Invasion of the Saucer Men
| Invasion of the Saucer Men | |
|---|---|
 Film poster by Albert Kallis |
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| Directed by | Edward Cahn |
| Produced by | Robert J. Gurney Jr. James H. Nicholson |
| Written by | Paul W. Fairman (original story) Robert J. Gurney Jr. Al Martin |
| Starring | Steven Terrell Gloria Castillo Frank Gorshin Raymond Hatton Lyn Osborne |
| Music by | Ronald Stein |
| Cinematography | Frederick E. West |
| Editing by | Charles Gross Ronald Sinclair |
| Distributed by | American International Pictures |
| Release date(s) |
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| Running time | 69 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Invasion of the Saucer Men (also known as Invasion of the Hell Creatures, working title - Spacemen Saturday Night) is a 1957 sci-fi comedy film starring Steven Terrell and Gloria Castillo and personally produced by James H. Nicholson for his American International Pictures (AIP). The screenplay by Robert J Gurney Jr and Al Martin was based on the 1955 short story "The Cosmic Frame" by Paul W. Fairman. The film was released as a double feature with I Was a Teenage Werewolf.
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Plot [edit]
A spaceship lands in the woods. A teenage couple, Johnny Carter (Steven Terrell) and Joan Haydon (Gloria Castillo), driving down lover's lane without headlights, accidentally run down one of the aliens. Joe Gruen (Frank Gorshin) a drunken opportunist, comes across the alien's corpse. He plans to keep the body in his fridge, but the aliens arrive and kill him by injecting alcohol into his veins via their hypodermic fingernails. Having reported their close encounter to the police, Johnny and Joan return with the Sheriff, only to find Joe's body in place of the alien. The police plan to charge them with manslaughter. Meanwhile the dead alien's hand detaches itself, grows an eye, and runs amok. The military, following a UFO report, are soon involved. They surround the alien's spaceship, but in the end it is the teenagers who defeat the aliens when they discover that they cannot stand the glare from their car headlights.
Production [edit]
Special effects technician Paul Blaisdell who did the alien make-up recalled that the film was intended to be filmed as a serious feature but gradually fell into a comedy.[1] The entire film takes place in the period of one night with 98% shot on a studio soundstage.[2]
Legacy [edit]
Larry Buchanan cheaply remade the film in color in 1966 as a made for television movie for AIP-TV as The Eye Creatures.
The The Lillingtons had a song entitled Invasion of the Saucermen on their Death by Television album.
The TV series Futurama based the appearance of the surly TV talk show host Morbo on the aliens in this film.[3]
References [edit]
- Footnotes
- ^ Palmer 2009, p. 139.
- ^ Palmer 2009, p. 148.
- ^ Rogers 2012.
- Bibliography
- Palmer, Randy; Olen Ray, Fred; Burns, Bob (March 30, 2009). Paul Blaisdel, Monster Maker: A Biography of the B Movie Makeup and Special Effects Artist (illustrated ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina, USA: McFarland & Company. p. 139. ISBN 9780786440993. OCLC 226166735. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
- Sanfazer (October 30, 2012). "Morbo". The Infosphere, the Futurama Wiki. Camaron Rogers. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
- Sources
- Joslin, Lyndon W. (2006). "Cosmic Frames and Cover-ups: Invasion of the Saucer Men and the UFO Conspiracy of Silence". In Hogan, David J. Science Fiction America: Essays on SF Cinema (reprint, illustrated ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina, USA: McFarland & Company. pp. 138–150. ISBN 0786421495. OCLC 57731021. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
External links [edit]
- A review of Invasion of the Saucer Men
- Invasion of the Saucer Men at the Internet Movie Database
- Invasion of the Saucer Men at AllRovi
