The Slime People

No, this is not the story of a bunch of McDonald's fry cooks. Nor is it the biography of my ex-bosses at a certain midtown NY ad agency. What "The Slime People" turns out to be is an extremely shoddily put together film depicting what happens when a race of lumbering, bipedal reptilians attacks L.A. from underground and erects a dome of fog around it. The "director," '40s star Robert Hutton, is also the action lead here, looking for all the world like a dressed-down Dan Hicks. His thesping is passable, but the small band that he falls in with emotes terribly...especially the two women. I don't think I've EVER seen worse acting. This film, although it lasts a mere 65 minutes, is guaranteed to induce a headache, (a) because the sound quality of this Rhino DVD is so lousy, and (b) because most of the film takes place in a dark, misty fog. Nothing seems to make any sense; the characters' actions and what they say all leave the viewer shaking his/her head in bafflement. Other than the admittedly cool-looking monsters (which, to the film's credit, we DO get to see in the opening seconds), the FX are god-awful. The machine that the Slime People are using to erect that impenetrable fog dome looks just like a wiggly Hefty garbage bag, and is as easily disposed of! All in all, "The Slime People" gives "Robot Monster" some competition as one of the worst films of all time. Don't miss it?

THE SLIME PEOPLE is an extremely low budget monster flick that has very little to recommend it, even for huge fans of this genre. For the most part this is talky and dull, charting the lives of a group of survivors who are hiding out in the mountains after the titular foes have taken over their city by lowering the temperature and filling the place with fog. There's a lot of back and forth argument and descriptions of places and events we never get to see, before things finally kick into gear with a low budget attack sequence right at the climax. To be fair, the creature costumes aren't all that bad, but it takes far too long to get to that point.

The Slime People would only appeal to the hard core lover of early science fiction movies. The over extensive use of the fog machine makes it difficult to see some of the scenes clearly enough to follow the action. The traditional wholesome characters (50's style, men at table discussing important things, woman putting away the dishes) engaging in supposedly serious discussions/explanations of the Slime folks "wall of fog" is just plain funny. But when all is said and done the movie did entertain me, but certainly not for everyone. Hats off to the actress stuck playing Bonnie, the dumb blonde teenager.

Los Angelos is enclosed by a wall of fog created by inhabitants from in the inner depths of the Earth, whereby they kill all the people they can find(for no known reason) and so that they can control the temperatures. These creatures are labeled "Slime People" because they are coated with slime. The rest of the scientific mumbo jumbo used to explain the intricacies of the plot are just as lacking in logic and creativity. The creatures look like something from The Golem but only with pointed heads. This film is cheap...no make that with capital letters...CHEAP! Much of the film is so foggy that you don't really see anything and the parts that are clear you wish someone on the production crew would have revved up the fog machines to cover up this lame, limp, lacking script and the abominable acting. None of the sets look impressive, in fact, I have seen more time and money lavished on school productions than this film! Robert Hutton plays the lead(and director for his one big time chance) and he is awful...and the best the film has to offer in the line of thespians. The young man playing Cal the Marine(William Boyce) actually made my skin crawl every time he opened his mouth. He is that bad. Despite all of these problems( and the many I just didn't feel like adding), this film has a certain charm and is at least a fun bad movie to watch.

This yet another film I saw as a teenager in the 1960's that brings back many fond memories of my youth. I would have to agree that for all its awfulness "The Slime People" as one reviewer states, does have its charm. The excessive use of fog provides the movie with a unique atmosphere giving it just enough of an edge to make the film interesting and at times even a little scary. Every now and then one of the Slime People would sneak out of the fog and really creep us out. In some places the film is funny to the point of being ridiculous, still I think the story and the science behind it is plausible and it does have its serious moments. I have seen movies that were far worse than this one. If you love the films of this genre, just out of curiosity you should give it a look. The Slime People is very hard to find on TV, Satellite or Cable. I bought my VHS copy new a few years back. Even with the current digital re-mastering to DVD, this film will never be easy to watch.……..must be that all that fog…………….