IT CONQUERED THE WORLD

Graves, Garland, Van Cleef

IT CONQUERED THE WORLD (1956). Produced and directed by Roger Corman. Colorized version. 

Scientist Paul Nelson (Peter Graves of Killers from Space) helped put a satellite in orbit, and when it briefly disappears, his best friend and fellow scientist Tom Anderson (Lee Van Cleef of Machete) insists that a creature from Venus is now aboard it and heading for Earth. Anderson is convinced that the alien is benevolent and will bring about a golden age where foolish emotions are unnecessary. Tom's wife, Claire (Beverly Garland of Gunslinger), thinks her husband is nuts, and Paul argues about the alien's alleged good intentions. Especially when after landing and taking refuge in a cave, the creature blocks all energy and electricity and sends out flying, bat-like animals that briefly attach themselves to certain people's necks and sap their free will -- one of the victims is Paul's wife, Joan (Sally Fraser). Claire finally gets a rifle and decides to take matters into her own hands ...  

The crazed Venusian creature on a rampage

There are an awful lot of things you could quibble about with It Conquered the World, but while the movie is often absurd it is also absorbing. As usual Beverly Garland walks off with the acting honors, although Lee Van Cleef isn't too far behind her with his intense portrayal of a rather naive and delusional scientist. Graves and Fraser are a cut below them, but are adequate. (They have hardly any reaction to a plane crash that occurs virtually on top of them.) Dick Miller and Jonathan Haze are cast as comic relief soldiers and add nothing to the picture, unfortunately. Roger Corman keeps things moving at a brisk pace although the climax is a little dragged out. The Venusian creature may look a little silly and has very limited movement, but Corman manages to get across its malevolence and homicidal intent anyway. The highlight of the film is Garland's impassioned verbal and physical attack on the alien. An uncredited remake was Zontar, the Thing from Venus. 

Verdict: Whatever its flaws, this is a creepy Corman classic. ***.

KILLERS FROM SPACE

Peter Graves and John Frederick (Merrick)

KILLERS FROM SPACE (1954). Produced and directed by W. Lee Wilder. Colorized.

 After disappearing in the desert after a plane crash, atomic scientist Dr. Doug Martin (Peter Graves of Beginning of the End), suffering memory loss, is viewed with suspicion by his colleagues. Under the ministration of sodium pentothal, Doug remembers being held prisoner by aliens from Astron-Delta with ping pong eyeballs. The claim they brought him back from death, and need his help in their plans to take over the earth, which they need after their own sun expired. Deneb (John Frederick) and his buddies plan to unleash monstrously enlarged animals and insects upon earth's helpless inhabitants. Will Doug's desperate plans be enough to save the world and destroy the creatures and would-be invaders? 

Man meets Lizard!

Killers from Space is about on the level of one of those sci-fi serials from Republic that played in theaters during this period, if not quite as much fun. Graves gives as little extra as possible to his performance in this, but the supporting cast is a bit more enthusiastic: James Seay of Heartaches as Colonel Banks, Steve Pendleton as Investigator Briggs, Frank Gerstle as Dr. Kruger, Shepard Menken as Major Clift, the base doctor, and Barbara Bestar as Doug's wife. The best scene in the movie has Doug trying to escape via huge caverns and encountering gigantic spiders, grasshoppers, horned toads, lizards, roaches, beetles, and the like, all via back projection. (As usual the unnerving sound FX make this sequence work.) The notion that the aliens want to use outsized carnivorous beasties to devour all of mankind is a trifle unsettling. 

Verdict: Passable comic book sci fi. **1/2. 

WHERE HAVE ALL THE PEOPLE GONE?

Kathleen Quinlan and Peter Graves

WHERE HAVE ALL THE PEOPLE GONE? (1974 telefilm). Director: John Llewellyn Moxey. Teleplay by Lewis John Carlino. 

Steven Anders (Peter Graves of Beginning of the End) and his children David (George O'Hanlon Jr.) and Deborah (Kathleen Quinlan) are out camping when they investigate a cave and discover something bizarre has happened while they were inside. Their friend Clancy (Noble Willingham), who was not inside the cave, becomes very sick and eventually dies while they are taking him to civilization. What's weirder, his body disappears. Back in town the Anders discover that somehow solar flares (and, ironically, a virus) have killed off most of the populace, turning their bodies into dust. In addition there are no phones or electricity. Steven's wife did not go camping and now his primary focus is to fight off both animal and human predators and make his way back to his spouse. 

Verna Bloom as Jenny

Where Have All the People Gone? is a compelling and suspenseful story that at times comes off like an eerie Roger Corman movie. The characters, including a woman survivor named Jenny (Verna Bloom) whose husband disintegrated and whose children were attacked and killed by maddened dogs (a side effect of the solar flares), are well-developed and the acting is quite good -- with the exception of lead Peter Graves, who rarely works up the consternation and emotion Steven would be feeling. Steven eventually finds his wife, but it is not a happy moment. It might have been good if the script offered some more detail as to what's happened, but it works as a nominal end-of-the-world scenario that is not without hope for the future. 

Verdict: Depressing but quite good doomsday telefilm. ***.

SCREAM OF THE WOLF

Clint Walker and Peter Graves

SCREAM OF THE WOLF (1974 telefilm). Producer/Director: Dan Curtis. Screenplay by Richard Matheson. 

A series of gruesome deaths are attributed to an unknown wild animal that authorities fear can transform from a four-legged creature into something that walks upright. John Wetherby (Peter Graves) is called in to search for the beast, and tries to enlist the aid of old hunting buddy Byron Douglas (Clint Walker). John's gal pal, Sandy Miller (Jo Ann Pflug), is convinced that Byron is somehow behind the deaths, especially when he refuses to help John entrap the beast. John feels that the killings are making the whole community feel "alive." Then someone or something breaks into Sandy's home and tries to kill her ...

Old friends turned enemies? Graves and Walker

Scream of the Wolf is one of Dan Curtis' better horror telefilms as it is well-directed and has a lot of eerie atmospherics and suspense. The cast, including Philip Carey as the sheriff, is fine, with Clint Walker delivering an excellent performance as Byron. Some viewers have seen homoerotic elements in the movie, centering on a relationship between Byron and his employee, houseman Grant (Don Megowan of Creation of the Humanoids), whom he met in a bar, as well as a bit of dialogue when Byron says to John "can't you even hold me for a minute?" which actually refers to  an arm-wrestling match! Sandy accuses John of wanting to go off hunting the beast with Byron even if he were the killer! One can read all sorts of things into this scenario, but whether scripter Richard Matheson meant them to be taken that way is debatable. 

In any case, Scream of the Wolf  is worth catching on the Late Show, although viewers might wonder why no one in the movie ever ponders the possibility that the mysterious beast who can walk on two legs or four and tear a man apart might be -- a bear? (It isn't.) 

Verdict: Creepy horror teleflick with a notable Walker. ***.

BEGINNING OF THE END

giant locust attacks 

BEGINNING OF THE END (1957). Director: Bert I. Gordon. 

Ace lady reporter Audrey Aimes (Peggie Castle) is perplexed, to say the least, when she is told by the military that the whole town of Ludlow, Illinois has been cordoned off. Later she learns that every building in town has been completely demolished and all 500 inhabitants have disappeared. She encounters entomologist Dr. Ed Wainwright (Peter Graves of Death Car on the Freeway) who uses a small amount of radioactivity in his experimentation. Investigating a grain storage facility that was wrecked from the inside out, Wainwright's deaf-mute assistant Frank (Than Wyeen) is suddenly set upon and devoured (off-screen) by a humongous locust. Now Audrey knows what happened to those 500 missing people! 

Peter Graces and Peggie Castle

Aside from fans of "Mr. Big," Beginning of the End has been roundly excoriated, but I will gladly say that the movie has always given me the creeps, along with those scary giant grasshoppers (even if the cheap process work makes them look washed out). The picture has a solid script, a fast-pace, unnerving sound effects of the critters chirp-chirrrping before an attack, and a very effective score by Albert Glasser. Graves and Castle make convincing enough leads, with the female emerging as just as courageous as the male, if not more so. The well-constructed climax has the couple attracting the monsters to their building in downtown Chicago so that they can flick a switch that will, hopefully, send them out into the river so they can drown. But will they manage to survive long enough for that to happen?

locust and truck

One can certainly quibble about some of the cheap effects, but that doesn't stop the movie from being entertaining. The "battle" scenes between soldiers and locusts are well-done and often horrifying. For inexplicable reasons the official DVD of the film cuts a shot of a giant locust nearly catching up to a truck full of soldiers upon whom it would certainly pounce, so just to catch that nifty, chilling moment I watch an inferior TV print (see pic on the left). Some well-known character actors are in the cast, including James Seay, Thomas Browne Henry [20 Million Miles to Earth], Hank Patterson, and Morris Ankrum as the general in charge of the whole operation. Gordon also directed Earth vs the Spider and many others. 

NOTE: For more info on this film and many others like it see Creature Features: Nature Turned Nasty in the Movies. 

Verdict: Low-budget insect disaster film with disgusting and voracious monsters. ***. 

DEATH CAR ON THE FREEWAY

Shelley Hack

DEATH CAR ON THE FREEWAY (1979 telefilm). Director|: Hal Needham. 

Jan (Shelley Hack) is a newswoman who learns of two incidents where women were targeted and nearly killed by a man in a dark van on the freeway. Jan is convinced the two incidents are related, but has trouble convincing her boss (Frank Gorshin of Hot Rod Girl) until there are more incidents, resulting in the deaths of several woman. Jan's husband, Ray (George Hamilton), who wants her back even though he treats her like a child and she insists she needs her independence, is scared that the creep on the freeway will now target her. Although Lt. Haller (Peter Graves) wants Jan to back off, she decides to initiate her own investigation, which she may come to regret.

Peter Graves: Where;s my team? 

Death Car on the Freeway certainly has an interesting cast, in addition to Hamilton, Gorshin and Graves. Dinah Shore is cast as a tennis pro who is nearly forced off the road by the psycho, Harriet Nelson of Ozzie and Harriet fame is a landlady, and Barbara Rush is an older colleague of Jan's. As for Shelley Hack, she's cute, but one gets the sense that she was told how to say each and every line before she stepped in front of a camera. Former stunt man and crash coordinator Hal Needham directed the film with his usual lack of panache, and he also plays a guy who teaches Jan about defensive driving. The movie is modestly entertaining, but although there are a few suspects as to whom the psycho driver is, you wait for a twist that never comes. The feminist sub-text is interesting and very typical of the period. 

Verdict: Watch Duel instead. **1/2.