Invasion of the Star Creatures

!!!!!!!!!WARNING!!!!!!HATRED FOR WANNA-BE CRITICS AHEAD!!!!!!!!!

I can't understand why someone would even bother to write a bad review for this one. A movie that begins with the title

" R. I. Diculous presents... an impossible picture........ "

can't be beaten in any level, except perhaps in its own "genre" of stupid B-films that DON'T take themselves too seriously. This one certainly doesn't.

So, enough with all your serious reviews and your politically correct opinions. Go and rate some more films to get satisfaction by judging what you wouldn't ever be able to make and leave the review section for us movie lovers!

This is by no means recommended..... UNLESS you watch along with some friends, a special mood for this type of "humour" and of course....... BEER (or other kind of booze, anyway!) ENJOY!

Basically this film is a ridiculously silly spoof of 50s style sci-fi film cheapies. It stars Robert Ball & Frankie Ray, a poor man's imitation of Abbott and Costello, as incompetent army privates sent to investigate a mysterious radioactive cave in which they discover 7 foot plant men (yeah just guys in ridiculous costumes--there's some unintentionally funny moments later when they toss around boulders!) and 2 7-foot Space babes named Dr. Tanga (Gloria Victor) & Professor Puna (Dolores Reed) , who rather resemble some meaty lady pro wrestlers, bent on taking over the Earth and who seem to be well under way to doing so until our hero Pvt. Philbrick (Robert Ball) messes up Professor Puna's reactions by kissing her giving our heroes the chance to escape with the plant men in pursuit...actually this was fun, incredibly silly mindless stupid fun but fun nonetheless. This was actually written by Jonathan Haze and directed by Bruno Ve Sota...two old Corman/AIP mainstays.

I must have been about eight years old when I saw this on TV in the sixties. I was hesitant to watch it because I was home alone and the title seemed kind of scary. I watched it anyway and my initial reaction was that it seemed really odd. When I saw it again (and again and again)as an adult, I came to realize that a good deal of that oddness can be attributed to the low budget of the film(minimal cast,cheap sets,crude monsters and tacky - but distinctive - music). The box office appeal of the two voluptuous "galaxy gals" who were spearheading the invasion was also lost on me as a kid, as were the references to early television and the then-fledgling space program. Still, the overall kookiness of the whole thing really appealed to me at that tender age and it still does(I have a VHS copy my friend "The Alien" recorded off TV). Since, as I type this there is only one other comment for this film, there must be an awful lot of people out there who haven't seen it. The story involves a pair of dimwit army privates who discover that Dr. Poona and Proffessor Tanga(really!), two amazonian women from another world are in the early stages of planning an attack on the earth, aided by their army of "vege-men." Because their story is so fantastic(and they're so stupid)our two G.I. Jokers can't get their superiors to take action, so it's up to them to save the day. Sub-Three Stooges slapstick and brain-damaged dialogue can be found throughout,and it can't be over-emphasized that this is a very cheaply made movie. That said, I really enjoyed this film as a kid and I like it now.

Most bad comedies are hard to take, this four sheets to wind, jaw dropping, "I-must-be-dreaming" Stupidfest is, for some of us, a kind of movie heaven.

"Invasion" is still kind of hard to find (I went ten bucks for a bootlegged copy on ebay), it's never been issued on video, it was a bottom feeder even for A.I.P. Interestingly, a lot of mint condition poster and promotional stuff also turns up on ebay, suggesting the was pulled out of release(understandable) and sent to the T.V. showers early on.

I think Director Bruno Ve Sota, who does a cameo, really was the poor man's Orson Welles, his interesting career included staring in, and perhaps co-directing, the cult film "Dementia" (aka "Daughter Of Horror). Bob Ball, the even sillier half of Invasion's comic duo, ended up in the mime troupe in "Easy Rider." Anyway, "Invasion" like the hard to find "Ghost Of Dragstrip Hollow", is worth the hunt. Space Commander Conners wants you!

Even at age 10 I felt like a complete idiot for staying up late to watch this witless little cheesecake-girl sci-fi parody. The goofy, though not especially funny story has two bumbling male leads falling all over themselves in lustful pursuit of some comely moon-cuties. Meanwhile, a couple of lumbering fellows in Danskin tights with potato sacks on their heads(the so-called "Star Creatures" of the title) are wreaking very minor havoc.

For even aspiring to be as little as lowbrow camp, this is actually a pretty rough ride. If I had seen this at a drive-in in 1963, I surely would have driven my vehicle full-speed through the movie screen in a fit of consternation(or at least demanded my sixty cents back). Perhaps today, as an adult, I'd have a better time with "Invasion of the Star Creatures"(Bacardi 151 in hand, of course...)

**UPDATE, May 2010** I did indeed revisit this sub-B movie, and as I suspected, it actually IS a more worthy watch today as a tragically dated cultural artifact of sorts. One particular line of dialog is exemplary of this - "...wow...that's the first time a salad ever tossed *ME* !". That one probably brought forth a few weak chuckles in '63...presently, some folks might fall on the floor in hysterics...

3/10