riddick! — Watch out for the monster’s pincer-tail, Riddick!

Starring Vin Diesel, Jordi Mollà, Matt Nable, Katee Sackhoff, Dave Bautista, Bokeem Woodbine and Conrad Pla. Written and directed by David Twohy. One Race Productions/Riddick Canada Productions/Radar Pictures.

'Survival is his revenge' — ‘Survival is his revenge’

Hard-as-nails macho future warrior Riddick finds himself stranded on a wild, sun-scorched planet, so he is forced to trigger an emergency beacon that attracts two teams of mercenaries, who land on the planet and begin to hunt him. As if taking on these mercs isn’t enough, it starts to rain, and within the wet weather lurk monsters that would really love to eat Riddick!

PITCH BLACK (2000) was a very enjoyable, violent sc-fi-action-monster movie that introduced the world to badass antihero Riddick (a character created by Jim Wheat and Ken Wheat), played to perfection by Vin Diesel. The follow-up flick, THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK (2004), wasn’t to my taste. I found it too overblown and sprawling, desperate to be more of an ‘epic’ sci-fi blockbuster. This third film, RIDDICK, is much better, in my opinion, maybe because it tones down the pompous fantasy-science fiction elements of part 2 and concentrates on telling a survival-on-a-creature-filled-planet story, just like the first film. You could certainly argue that RIDDICK’s central concept is very similar to PITCH BLACK’s core plot: one has alien beasties that only come out in the dark, and the other has alien beasties that only come out when it rains. But, hey, I like this monsters-in-the-downpour concept, so let’s move on…

The monsters close-in... — The monsters close-in…

RIDDICK really delivers lots of creature action! Perhaps this movie’s world is a little green screen-ish compared to the real locations used in PITCH BLACK, but this movie does boast a fun bunch of critters!

There’s loads of fun stuff to see here, including pincer-tailed Mud Demon predators, hyena-like dog creatures, flying bird-reptiles and eels that live in tepid pools of water. I love the bit where Riddick disembowels a big Mud Demon… which proceeds to eat its own guts!

Riddick slides beneath the big Mud Demon, ready to slit open its guts with his bone-mounted blade weapon!

It was a nice touch having Riddick befriend one of the alien dog creatures. Cool!

There’s a last stand-style battle between Riddick and the Mud Demons on a rock outcrop that is also pretty damn cool: it’s almost like a Conan the Barbarian moment! Niiiiiiiiiice.

The last stand moment atop a rocky outcrop

Finally, here are some creature concepts…

The original design for the Mud Demon was done by Patrick Tatopoulos, then Jerad S. Marantz took a pass at the creatures, modelling them in Z brush.

Full body view of Mud Demon, seen from different angles — Full body view of the Mud Demon design, seen from different angles

Designs for the Mud Demon pincer-tipped tail!

Quatermass 2 (1957)

November 10, 2023 Ken Miller 2 Comments

Starring Brian Donlevy, John Longden, Sid James, Bryan Forbes, William Franklyn, Vera Day, Tom Chatto, Percy Herbert and Michael Ripper. Written by Nigel Kneale and Val Guest, directed by Val Guest for Hammer Films.

Beware of what lurks within the domes... — Beware of what lurks within the domes…

Sheila (Vera Day) becomes a victim of an alien projectile

Hammer regular Michael Ripper don't need no gas mask! — Hammer Films regular Michael Ripper don’t need no gas mask!

Known as ENEMY FROM SPACE in the US, this film adaptation of the BBC sci-fi-horror television serial sees the brusque, no-nonsense Professor Bernard Quatermass (Donlevy) uncovering the fact that a UK industrial plant at Winnerden Flats, which claims it is manufacturing synthetic food, is actually an acclimatisation bridgehead for an alien invasion.

Marsh (Bryan Forbes) succumbs to a micro alien that enters his body via a V-shaped scar — Marsh (Bryan Forbes, before he became a director) succumbs to a micro alien that enters his body via a V-shaped scar

Hammer’s second Quatermass film features humans being taken over by micro aliens that leave v-shaped entry scars on their victims, CARRY ON movies regular Sid James getting machine-gunned, and a finale where the mass of micro aliens become huge blob monsters! These practical effects gunge-things only appear during the finale and are really quite effective as they squirm and wobble in our atmosphere.

The scene that always sticks in my mind is the moment the protagonists realise the oxygen pipe feeding into the alien dome has been blocked by pulped human beings! This is not shown, but just the idea of the aliens doing this to the people shocked my young brain when I first watched the film as a kid. Another effective sequence involves a member of parliament, Vincent Broadhead (Chatto), sneaking a look at the ‘food’ in one of the domes, which results in him getting burned by the stuff and staggering down metal steps, covered in black, smoking, corrosive slime.

The industrial plant location is utilised well by director Val Guest. It was a real oil refinery at Shell Haven in Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, on the Thames Estuary (and it had been used previously as the location for the Winnerden Flats alien complex in the BBC serial too). The grim and overcast cinematography of director of photography Gerald Gibbs, and matte paintings courtesy of special effects designer Les Bowie (used to add the giant incubation domes to the complex), all combine to make the place a believable, forbidding central location, adding immeasurably to the enjoyment of the film.

The movie nicely creates a feeling of slow-building tension as Quatermass and others realise that the aliens have already started to take over various officials in positions of power, imbuing the film with INVASION OF THE BODYSNATCHERS vibes, though QUATERMASS 2 is definitely not a retread of that story, remaining a production that is most definitely full of the kind of intriguing plotting you expect from a Nigel Kneale script.

Here are some posters for the movie…

The Trollenberg Terror (1958)

August 13, 2023 Ken Miller 4 Comments

It's comin' for ya! — It’s comin’ for ya!

Warren Mitchel, Jennifer Jayne and Forrest Tucker

Starring Forrest (THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN) Tucker, Laurence (VAMPIRE CIRCUS) Payne, Jennifer (THEY CAME FROM BEYOND SPACE) Jayne, Janet (DARBY O’GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE) Munro, Warren (THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF) Mitchell, Frederick Schiller, Stuart Saunders and Andrew (JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS) Faulds. Written by Jimmy (THE BRIDES OF DRACULA) Sangster, produced by Robert S. Baker and Monty (BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE) Berman, directed by Quentin (THE STRANGE WORLD OF PLANET X) Lawrence.

'The nightmare terror of the slithering eye that unleashed agonizing horror on a screaming world!' — ‘The nightmare terror of the slithering eye that unleashed agonizing horror on a screaming world!’

United Nations investigator Alan Brooks (Tucker), together with journo Philip Truscott (Payne) and Professor Crevett (Mitchell), investigates strange accidents occurring on Mount Trollenberg in the Swiss Alps. Brooks thinks that these deaths, which sometimes involve the removal of the victim’s head, could be linked to similar incidents that occurred several years earlier in the Andes, which included the same weird, lurking, radioactive cloud formation. Anne Pilgrim (Munro), who is part of a mind-reading act with her sister, is staying at the same mountain hotel as the others… and she begins to sense intelligences within the cloud formation…

Anne, looking concerned, sits in the mountain observatory

The aliens can control dead victims, turning them into killers

Known as THE CRAWLING EYE in the USA, this UK science fiction/horror movie is an enjoyable, low budget tale of cyclopean aliens lurking in a radioactive cloud that they can steer around the mountainside. The movie’s script was based on a six-part British TV series, which was also called THE TROLLENBERG TERROR. Actor Laurence Payne played the journalist character Philip Truscott in both the series and the movie adaptation.

A character is hoisted up into the air by the alien's tendril-like tentacle! — Philip is hoisted up into the air by the alien’s tendril-like tentacle!

The movie is a lot of fun, with obvious-but-pleasant matte paintings, model shots, decapitated victims, a siege in a fortified observatory, and undead human corpses. The real standouts, though, are the aliens, which are very cool-looking, one-eyed, blobby, vein-covered, tentacle-monsters that emit electronic wails and don’t like to be immolated with molotov cocktails!

Alan (Tucker) prepares to throw a molotov cocktail at a tentacle monster's face! — Alan (Tucker) prepares to throw a molotov cocktail at a tentacle monster’s face!

A molotov cocktail sets an alien alight! — One of the aliens goes up in flames

Alan Brooks (Tucker), with an alien burning away behind him — Alan Brooks with an alien burning away behind him

With the hint of a Quatermass vibe about it, the film has a creepy atmosphere and boasts some startling scenes, such as when one of the huge extraterrestrials smashes down the hotel door to menace a child, its single, veiny eyeball filling the doorway!

The siege finale is tense and well-handled, Forrest Tucker is solid as the stoic, no-nonsense UN troubleshooter who thinks on his feet, and Janet Munro brings a conviction to her role and is unimaginably cute as the psychic who the aliens try to kill by sending a reanimated dead man to attack her!

An alien-controlled dead dude strangles Anne!

"I'm gonna throw a bomb at that one" — “I’m gonna throw a bomb at that one…”

I am fully aware that some folks might poke fun at the cheap, 50s-era special effects, but I think Les Bowie and Brian Johnson (both uncredited) did wonders with the meagre budget they must’ve had to play with, concocting some truly distinctive movie monsters that really stick in the memory. Great stuff!

Alien abominations crawl up the steep, misty side of the mountain!

The evil extraterrestrials climb onto the roof of the observatory

A military plane drops firebombs onto the cold-loving creatures, frying them good and proper — A military plane drops firebombs onto the cold-loving creatures, frying them all!

German Blu-ray cover art by Rick Melton — German Blu-ray cover (art by UK artist Rick Melton)

Here’s a bunch of pulp-tastic posters…

US 30" x 40" poster — US 30″ x 40″ poster

THE TROLLENBERG TERROR, aka THE CRAWLING EYE, was released in a double bill with the British sci-fi-horror giant insect flick THE STRANGE WORLD OF PLANET X, which was retitled COSMIC MONSTERS in the USA. The manly Forrest Tucker starred in both of these movies! What a guy!

Okay, I can’t help it, I’ve got to include another shot of one of those damn fine aliens…

God Told Me To (1976)

January 8, 2023 Ken Miller Leave a comment

A woman is levitated towards a spacecraft... — A woman is levitated towards a spacecraft…

Directed and written by Larry Cohen, starring Tony Lo Bianco, Deborah Raffin, Sandy Dennis, Sylvia Sidney, Sam Levene, Robert Drivas, Richard Lynch and David Morten.

Peter J. Nicholas (Lo Bianco), a devoutly religious police detective, deals with several cases of mass murder, including a New York sniper attack. He discovers that each perpetrator utters the same excuse to explain their killing sprees: “God told me to”.

Detective Peter J. Nicholas is a devout catholic

Digging deeper, Nicholas eventually finds out that an androgynous, glowing, christ-like being, identified as Bernard Phillips (Lynch), has influenced all these murderers… and this dude is actually a product of alien artificial insemination! Nicholas realises that he, too, is one of these hybrid beings, though his human genes overpowered his alien genes just enough to enable him to pass for ‘normal’ for most of his life, but now it is time for him to confront Phillips…

Richard Lynch as the glowing, messiah-like product of alien insemination of human women — Richard Lynch as the glowing, messiah-like product of the alien insemination of a human female

Larry Cohen, as usual, throws lots of ideas into the pot. We have a horror-sci-fi-police-procedural plot encompassing mass killings, religious overtones, UFO abductions, psychic powers and throbbing alien vaginas! Cohen doesn’t quite pull it all off, unfortunately, and you’re left wondering what Phillips was hoping to achieve with his psychically-induced mass killings, what was the story behind the cabal of businessmen that believe Phillips is the new messiah, and whether the unseen, meddling aliens actually had an objective.

Chaos after a policeman starts shooting folks during New York's St. Patrick's Day Parade — Chaos after a policeman starts shooting folks during New York’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade

That said, there’s a lot of memorable moments here. There’s the horribly compelling scene where one of the killers, a family man (Morten), describes to Nicholas, in an easygoing manner, how he systematically murdered his own wife and children. Plus there’s the opening sequence, where members of the public are picked off by a gunman standing atop a water tower.

Cover for the Blue Underground Blu-ray release

Cohen includes the alien abduction plot thread in an interesting fashion, never over-focusing on it, inserting these details as flashbacks and reminiscences. It’s here that we first get a glimpse of an unexpected close-up of a palpitating vagina (!), as a naked woman victim is levitated into a space vessel (actually footage of an Eagle spacecraft from the Gerry Anderson TV show SPACE: 1999). I remain utterly surprised that such up-close anatomical shots of a very vagina-like sex organ managed to make it into the movie!

Later, during the climactic showdown, Phillips pulls up his smock to reveal that he has a large alien vagina throbbing away on his torso! Phillips suggests that he and Nicholas should mate, to produce more progeny. Nicholas isn’t a fan of this idea, however, and decides to attack Phillips instead, leading to the glowing hybrid dude’s death and the destruction of a building.

Nicholas finally unleashes his own psychic powers

GOD TOLD ME TO, also known as DEMON, is shot in Cohen’s typical style, meaning that it’s not overly well-lit or particularly glossy, it seems very choppy, editing-wise, but it is filmed with a no-nonsense verve and immediacy, with a lot of handheld location footage, that keeps the story’s momentum from flagging too much, even in the slower third act, which discards the mass killings plot line to concentrate on Nicholas’ unearthing of his own forgotten past. Cohen, as usual, gets his lead actor to deliver a compelling performance, in this case Tony Lo Bianco, who is a driven, earnest presence throughout the film.

Another shot from the alien abduction flashback

Some posters for the movie…

The Terrornauts (1967)

April 8, 2022 Ken Miller 2 Comments

Could any film actually live up to the exploitative promise of this lurid poster artwork?

Three staff members of Project Star Talk (Simon Oates, Stanley Meadows & Zena Marshall) are working at a radio telescope site when they are taken to an asteroid fortress by a space ship. Also carried along for the ride is an accountant (Charles Hawtrey) and a tea lady (Patricia Hayes). The group meet a robot and must pass some tests before using the fortress’ missiles to save the Earth from an armada of alien vessels.

Carry On movie regular Charles Hawtrey plays accountant Joshua Yellowlees

THE TERRORNAUTS is a British science fiction film made by Amicus Productions, based on Murray Leinster’s 1960 novel The Wailing Asteroid. The screenplay was written by sci-fi author John Brunner and the film was directed by Montgomery (BATTLE BENEATH THE EARTH) Tully.

There’s no escaping the fact that THE TERRORNAUTS was definitely done on the cheap… and I do mean very cheap!

Ah, look at those super-realistic planets!

The film resembles a brightly-coloured, low budget Doctor Who episode. But if you look beyond the threadbare production values, you’ll find that THE TERRORNAUTS does have an interesting premise: a long-gone alien race has left its tech behind so that mankind can defend itself from an interstellar foe.

I do also like the alien critter, revealed as a hologram. If you can imagine an unrealistic man-in-suit creature costume designed by a surrealist… that is what the alien looks like!

The alien's 'face' — The surreal alien’s ‘face’

The alien's eye, which is on its torso — The alien’s eye, which is on its torso

The lurid poster (claiming we’ll be seeing ‘The virgin sacrifice to the gods of a ghastly galaxy!’) highlights a moment in the movie where the heroine is accidentally teleported to a planet and is nearly sacrificed by a bunch of green-skinned savages.
This in-your-face poster artwork promises, of course, far more than the film could ever hope to deliver.

Yikes! This is the poster's depiction of the sacrifice scene... — Yikes! This is the poster’s depiction of the sacrifice scene…

...and this is what the attempted sacrifice actually looks like in the film! — …and this is what the sacrifice scene actually looks like in the film!

Don't worry: Sandy gets saved — Don’t worry: Sandy gets saved

Here’s the pre-production concept artwork for the hologram alien, by designer Bill Constable, showing that the strange being was always intended to have an eye positioned at an odd place on its body.

This concept for the alien creature makes it resemble a surreal tree stump

And here’s another couple of shots of the alien as seen in the film, with its eye located on its waist…

Not the most realistic alien costume ever produced!

Who are you lookin' at? — Who are you lookin’ at?

Some lobby cards…

Finally, here’s the UK DVD cover…

A Quiet Place (2018)

June 12, 2021 Ken Miller Leave a comment

An alien reacts to the hearing aid... — Who you calling ugly?

A family has learnt to survive in a post-invasion world where alien creatures attack anyone who makes a noise. After the loss of one of their children, the husband and wife await the arrival of their new baby, but giving birth in a place where you need to keep really quiet isn’t going to be easy.

As the sequel is currently out in cinemas I thought I’d relook at the 2018 horror-science fiction original…

The premise for A QUIET PLACE is what made this movie stand out when it was released: imagine having to ALWAYS be silent because super-aggressive alien creatures will launch an attack on you almost immediately?

It is, however, a concept that you can pick apart if you think about it too much. Surely scientists, somewhere, could’ve come up with the sound/feedback solution that deaf daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds) stumbles upon when her juiced-up cochlear implant starts repelling aliens that get too close to her?
When the father (John Krasinski) takes his son Marcus (Noah Jupe) for a trek to a loud river and noisy waterfall, he informs Marcus that they can actually speak freely here because the noisy surroundings drown out their voices, so the creatures can’t track them: this, of course, immediately got me wondering why the family didn’t set up camp in this area?
Also, if they can improvise a soundproofed basement, as they do later in the story, why don’t they hang out here more often, where they can even have whispered conversations?

But if you don’t overthink the overall concept, there’s a lot to enjoy with this film.
Krasinski directs the film effectively, building up the tension as the story progresses, with gripping moments including the scene where mom Evelyn (Emily Blunt) stands on a nail with her bare foot and has to keep quiet as an alien critter roams the building. The pressure intensifies for Evelyn when she finds herself having to give birth alone in a bath, knowing that the nearby creature will strike out at her if it hears anything.

Not the best time to have a baby... — Not the best time to have a baby…

The final act ratchets up the stress-levels further, as Regan and Marcus are menaced by one of the monsters whilst ALSO trying not to drown in a grain silo and Evelyn has to dodge creatures and get herself and her newborn baby out of the basement that is now filling with water.
And things only get more critical for everyone as the survivors of the family have a final showdown with one of the critters in their home.

Sinking in the grain — That sinking feeling…

The alien creatures are an interesting addition to the world of cinematic monsters: they are slim, armour-skinned critters with extended forelimbs and eyeless faces. The armour-like casing surrounding their heads can hinge open like multiple flaps, presumably to help them properly locate the source of any sound they hear (they kinda resemble the Demogorgon from STRANGER THINGS when they do this), and their ears are massive organs (almost resembling a slimy, open oyster) that we see several times in close-up.

One of the creature's ears seen in close-up — One of the creature’s ears seen in close-up

With very little dialogue, A QUIET PLACE works well thanks to Krasinski’s visual storytelling and confident grip of the plotting and character development.

Snow in the Desert (2021)

May 20, 2021 Ken Miller Leave a comment

Alien bounty hunter — A bounty hunter moves in…

In the Love, Death + Robots season 2 episode SNOW IN THE DESERT, an albino wanderer known as Snow lives on a hot, barren planet and must deal with various bounty hunters who want to kill him so that they can attain a certain part of his anatomy…

His name is Snow and he lives in the desert

Snow, it transpires, has lived hundreds of years: this is due to the fact that he can endlessly regenerate his cells and body parts, thanks to special hormones released in his testicles. This pretty much makes him immortal – and it also means there are people who want to get rich by acquiring his balls to access a never-ending supply of Snow’s unique genetic material. This is why there are always bounty hunters on his case, but now a young woman called Hirald, who works for an advanced AI within Earth’s government, enters Snow’s life…

Hirald has a secret — What is Hirald’s secret?

Based on a short story by Neal Asher and, like a lot of his work, set in a future history known as the ‘Polity’ universe, this Netflix animated short features super-realistic mo-cap characters and impressive vistas, created by 3-D animation studio Unit Image.

Bounty hunters — These bounty hunters have a cool ‘skinned alive’ look!

The action is very brutal and there’s some cool world-building, with the inclusion of various alien races, including a rock-skinned bounty hunter, and some local vulture-like creatures. There’s a nice touch concerning these flying creatures, when we see them cover themselves completely with their leathery wings to endure the desert planet’s hot midday sun.

These reptile-vulture creatures know that the sun is about to rise... — These reptile-vulture creatures know that the sun is about to rise…

The creatures hide from the sun — …so they wrap themselves up in their leathery bat-wings!

On the whole, the short comes across as a taster for what to expect in the Polity universe, but there are some twists and turns in the brief story, as we discover Snow’s abilities and are finally shown Hirald’s true self – and, of course, you get 18 minutes of sci-fi eye candy.