The Eye Creatures

The Eye Creatures

VHS cover for the film
Directed by Larry Buchanan
Produced by Larry Buchanan
Written by Paul W. Fairman
Robert J. Gurney Jr.
Al Martin
Starring John Ashley
Cynthia Hull
Warren Hammack
Chet Davis
Bill Peck
Ethan Allen
Charles McLine
Music by Les Baxter
Ronald Stein
Cinematography Ralph K. Johnson
Edited by S. F. Brownrigg
Distributed by American International Television
Release dates
  • 1965 (1965)
Running time
 80 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $40,000

The Eye Creatures (also known as Attack of the The Eye Creatures) is a 1965 made-for-TV science fiction/horror film about an unnamed American countryside that is invaded by a flying saucer and its silent, shambling alien occupants. While the military ineptly attempts to stop the invasion, a group of young people, whose reports to the local police are dismissed as pranks or wild imagination, struggle to defend themselves against the menacing monsters.

The Eye Creatures, an Azalea Pictures film, was directed by B-movie director/producer/auteur Larry Buchanan and starred John Ashley. The screenplay was developed by uncredited writers Robert J. Gurney Jr. and Al Martin from the short story "The Cosmic Frame" by Paul W. Fairman (also uncredited). The film was a color remake of the 1957 black and white American International Pictures film Invasion of the Saucer Men, intended to fill out a package of AIP films released to television.

Plot synopsis

A military briefing film shows a hovering flying saucer resembling a domed yo-yo as the narrator, (Peter Graves), describes how the military's "Project Visitor" has been tracking it and anticipates it will land in the central United States. After the briefing, Lt. Robertson reports to the base near the expected target where he berates his subordinates for their habit of using the monitoring equipment to spy on teenagers making out in the woods. One of the teens sees an object land nearby and tells his friends at a local bar, including Stan Kenyon. Stan and his girlfriend Susan Rogers later accidentally hit one of the multi-eyed, lumpy greyish-white aliens from the ship with his car, so they drive off to call the police. Out in the woods, they are forced to use the phone of a grumpy local codger who resents the "smoochers" who use his property as a lovers' lane, frequently threatening them with a shotgun.

Meanwhile, one of two drunken drifters new in town comes across the dead creature and decides to put it on exhibition as part of his latest get-rich-quick scheme. When he returns to the site after excitedly rushing home to tell his buddy Mike, other aliens arrive, scaring him and causing a deadly heart attack. When the police finally investigate, they assume that Stan ran over the drifter and they arrest the young man, refusing to believe his crazy story.

Having overheard the bar conversation about the UFO, Lt. Robertson reports to his commander, who reluctantly authorizes a cordon around the saucer. They eventually accidentally blow up the spaceship and congratulate themselves for their effective defense, not realizing that the creatures weren't in their craft and are still roaming the woods.

Easily escaping from the police, Stan and Susan meet up with the dead drifter's friend Mike and the three of them attempt to prove the alien danger to the community. Mike is cornered and attacked by the angry creatures, but Stan and Susan manage to flee and accidentally discover the monsters explode when exposed to bright light. Unfortunately, after the autopsy showed that the victim earlier died from an alcohol-induced heart attack and that Stan had not killed him, the police want nothing more to do with him and refuse to help. The teenagers then gather their friends together and drive out to the clearing where they left Mike. Surrounding the aliens with their cars, the teens use their headlights to evaporate the remaining creatures. Mike survives his attack, and Stan and Susan resume their interrupted plans to elope.

Production

Buchanan had made Free, White and 21 (1963), which was distributed by AIP. They hired the director to make a series of low-budget color remakes of old AIP films, of which this was the first. Buchanan later called them his "wretched remakes".[1]

The movie was shot in 16mm over several weeks in Dallas, on a budget of $40,000.[2] Ashley was imported from Hollywood, but the rest of the cast were locals. Ashley has stated that his salary took up more than half the budget.[2]

Most of the film was shot at the ranch of wealthy businessman Gordon McLendon. Ashley claimed that the film ranks "with some of the worst all-time horror films ever made", but said it was a professional operation and Buchanan treated him very well.[3]

Critical review

The Eye Creatures is infamous for its many production errors and goofs. The story takes place during a single night, but movie criticism website Rotten Tomatoes pointed out that these night scenes included intercut shots from obvious daylight shoots (likely intended to be rendered as day-for-night shots but not appearing as such in the final film). A string can be observed during a scene where a creature's severed hand creeps toward Susan and Stan.

The creature costumes presented particular problems for Buchanan. There were not enough full costumes for all the creature actors during crowd scenes, so some scenes include creatures with only head appliances, wearing skin-tight black outfits in an attempt to hide their costume deficiencies.

In keeping with a frequent practice of B-movie re-release retitling, the phrase "Attack of the" was superimposed on top of the original in the title screen. The production person failed to notice that the original already included "the," producing the redundant title Attack of the The Eye Creatures.[4]

Mystery Science Theater 3000

Movie-mocking television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 featured the oddly-titled print of the film in a 1992 season 4 episode. In the MST3K version, Joel riffs Rick Astley's song "Never Gonna Give You Up". Years later, the snippet surfaced on YouTube as "The first Rickroll", as the episode predated the "roboroll" from the Squaresoft game Chrono Trigger. In the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode featuring the film, Joel Robinson sarcastically suggested that "some eye creatures […] are born with tight acrylic wool-blend turtleneck sweaters from Chess King." Crow T. Robot also mocked, "If you're ever in a fight with an eye creature, keep in mind that his head is simply draped casually over his shoulders and should be no trouble to knock off. […] Get ready to give chase to an injured eye creature; as you can see, he's wearing his Jack Purcell athletic shoes!" Crow even pointed out a shot featuring a common monster-movie goof: "The eye creatures […] were also unfortunate enough to have evolved with heavy-duty zippers running up their backs." Their riffing produced the fan-favorite phrase "They just didn't care," which was later applied to other movies viewed on the show.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Goodsell, Greg, "The Weird and Wacky World of Larry Buchanan", Filmfax, No. 38 April/May 1993 p 64
  2. 1 2 Mark McGee, Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures, McFarland, 1996 p237-238
  3. ↑ Tom Weaver, "Interview with John Ashley", Interviews with B Science Fiction and Horror Movie Makers: Writers, Producers, Directors, Actors, Moguls and Makeup, McFarland 1988 p 40
  4. ↑
    • Palmer, Randy (1997). Paul Blaisdell, Monster Maker. McFarland & Company. p. 244. ISBN 9780786440993. Retrieved 5 January 2015. "The first of four remakes was The Eye Creatures, sometimes known as Attack of the Eye Creatures, with "the" appearing twice in the title.
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