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Showing posts with label CREATURE FEATURES. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CREATURE FEATURES. Show all posts

Sunday, March 29, 2009

TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE






A young alien (David Love) falls for a pretty teenage Earth girl (Dawn Anderson) and they team up to try to stop the plans of his invading cohorts, who intend to use Earth as a food-breeding ground for giant lobsters from their planet. The invaders, who arrive in a flying saucer, carry deadly ray guns that turn Earth-people into skeletons.

A CLASSIC FROM RETROFLICK TV

TRIVIA
* The film's producers could not afford to construct a giant lobster, so only its shadow is seen - cast, no doubt, by a normal-sized lobster.

* Although Warner Bros. distributed this ultra-low-budget sci-fi film, it was definitely not a Warner Bros. production. The studio needed a genre film to play as the second feature with the Godzilla sequel it was releasing under the title Gojira no gyakushĂ» (1955) and bought this from producer Tom Graeff.

* Unable to afford time on a soundstage to film Betty Morgan's home, director Tom Graeff posed as a UCLA student directing a student project, and so obtained permission from an elderly woman to film for free in her home.

* The trim on the aliens' costumes is made from masking tape, and their space boots are men's dress shoes covered by socks.

* One skeleton was used for every dead body in the film. A hook/tag on the head and identification markings in permanent marker on the hip can clearly be seen on the skeleton in almost every scene. The skeleton also has curiously bolted limbs.

* The filmmaker was on such a tight budget that the film's ultimate weapon, the "focusing disintegrator", was actually a Hubley's Atomic Disintegrator toy cap gun, bought for a dime, with a flashbulb added as a beam. (In some scenes the words "Hubley's" can clearly be seen embossed on the side of the gun.) Atomic Disintegrators can be bought today on eBay for upwards of $300.

* Dawn Anderson, who played Betty, was actually a former child actress named Dawn Bender. Like most movie teenagers of the period, she was in her early twenties when this film was shot.

* The ZAP visual from the ray-gun toys was accomplished by a mirror glued on to the nozzle and pointed at the camera, which was hit by the "deadly" glare.

* The super alien apparatus with the dials was actually an old audio mixing device (from the days of the bulky vacuum tubes).

* The entire B movie is an extra on the 2005 PS2 video-game, "Destroy All Humans!". It becomes available once the main story campaign is completed.

* King Moody's movie debut.

* The night watchman at Station 86 is reading a book titled "The Flying Saucers are Real" by Donald Keyhoe.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

FROM SHOCK TO SVENGOOLIE

From Shock Theatre to Svengoolie - Cinematic Obsessions




Frank Avila interviews Ted Okuda And Mark Yurkiw, authors of the book "Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows From Shock Theatre to Svengoolie" Although the motion picture industry initially disparaged and feared television, by the late 1950s, studios saw the medium as a convenient dumping ground for thousands of films that had long been gathering dust in their vaults. As these films found their way to local TV stations, enterprising distributors grouped the titles by genre so programmers could showcase them accordingly. It was in this spirit that Chicago’s tradition of horror TV movie shows was born. TV viewers couldn’t get enough of the old monster movies—everything from glossy Frankenstein and Dracula epics to low-budget cheapies featuring giant grasshoppers and teenage werewolves. Here in Chicago, these films were broadcast on such horror movie shows as Shock Theatre, Thrillerama, Creature Features, and Screaming Yellow Theater. Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows: From Shock Theatre to Svengoolie is the first comprehensive look at Chicago’s horror movie programs, from their inception in 1957 to the present. Through career profiles of the Horror Hosts who provided comedic interludes between commercial breaks, discover which creepy presenter was one of the 12 reporters to travel around the country with the Beatles during their 1965–66 U.S. tour, and learn about the politics behind Channel 32’s sudden (and outrageous) switch from Svengoolie to the Ghoul. Also included are broadcast histories of such “hostless” programs as Creature Features, Thrillerama, The Big Show, The Early Show, The Science Fiction Theater, and Monster Rally, along with a guide to 100 fright films broadcast on Chicago television and a look at the “Shock!” horror library that started a TV craze. Filled with rare photographs and never-before-published data, Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows celebrates a grand tradition in local television. Lake Claremont Press fosters and celebrates what's distinctive about Chicago's history, culture, geography, spirit, and lore. Join us in preserving the past, exploring the present, and ensuring a future sense of place for our corner of the globe.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

CREATURE FEATURES

Chicago's WGN television 9 introduced CREATURE FEATURES in the fall of 1970. Classic clips from universal horror movies along with the haunting mancini theme "Experiment in Terror" started every show. Announcer's Carl Greyson, and later Marty McNeely read a creepy poem in a scary falsetto voice over the intro and set the stage for each weeks movie. Every Saturday night at 10:30pm, Creature Features captivated Chicagoland audiences. It soon became a Tradition and part of Chicago history.




Online Videos by Veoh.com

The opening from the 1970's Chicago horror show "Creature Features" (circa 1971). Check out the website for some classic memories


Online Videos by Veoh.com

Contains the 1970 Halloween show intro with the first few minutes of the film...enjoy!

Check Out The Website WGN CREATURE FEATURES
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