One night in the small town of Riverdale, Illinois, we see a creepy-looking man skulking down the street carrying a glowing glass orb in his hands. Another man bumps into him, the orb breaks sending a flow of viscous liquid into the street, and the creep throttles the bumper. The next day, Glenn, the mayor's son, and his girlfriend Elaine hear an explosion out in the woods and come upon a 50 foot tall metallic cylinder jutting up from the earth, with dead animals strewn about the area. A scientist named Kettering (Ed Nelson) and his assistant Alice are called in by the mayor to investigate, but when Washington hears about this possible UFO finding, they send the skeptical Senator Powers and his assistant Dan to oversee things. The cone has a cyclical interior and appears to be empty but is assumed to be of alien origin. Soon we hear reports that important men in town are being murdered and the mayor himself vanishes. When he returns, we see him at his desk try unsuccessfully to shoot himself. When Our Heroes (all of the above) find the mayor, he starts shooting at people before he is shot to death. Discovered on the back of his neck is a leech-like creature that had attached itself and taken over the mayor's nervous system. It turns out that the parasites are not of extraterrestrial origin, but the cone and its passengers have come from inside the earth, aided by two scientists reported missing years ago who have become hosts for the creatures, and who are looking to make Earth a better place with their groupthink approach to war and peace.
Though apparently based loosely and without attribution on Robert Heinlein's The Puppet Masters, this plays out like a no-budget INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. The acting ranges from almost amateurish (Jack Hill as Senator Powers) to competent (Alan Frost as the mayor's son, Orville Sherman as the mayor) to pretty good (Ed Nelson, best known as Dr. Rossi on the TV show Peyton Place). Same goes for cinematography and direction; mostly, the film is shot unimaginatively, but once in a while, there’s an attention-getting moment, as when the mayor's meltdown is filmed at a crooked angle—like the Batman TV show of the 60s would do in the villain's lair, or the noirish shots of the men with the glass globes (which contain the parasites). Sometimes attention is paid due to something silly; during a scene in which someone is struggling against the influence of the parasite, lushly romantic music plays which makes the moment rather less tense than it should be. There is also a startling moment when a parasite is planted on a woman who then takes a midnight stroll in a diaphanous nightgown. The first 10 minutes or so are so bad, you're sure this will be another Plan 9 from Outer Space, but it does get more watchable, so if you’re a fan of 50s SF, stick with it. Pictured at top are Nelson and Frost. [YouTube]
One night in the small town of Riverdale, Illinois, we see a creepy-looking man skulking down the street carrying a glowing glass orb in his hands. Another man bumps into him, the orb breaks sending a flow of viscous liquid into the street, and the creep throttles the bumper. The next day, Glenn, the mayor's son, and his girlfriend Elaine hear an explosion out in the woods and come upon a 50 foot tall metallic cylinder jutting up from the earth, with dead animals strewn about the area. A scientist named Kettering (Ed Nelson) and his assistant Alice are called in by the mayor to investigate, but when Washington hears about this possible UFO finding, they send the skeptical Senator Powers and his assistant Dan to oversee things. The cone has a cyclical interior and appears to be empty but is assumed to be of alien origin. Soon we hear reports that important men in town are being murdered and the mayor himself vanishes. When he returns, we see him at his desk try unsuccessfully to shoot himself. When Our Heroes (all of the above) find the mayor, he starts shooting at people before he is shot to death. Discovered on the back of his neck is a leech-like creature that had attached itself and taken over the mayor's nervous system. It turns out that the parasites are not of extraterrestrial origin, but the cone and its passengers have come from inside the earth, aided by two scientists reported missing years ago who have become hosts for the creatures, and who are looking to make Earth a better place with their groupthink approach to war and peace.
Though apparently based loosely and without attribution on Robert Heinlein's The Puppet Masters, this plays out like a no-budget INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. The acting ranges from almost amateurish (Jack Hill as Senator Powers) to competent (Alan Frost as the mayor's son, Orville Sherman as the mayor) to pretty good (Ed Nelson, best known as Dr. Rossi on the TV show Peyton Place). Same goes for cinematography and direction; mostly, the film is shot unimaginatively, but once in a while, there’s an attention-getting moment, as when the mayor's meltdown is filmed at a crooked angle—like the Batman TV show of the 60s would do in the villain's lair, or the noirish shots of the men with the glass globes (which contain the parasites). Sometimes attention is paid due to something silly; during a scene in which someone is struggling against the influence of the parasite, lushly romantic music plays which makes the moment rather less tense than it should be. There is also a startling moment when a parasite is planted on a woman who then takes a midnight stroll in a diaphanous nightgown. The first 10 minutes or so are so bad, you're sure this will be another Plan 9 from Outer Space, but it does get more watchable, so if you’re a fan of 50s SF, stick with it. Pictured at top are Nelson and Frost. [YouTube]
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