La morte viene dal pianeta Aytin

The budgets of WILD WILD PLANET(1965) and WAR OF THE PLANETS(1966) ran out in this follow up to those films, using props and situations created in them. This one is earthbound and lacks the terrificly gaudy miniature future-scapes of the last two outings. And lacks the stars(Tony Russel, who actually has screen *presence* in the previous two).

Has a terrific opening score that playable several times, but the whole thing seems terribly set-bound, and small sets at that. But overall recalls to us a time of film-making long gone.

Fun stuff.

Despite a slow first half, "Snow Devils" is fun escapist fare. An intrepid team of spacemen/scientists led by wavy-haired Rod Jackson (Giacomo Rossi ('Jack') Stuart) travel to the Himalaya to investigate climate change (very prescient). As modern "climate-change deniers" claim, it is not due to human activity but is rather due (this they do not claim) to aliens who are modifying our climate to match their needs as they plan on colonising Earth. The aliens are somewhat greenish hairy men with very fake-looking huge hairy Hobbit feet, who are the basis of 'yeti' sightings (or "snow devils" to the locals). There is a lot of tedious trudging through snow and cave-sets before this is established, at which point the movie gets interesting as the team blasts off to the moons of Jupitar to attack the alien base. Typical of director Antonio Margheriti's so-called "Gamma One" series (named after the space station that appears in all of the films), "Snow Devils" is full of great, if not particularly realistic, looking miniatures (including lots of spaceships) and imaginative scenes of people floating in zero-gravity. In a surprising nod to scientific accuracy (in a film where the rockets all gout flames as they fly through space), the issue of time delay in radio communications is written into the plot. The acting is generally hammy (Stuart delivers some lines in a Shatneresque staccato) and the women are primarily decorative (but look nice in their tight-fitting space-pants). If you have seen other "Gamma One" films, expect some feelings of déjà vu, as the props are recycled (note the reappearance of the futuristic cars similar to George Jetson's (although not capable of flight)). Not exactly cerebral sci-fi but better than most Hollywood offerings of the same vintage and budget. Worth watching by anyone looking for an imaginative, colourful and mindless time-killer, but a must-see for fans of science fiction movies.

In SNOW DEVILS, havoc strikes in the Arctic, and climate change ensues. This has to do with Yeti whom are actually hairy-armed aliens wearing Bigfoot boots.

Apparently, our planet is doomed.

Enter Commander Jackson (Giacomo Rossi Stuart), a man with the most glorious pompadour on any human head. Ever! Jackson is dispatched to engage the aliens on their home turf. He's humanity's only hope.

This movie contains: Absurd action! Ridiculous romance! Dizzyingly dumb dialogue! Catastrophic costumes!

The "special" effects pretty much boil down to miniature displays on someone's billiard table, and outer space models with absolutely no effort made to make them appear even remotely realistic. In other words, this is a must-see for the true schlock enthusiast. So, if you're a connoisseur of crap, this is your BEN HUR!

An astonishing achievment...

...although it frequently crosses over into "so-bad-it's-good" territory.

This Italian sci-fi turkey that's the fourth in a series, released by MGM and from director Antonio Margheriti aka Anthony Dawson, has Giacomo Rossi Stuart aka Jack Stuart starring as Commander Rod Jackson, a man-of-action in the employ of the United Democracies Space Command, aka Gamma 1. He and his sidekick Captain Frank Pulasky (Freddy Unger) are sent to the Himalayas after HQ loses communication with a Gamma 1 weather station. Fellow Gamma 1 employee Lisa Nielson (Amber Collins) tags along to look for her boyfriend, Lt. Jim Harris (Rene Baldwin), who was the weather station chief. When they finally reach their destination, our heroes discover a race of Yetis, snow-dwelling ape creatures with a sinister secret agenda.

The "Gamma 1" series includes The Wild Wild Planet (1966), The War of the Planets (1966), War Between the Planets (1966), this film, and finally The Green Slime (1968). They all have tacky costumes and set design, terrible effects, and laughable plots to go along with the requisite awful dubbing. Stuart and Collins seem to be in a contest for most ridiculous hairstyle, while bad guy Meniconi looks like Zach Galifianakis in bad cosplay. Bradley is also an odd member of the cast as a black Himalayan porter and comic relief (I think).

For hard core completists only. "Bad" is not a strong enough term. Dull, ham-fisted, tedious. Not entertaining and no fun. It's just awful, honestly. It's a chore slogging through this movie hoping that it gets better at some point. It doesn't. The characters are not likable and the dialog is dreadful.