That’s a darn big scorpion. Huge invertebrate that escaped from underground caverns after a series of earthquakes in Mexico. Originally it was accompanied by a number of smaller creatures (smaller is a relative term, the runt of the litter was still twenty feet long). Since the local building codes of the time more than likely contained references to “thatch” and “mud” there is a high probability of widespread damage from the earthquakes. The stop-motion scorpions were nicely done and created by Willis O'Brien (the same man who animated "King Kong" and inspired Ray Harryhausen, you philistine). Other effects used, including a superimposed image that was less than convincing and silly shots of a salivating scorpion "face," tended to elicit guffaws since it drools worse than a phlegmatic bulldog. Some footage ended up being reused more than was prudent, like the train passing the same set of hills four or five times. Enjoyable though and I really did feel sorry for the telephone repairman. “Every other horror you have seen on the big screen will pale in comparison to The Black Scorpion" read the tag line. Oh, ha ha, I see what they did there, pale in comparison, ha ha. Black opposite of pale. Man, were they clever back in the '50's.
It! The Terror from Beyond Space. Is actually an alien from Mars. It! Is actually a guy in a rubber suit. It! Loves the taste of human blood. It! The story that inspired the movie Alien and other modern science fiction classics. The movie studio told the viewers of the movie it would give $50,000 by a world renowned insurance company to the first person who can prove that "It" is not on Mars now! It Breathes.. It Hunts.. It Kills!! He looks almost like some kind of a South American pagan god statue or something. He's big and he's pretty slow most of the time. Bullets, radiation, and fire all have little to no effect on him, and he just generally walks around acting like a big brute in his eternal quest to beat people to death so that he can drain them of all their bodily fluids. This movie shows a good example of people not following The Movie Monster Rule #1: Never irritate a monster that you can't kill. You'll only end up making things worse for yourself. Ninnies!
The Ymir in all honesty, this, the "monster," in 20 Million Miles To Earth is the protagonist. Taken from its home planet of Venus, the creature eats sulfur (I don’t want to imagine what his farts are going to smell like later!) and is docile unless poked (or allowed to fart near an open flame). It only wants to be left alone, but people and dogs insist on doing the one thing that annoys a Ymir. That is right; they poke it. The film shows us that the best way to poke something that does not like to be poked is with a wooden pole. That's just a little FYI in case you were wondering. I genuinely felt sorry for the Ymir (it is never called that in the film, but this is its name). Watching "20 Million Miles to Earth" when I was young, it was sad when the creature fell from atop the ancient Roman structure and laid still amidst the broken stone. This is some of Ray Harryhausen's best work. For those of you who aren't Harryhausen enthusiasts, if you were ever planning on becoming one, this would be an excellent film to start with. Pretty much all of Harryhausen's films are incredible to watch, but for overall quality of acting, effects, cinematography, lighting, and everything else, you just can't beat 20 Million Miles to Earth.
The general plot of the movie Plan 9 From Outer Space seems to be about aliens that wish to destroy Earth before we discover a bomb which explodes sunlight. I think. Here’s a list of some of the interesting cast of characters:Colonel Edwards - Officially, flying saucers do not exist. That is why the Army needs an officer in charge of flying saucer defense. The Army is like that.
Ghoul Man - Bela Lugosi! Old fellow killed when he walks into traffic and resurrected as an undead chiropractor.
Vampire Girl - Vampira! Former wife of the Ghoul Man (when alive). I do not believe that she died of natural causes. My guess is that she fell and stabbed herself in the heart with a fingernail.
Inspector Clay - Tor! Heavyset policeman who is killed by Vampire Girl. Resurrected for use as a giant fly eating zombie.
Eros - Member of a highly advanced alien race, but he fails to think ahead on several occasions and gets blown to bits at the end because of it.
Tanna - Eros' assistant who forgot to recharge the flying saucer's fire extinguisher and also is blown to bits.
This film is one of the greatest bad movies ever made. I have viewed "Plan 9 from Outer Space" on numerous occasions. What makes this a legend and an icon among the multitudes of bad movies? That it is entertaining, despite (or because of) all its faults, must be a significant reason. People watch films to be entertained. Ed Wood's masterpiece is definitely entertaining. Open with Criswell, staring intently at the camera. He immediately delivers an imperative monologue that is pure genius. There is no way I could say those same lines without collapsing in laughter, but Criswell powers through the hilarious dialog like a man experiencing rapture. This is serious! Grave robbers from outer space are waiting for us in the future! Do you have the fortitude to believe me or is mankind doomed by your narrow mindedness? Listen! Good grief, but that opening is the exact preface needed for a movie like "Plan 9 from Outer Space." When you see the aliens, they also become a source of entertainment. Eros and Tanna are dressed like characters from a high school production of "Peter Pan" (if both of them were playing Peter). Needless to say, a pair of adults wearing such attire is an oddity, even in California. We then find out that using the dead as mindless killers is "Plan 9" in the standard operational handbook. I would presume that the previous eight options were even less effective than using three zombies to depopulate a planet of three billion. This movie made me realize that spacecraft developed by advanced aliens are unable to fly without wobbling. Also, apparently, sunlight is flammable.
Some interesting bits of trivia:
The film was funded by a Baptist church, the entire cast let themselves be baptized before filming.
Bela Lugosi died four days after shooting began Wood abandoned the project and rewrote the script to accommodate all the footage shot in a cemetery and outside Tor Johnson's house in the new production. Bela Lugosi's part was taken over by Tom Mason, Wood's wife's chiropractor, who was significantly taller than Lugosi, and played the part with a cape covering his face. A video release, making note of the actor's death before production began, lists on the cassette box, "Almost Starring Bela Lugosi".
The scar worn by actor Tor Johnson had to be moved every day, as it caused severe skin irritation.
Wood's original title for the film was "Grave Robbers from Outer Space", but the Baptist ministers who financed the film objected to that title, so he changed it to "Plan 9" (never making any reference at all to what the previous eight plans were). Which brings us to…
Oh Boy! I don’t know where to start on this one. Perhaps one of the movies tag lines will help: “Incredible! Unbelievable! Told the untamed way! In intriguing 2-D!” WTF? When this film came out, it was so universally scorned and derided by reviewers that director Phil Tucker found it impossible to get any further work in the film business at all. Depressed and dejected, and believing that his acrimonious relationship with the film's producers resulted in their blackballing him in the industry, he attempted suicide by shooting himself. He missed. Oh for fuck’s sake, it's a dude in a gorilla suit and a space helmet. I don't even know what more to say. This is the basic idea of the film: Fearing that the humans had become too intelligent and fearing a future attack, the Ro-Man's (that’s the race of aliens that our monster represents) launch a preemptive strike against the Earth. All life is destroyed except for one small family of survivors. Can they find a way to defeat this seeming indestructible horror from the depths of space? Will the monster Ro-Man find love with the human girl Alice? Will dinosaurs roam the earth again? Will this movie ever make any sense? Just wait and see... This movie is so nonsensical that it makes “Plan 9” look brilliant. This movie had a director, it had editors, it had producers. All of whom, I suppose, were trying to make a decent movie that made sense and was scary. No wonder the director tried to kill himself. Talk about stealing money in Hollywood. They all got pay checks for this one. I don’t think I was supposed to laugh in bewilderment as much as I did. Ladies and gentlemen, this is cheese. What's worse, this cheese is cheap!
1 comment:
Did you also know that when you think you're seeing It!'s tongue you're actually looking at the chin of the guy in the monster suit. It seems Ray "Crash" Corrigan didn't quite fit into the monster head so we see his chin in the monster's mouth.
Post a Comment