The Day It Came to Earth

If 1986's "Night of The Creeps" were a parody of a specific movie, it would be this one. Actually this film is considered a bit of a parody itself in that it was made in 1979, but feels much older. Really, it does not feel cutting edge in any way. The characters may be send-ups of more innocent 50's and 60's teens, but it's not done in a clever way. The effect is just that of over-acting and it's all in all a very bad movie. Extremely low body-count as well.

The corpse of a Mafia informant, reanimated by powers from beyond, rises nightly from a watery grave to reek vengeance and recover the source of his bodily resurgence. Sounds like the makings of a good parody of everything from Frankenstein to The Mummy to Night of the Living Dead, huh? Well, yeah, but only a few of the laughs in this wannabe lampoon are intentional. A whole lot more of them are not. No satire on earth could be brought to life from such a slipshod script, spartan sets, and profoundly unstellar performances. George Gobel, who could have made a comedic splash with his signature dry and droll personae, is instead doused in a role as a straight-up pedagogue of a prof who explains what asteroids are and such. Most of the movie's attempts at humor fall with a thud harder than a meteor hitting the moon. Sometimes, though--like an elephant joke--it's the sheer flat unfunniness of these attempts that make them so risible. And this film is full of them. There's no time given to introspection in such an uncerebral offering, so the pace never slows down enough to make the movie dull. Like the turquoise-looking asteroid itself, it's something of a little gem.

the famous line from George Gobel as Dr. Bartholemew which I'm surprised you haven't included in your memorable quotes:" "I choose to call the creature the (writing on a blackboard here) "gee-ga-goo"---geological (underline) gaseous (underline) goon (underline).""

Probably the only movie other than The Indestructible Man where a mobster turns monster. The Day it Came to Earth must never be confused with its second-rate cousins The Day it Fell to Earth or The Man Who Fell to Earth.It was the best thing George Gobel ever did, including playing the accordion and occupying the corner on Hollywood Squares. It was never adequately explained why a meteor would reanimate a dead body, but as we all know, radiation can make you big, make you small, make your flesh melt off your bones, turn you into a wasp, give you super strength, allow you to pass through walls: do anything, in fact, except kill you...

This is pretty definitive of the campy science fiction movies that are just meant to be fun. In accordance with the campy aura, the film's main focus are a group of teenagers who hang out together, and whose camaraderie is indicative of such films, and could still be an inspiration. It's mostly just the same story: kids witness something from outer space, aren't believed, and solve the mystery themselves. Gobel plays a likable intelligent sort who is benevolent to the kids. One scene that makes this rank a level better than the usual is the "Goo Goo Ga" scene. A lot of hilarious bits, and make no mistake, this is what the movie is designed to do. It's appealing to see people behave in a civilized way to each other, as they do in this movie. And to be willing to help each other, again, is inspirational. Campy, but more assets than detriments.

Intergalactic mega-star Wink Roberts headlines this gripping tale of alien vengeance.

Gangsters dump the body of an informant into the world's cleanest swamp. A meteorite splashes into the same swamp, causing the waterlogged man to rise from his watery grave. This all occurs next to the local college.

What could have been a rampaging kill-o-thon is actually pretty dull. The annoying college kids are allowed to survive, while the zombie wanders around, taking out his vengeance only on those who killed him.

Co-stars George Gobel in a nearly lifelike performance as a college professor. Also, watch for a very young Rita Wilson as Debbie...