Amicus | Monster Zone

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…

After the success of its Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptation THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (1974), Amicus decided to give us another Burroughs fantasy adventure with AT THE EARTH’S CORE (1976).

Starring Doug McClure once again, AT THE EARTH’S CORE also added Peter Cushing and the ever-glamorous Caroline Munro (as a beautiful slave girl) to the cast list.

The men-in-suit beasts are pretty shoddy (compared to Roger Dicken’s rod-puppet dinosaurs in THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT) and the score is lacklustre, but the nonstop incident and Caroline Munro make it watchable. Peter Cushing seems to be enjoying himself as the dotty professor (“You can’t mesmerise me, I’m British!”), who gets to shoot a fire-breathing toad-monster with arrows (it explodes!)

My favourite monsters in the movie are the two critters that fight over the dead slave, which look like bipedal versions of the prehistoric mammal Brontotherium (they were referred to as ‘Bos’ in the publicity at the time of the film’s release, as I remember.)

I also like the creature that attacks McClure and a tribesman that seems to be half animal (it has tentacles) and half plant (its mouth looks like a glowing Venus Flytrap).

A 'Bos' chews a victim! — A ‘Bos’ monster chews a victim!

Other monsters in this movie include a beaked, parrot-faced dinosaur-like beast, a big quadrupedal creature that Doug McClure fights in a cave arena, and telepathic pterosaurs called Mahars.

The film also features Sagoths, which are humanoid servants of the Mahars, and the Iron Mole: the drill-nosed burrowing machine that carries McClure and Cushing deep through the Earth’s crust.

A flame-breathed beast — A flame-breathing beast

Mahars: the rulers of this subterranean world

Let’s be honest: AT THE EARTH’S CORE is never going to be considered a fantasy classic, but it’s a no-nonsense adventure romp, stretching its small budget as far as it can, filling the screen with its series of colourful sets, purple skies and ludicrous beasties.

Here are a whole bunch of posters for the film…