THE CREEPING TERROR

Vic Savage

THE CREEPING TERROR (1964). Director: "A. J. Nelson" (Vic Savage).

Sheriff Martin Gordon (Vic Savage, who also directed) discovers that a spaceship containing two very weird creatures has landed in his figurative backyard. One of these creatures, who resembles a shambling carpet with vacuum hoses on top, shuffles around devouring people whole, victims who never seem  to have the common sense to just run away from the slow-moving alien.  Martin and his wife, Brett (Shannon O'Neil) are newlyweds who would rather be spending their time alone but Martin and his deputy Barney (Brendon Boone), as well as Dr. Bradford (William Thourlby) and Colonel Caldwell (John Caresio), must investigate all of the disappearances. The creature attacks a dance at a gymnasium and seems to consume virtually all of the souls there (at least the film might have suggested the victims were hypnotized). There is some minor suspense at the end when the protagonists try to stop the alien ship's computer from broadcasting info about earthlings and their weaknesses back to the home planet. Much of the soundtrack to The Creeping Terror was lost, which is why the movie is practically narrated. It's by no means a good movie, but it has a workable plot and might have amounted to something had it been directed by Roger Corman. Savage and the making of the film were examined in the docudrama The Creep Behind the Camera. Some of the actors in Terror actually went on to have decent careers.

Verdict: Oy vey! *1/2.        

QUEEN OF BLOOD

The very odd Florence Marley as a sinister queen

QUEEN OF BLOOD (aka Planet of Blood/1966 ) Writer/director: Curtis Harrington.

Using footage from a foreign space epic or two for FX shots, Curtis Harrington [What's the Matter with Helen?] fashioned this quaint horror-sci-fi tale using some American actors and Czech-born Florence Marley. Astronauts Alan Brenner (John Saxon), Laura James (Judi Meredith) and Paul  Grant (Dennis Hopper), among others, fly to pick up an alien visitor who has landed on the wrong moon. The visitor is a silent, spooky, weird alien queen (perfectly cast Marley) with green skin, an acorn hairdo, and a certain strict diet that Dracula could empathize with. Before long the crew find themselves fighting off her unwelcome advances. Queen of Blood is disjointed, but eventually it becomes modestly entertaining. Basil Rathbone plays a doctor who seems more fascinated by Marley's appetite than appalled. The actors do the best they can, considering what they have to work with. Meredith was the princess in Jack the Giant Killer. Now and then you'll hear some of Ronald Stein's music from Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.

Verdict: Okay, but no It, the Terror from Beyond Space. **1/2.

THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING

THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING (1964). Director: Terence Fisher.

In a small village in England, people suddenly drop dead in the middle of everyday tasks, or even when driving cars or railroad trains. Jeff Nolan (Willard Parker), an American pilot who was in the air when the disaster occurred, meets up with a group of people who were similarly spared and they gather inside the village inn. Then slow-moving robots with a death touch appear from out of nowhere, and the people they kill reanimate as pop-eyed living corpses.There's enough material here for an interesting horror/sci fi flick, but Terence Fisher, director of such fine movies as The Gorgon, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, and Horror of Dracula, must have tossed this stinker off in a couple of days without insisting on rewrites. You never quite get a sense from the script or the actors that this might well be the end of the world, there's hardly any atmosphere, and some of the proceedings are quite illogical. Willard Parker was in What a Woman! with Rosalind Russell. Virginia Field, who plays Peggy, was married to Parker at the time and gave vivid performances in such films as Dial 1119 and on such shows as Perry Mason. The Earth Dies Screaming is professional enough, but it's just blah, devoid of inspiration or commitment from anyone, although some of the actors do what they can with inferior material.

Verdict: Like one of the more forgettable episodes of the sixties TV show The Outer Limits. *1/2.