The Cape Canaveral Monsters

In preparation of an invasion from outer space two aliens named "Hauron" (Jason Johnson) and "Nadja" (Katherine Victor) inhabit the bodies of a young couple and proceed to carry out their orders to sabotage rocket research at Cape Canaveral. However, after a series of inexplicable rocket failures a young scientist named "Tom Wright" (Scott Peters) begins to have suspicions about possible interference from sinister forces and proceeds to check it out. With him in his inspection of the local area is his girlfriend "Sally Markham" (Linda Connell) who also happens to be the daughter of the lead scientist in charge. But what neither Tom nor Sally fully comprehend is just how sophisticated these aliens are and how inhuman they can be. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was definitely a grade-B, sci-fi film from start to finish which pretty much had nothing novel or original to show for its efforts. Talk about a paint-by-numbers picture. Likewise, the fact that this was a made-for-television movie didn't help much in that regard either. It was all pretty boring. That said I have rated this film accordingly. Below average.

Cape Canaveral Monsters, The (1960)

* (out of 4)

A couple aliens from an unknown planet come to Earth where they cause a young couple to crash their car. The aliens then take over their bodies with plans to destroy a place where they are setting off missiles. The aliens are against the missiles so they begin to shoot them out of the sky so it's up to a couple other teens to try and save the day. Rumor, myth or truth, it's said that director Phil Tucker attempted suicide after the horrible reviews of his film ROBOT MONSTER. Who knows how much of that is actually true but this thing here is just about as bad. Those art house crowds would be best to stay away from this thing but if you enjoy bad movies then this one here is about as bad and as stupid as you can get. For starters, the plot makes very little to no sense because the screenplay, also by Tucker, never takes any time to explain what the missiles are being used for and we never really get to know why the aliens want to destroy them. The movie runs 68-minutes and the entire story just jumps around without too much logic. One minute a couple teens will get kidnapped and then the very next scene we have their friends, somehow, knowing the aliens took them so they go to find them. There's never any reasoning as to what's going on and this includes some rather silly devices used by the aliens to control the teens. One of the dumbest things is a running joke about the male alien constantly having his arm ripped off. I'm not sure if this was meant as comedy but it does separate this film from countless other sci-fi flicks from this era because the sight of a severed arm wasn't too common in 1960. The car crash at the start of the film was actually filmed fairly well as the camera was placed in the back seat as the "wreck" happened. That's about the best thing that can be said about this film. I wouldn't say this movie is as enjoyable as ROBOT MONSTER but it would certainly make a decent double-feature with that film.

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Phil Tucker; Produced by Richard Greer; Executive Producer: Lionel Dichter; American TV syndication release by American-International TV. Screenplay by Phil Tucker; Photography by W. Merle Connell; Edited by Richard Greer; Music by Gene Kauer. Starring Scott Peters, Linda Connell, Jason Johnson, Katherine Victor; Harriet Dichter, Chuck Howard, Bill Vess and Joe Chester.

Incredibly dated science fiction film about alien saboteurs infiltrating the American space project. Amateurish acting, with special hamminess from Linda Connell as Nadia the Spacelady. It has a few unintentional humorous moments to keep it from being discarded out of hand.

Director Phil Tucker will always be associated with his 1953 3-D epic "Robot Monster," but after a number of lesser features he made one return to the science fiction genre with 1960's "The Cape Canaveral Monsters," a title that curiously remains in obscurity despite several weird touches provided by Tucker's screenwriting, bypassing theatrical distribution for television screenings in a sci/fi quartet with "The Monster of Piedras Blancas," "The Hideous Sun Demon" and "Flight of the Lost Balloon," all independent productions. Invaders from another world in our solar system are eager to prevent Earth from launching any rockets that might reveal the truth about them, so two alien scientists are dispatched to carve out a cave in the hillside near Florida's Cape Canaveral to set in motion long term sabotage. Originally represented by two dots of light, the creatures engineer the demise of a husband and wife, the man's arm torn off by the force of the car crash, the woman Nadja (Katherine Victor) left with facial scars from a collision with the bloody windshield. Her companion Hauron (Jason Johnson) is naturally eager to find a suitable replacement for his tattered arm, particularly after guard dogs at Cape Canaveral finally rip it off for examination. Another curious notion finds the decomposing invaders retiring for a little off screen canoodling, so it's no wonder that they scour Lover's Lane for mostly female subjects to transmit back to their home planet. One such couple is Tom Wright (Scott Peters) and Sally Markham (Linda Connell), noting strange interference on an illegal radio frequency, enough to lead them to the Bronson Cavern hideaway and the discovery of the space saboteurs. For all its endless talk it remains curiously watchable, not as jaw droppingly bad as the $16,000 "Robot Monster," rather a marked improvement in its uncommon gruesomeness on what may have been a smaller budget, its possession of the deceased prefiguring "Night of the Living Dead," like "Plan 9 from Outer Space" or "Invisible Invaders." The cast is mostly comprised of amateurs, although Jason Johnson played bits in "Invasion of the Saucer Men" (another Lover's Lane highlight) and "The Lost Missile," top billed Scott Peters hardly carving out a name for himself in AIP efforts such as "Invasion of the Saucer Men," "The Amazing Colossal Man," "Attack of the Puppet People" and "Panic in Year Zero!" plus "They Saved Hitler's Brain." Cinematographer W. Merle Connell had previously directed 1952's rarely screened "Untamed Women," but his finest contribution to this minor film was the starring role portrayed by his pretty daughter Linda, whose fresh faced presence makes up for many dull stretches opposite her colorless leading man (Lover's Lane was never more dangerous!). The most familiar face belongs to Katherine Victor, whose long association with huckster filmmaker Jerry Warren extended from 1957's "Teenage Zombies" all the way to 1981's "Frankenstein Island," sinking her teeth into this role for all its worth, a memorable performance under the circumstances.

The man who made this film, Phil Tucker, was one of the worst film directors in history. He was responsible for such travesties as "Dance Hall Racket" and "Robot Monster"--the latter of which was among the films in Harry Medved's book "The Fifty Worst Movies of All Time". Incompetence, bad acting and crappy budgets--all hallmarks of this film legend. So, when I saw that "The Cape Canaveral Monsters" was also made by Tucker, I had to watch it, as I occasionally like a terrible movie. After all, with over 12000 reviews to my credit, I need a few truly horrible films now and again after watching artsy, foreign or silent films. Unfortunately, while "The Cape Canaveral Monsters" is very bad, it never comes close to being as bad as "Robot Monster".

The film is supposedly set around Cape Canaveral, Florida. But, being a Floridian, I was amazed to see LOTS of very, very high hills with caves and not a trace of a palm tree or alligator. Frankly, if there WERE caves around Canaveral, they'd be filled up with water, as the land is swampy and very wet. The location was about as un-Canaveral like as you can get--short of filming it in Alaska!

The plot involves two bad actors who have stolen human bodies killed in a car accident. Following their assumption of the bodies as their own, the pair destroy rocket test after rocket test, as their planet does not want the humans venturing into space. They also want to collect a few human specimens to take back to their home planet. Two young folks who work for a professor in charge of the rocket program stumble upon these two undead aliens. Can they stop them or is the Earth royally screwed? The story idea is pretty typical of the genre--and isn't that different from Ed Wood's "Plan 9 From Outer Space". And, like "Plan 9", the film has a lot of bad acting, crappy props and the like. Bad movie buffs will love watching the Professor deliver his lines as if he's suffering from a traumatic brain injury. They will also love the one-armed guy who clearly has his arm tucked inside his jumpsuit! But the overall level of badness isn't uniform. The male lead isn't a terrible actor and the editing and direction occasionally don't look horrible. Not exactly glowing endorsements, I know, but things that make the film less attractive to those who seek out the very worst! Bad but not quite bad enough is how I see this one.