Inseminoid

Last updated

Inseminoid
InseminoidPoster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Norman J. Warren
Written by Nick Maley
Gloria Maley
Produced by Richard Gordon
David Speechley
StarringRobin Clarke
Jennifer Ashley
Stephanie Beacham
Steven Grives
Barrie Houghton
Rosalind Lloyd
Victoria Tennant
Trevor Thomas
Heather Wright
David Baxt
Judy Geeson
CinematographyJohn Metcalfe
Edited by Peter Boyle
Music by John Scott
Production
company
Jupiter Film Productions [1]
Distributed by Butcher's Film Service (UK)
Release dates
  • 23 January 1981 (1981-01-23)(West Germany)
  • 23 March 1981 (1981-03-23)(UK)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom [1]
LanguageEnglish
Budget£1 million
Box office US$1.5 million [2]

Inseminoid (titled Horror Planet in the United States) is a 1981 British science fiction horror film directed by Norman J. Warren and starring Judy Geeson, Robin Clarke and Stephanie Beacham, along with Victoria Tennant in one of her early film roles. The plot concerns a team of archaeologists and scientists who are excavating the ruins of an ancient civilisation on a distant planet. One of the women in the team (Geeson) is impregnated by an alien creature and taken over by a mysterious intelligence, driving her to murder her colleagues one by one and feed on them.

Contents

Inseminoid was written by Nick and Gloria Maley, a married couple who had been part of the special effects team on Warren's earlier film Satan's Slave . Filmed between May and June 1980 on a budget of £1 million, half of which was supplied by the Shaw Brothers, it was shot mostly on location at Chislehurst Caves in Kent as well as on the island of Gozo in Malta, combined with a week's filming at Lee International Studios in London. Composer John Scott completed the film's electronic musical score over recording sessions that lasted many hours.

Despite a good box office response in the UK and abroad, Inseminoid failed to impress most commentators, who criticised the effects and production design. The overall quality of the acting was also poorly received, although Geeson's performance was praised. Criticism was also directed at the premise involving an alien insemination, which some commentators viewed as a weak imitation of Alien (1979). Both Warren and 20th Century Fox, distributor of Alien, rejected claims that Inseminoid was influenced by this film.

Plot

On a freezing planet, a team of 12 Xeno Project archaeologists and scientists are excavating the ruins of an ancient civilisation. They discover a cave system containing wall markings and crystals of unknown origin. During a survey, a mysterious explosion cripples photographer Dean White and injures Ricky Williams. Deciphering the wall markings, exolinguist Mitch theorises that the civilisation was built on a concept of dualism: the planet orbits a binary star and seems to have been ruled by twins. Medical assistant Sharon discovers that the crystals are surrounded by an energy field and suggests that the civilisation was controlled by a form of chemical intelligence.

A crystal sample begins to pulsate, causing the intelligence to take control of Ricky through a wound on his arm. In his delusional state, he is compelled to leave the team's base and go back into the caves. He throws Gail into a pile of twisted metal, damaging her environmental suit and trapping her foot. Desperate to free herself, Gail removes her helmet and tries to amputate her foot with a chainsaw, but instead freezes to death in the planet's toxic atmosphere. Documentation officer Kate Carson shoots Ricky with a harpoon gun before he opens the airlock and evacuates all of the base's air.

Ricky and Gail are buried outside the base. Later, Mitch and Sandy return to the caves to collect more crystals. A monstrous alien creature appears and dismembers Mitch, then rapes Sandy with a transparent tubular phallus pumping green liquid. Sandy is taken back to base and treated by the team's doctor, Karl, who discovers that the attack has triggered an accelerated pregnancy. When further underground explosions block off the caves, the survivors are left with nothing to do but wait for Xeno to pick them up.

The intelligence takes over Sandy, giving her superhuman strength. She stabs Barbra to death with a pair of scissors and mutilates Dean and the remains of Mitch, drinking their blood. The rest of the team take refuge in the control room as Sandy uses explosives to blow up the base transmitter. After Sandy appears to return to her normal self, Karl, Sharon and Commander Holly McKay try to sedate her. However, Sandy reverts to her violent state, killing Karl and Holly and disembowelling their corpses.

Mark radios Sandy from the control room to distract her while Kate and Gary arm themselves with chainsaws from a storage room. Sandy uncovers the ruse and harpoons Gary outside the airlock, breathing the atmosphere to no ill effect as she feeds on his flesh. She then re-enters the base and gives birth to hybrid twins. Mark stumbles across the newborns and leaves them with Sharon as Sandy blows up the door to the control room and smashes the equipment inside. Sandy uses another explosive charge to wound Kate, then kills her. Finally, Mark overpowers Sandy and strangles her to death with a length of cable. He returns to Sharon to find one of the twins drinking from her torn-out throat, then comes face to face with its sibling.

Twenty-eight days later, a Xeno shuttle lands on the planet to investigate the loss of contact with the team. With the base in ruins and its occupants either dead or missing, commandos Corin and Roy abandon the search for survivors and shuttle pilot Jeff radios Xeno for clearance to return. The final shots reveal that the twins have stowed away inside a storage compartment on board the shuttle.

Cast

Production

After making Satan's Slave (1976), Prey (1977) and Terror (1978), Norman J. Warren was to have directed a film called Gargoyles. [3] After this production collapsed without a finished script, Warren and producer Richard Gordon accepted a story idea from the husband-and-wife duo of Nick and Gloria Maley, who had been members of the special effects unit on Satan's Slave. [4] The Maleys wrote the film both as an amalgam of their favourite science-fiction ideas and to showcase their effects work. [4] [5] Their script, which indicated that the film is set two decades in the future in a militaristic universe, was provisionally titled Doomseeds; this was changed to Inseminoid to avoid confusion with the 1977 film Demon Seed . [3] [6]

Gordon cast American actors Robin Clarke and Jennifer Ashley as Mark and Holly while on business in Hollywood. [5] Clarke had recently played a supporting role in The Formula ; Ashley had appeared in a number of independent films. [3] Beacham, who had two young children at the time, accepted the role of Kate Carson to support her family, recalling in a 2003 interview: "I had to choose between a play that I really, really wanted to do, which would have paid me £65 a week, and this script for a film called Inseminoid. Hey! No choice. Two pink babies asleep upstairs! No choice!" [7]

The Shaw Brothers agreed to supply half of the proposed £1 million budget and became partners in the production, with elder brother Run Run Shaw credited as presenter in the opening titles. [5] Nick Maley reprised his effects role to build the puppets of the alien twins. [4]

Filming

The rocky interior of Gozo, where the crew spent two days filming, represents the planet's surface. Gozo - Zebbug - Wied il-Ghasri.JPG
The rocky interior of Gozo, where the crew spent two days filming, represents the planet's surface.
Nick Maley's effects work included the puppets of the alien twins. In this shot, one of them is revealed to have killed Sharon (Heather Wright). InseminoidTwin.jpg
Nick Maley's effects work included the puppets of the alien twins. In this shot, one of them is revealed to have killed Sharon (Heather Wright).

Inseminoid was shot on 35 mm Eastman Kodak film with anamorphic lenses. Warren remembered that this format produced an "incredibly sharp image and what I would term as the 'American' look." [3] Principal photography began on 12 May 1980 with a crew of 75. The production spent three weeks filming in Chislehurst Caves in Kent, which served as the tunnels of the underground complex. This was followed by one week's studio filming at Lee International Studios in Wembley Park, London. A fifth week was devoted to effects and linking shots, completed by the second unit at Film House on London's Wardour Street. The crew then travelled to the island of Gozo in Malta for a supplemental location shoot lasting two days, during which they filmed the long shots set on the planet's surface. The strong Mediterranean sun ensured good lighting. [3]

Warren said that given Inseminoid's low budget, filming the underground scenes in actual caves produced a more realistic result than any potential studio option. [3] However, the cold, damp and airless conditions inside the caves, compounded by the uneven terrain, caused numerous minor injuries among the cast and crew as well as damage to filming equipment. Shooting often ran for 12 hours at a time and some of those present developed intense feelings of claustrophobia in the confined space. Gordon felt that these uncomfortable working conditions made the actors' performances more credible: "I think all this paid off in terms of what we got on the screen for the budget, but the circumstances were very difficult." [5] Due to the lack of space, the crew were forced to set up their production office, as well as the dressing and make-up rooms, in a car park some distance from the caves. As filming started to fall behind schedule, Warren was forced to cut some of the scenes of Ricky's rampage inside the caves: "Three pages of script, which I had to condense into one shot. Having to make such an enormous compromise was not a happy choice for me, but it was the only way of getting us back on schedule." The shoot ultimately overran by two days. [3]

As filming progressed, the working relationship between Warren and Clarke broke down. According to Warren, Clarke often refused to follow instructions, opting instead to give his own interpretation of the script to a point where every scene featuring him became "an uphill struggle" to film. Warren remembered that during preparations for a fight scene, he lost his temper with Clarke: "Robin kept on ranting and raving about his ideas to the point where I couldn't take it any more. So I screamed at him to shut up and keep quiet. I told him I was the director and we would do the scene the way I said. He was shocked, he just stopped dead, and from that point on he hardly said a word." [3] Warren's rapports with the rest of the cast were positive. He described Geeson as "an absolute dream to work with" and praised her performance, arguing that it avoided being unintentionally comic. [3] Gordon was similarly impressed, saying that Geeson fully embraced the role of Sandy and did not complain that it demeaned her as an actress. [5] Warren also had memories of Beacham's "very professional" performance, recalling that "with tongue firmly in cheek, she would often wind me up by asking what her motivation was for a particular action, just as I about to call 'Action!', knowing full well that my answer would be, 'Because it's in the script'." [8]

Post-production

The film was brightened during post-production following concerns that it would be harder to sell to television broadcasters if it appeared too dimly lit. [3] Cuts were made to some of the more graphic shots of Sandy giving birth to ensure that the film would not be rejected by the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC). [9] According to Warren, editor Peter Boyle "had a natural feel for the material and managed to create just the right pace and rhythm throughout the film." [3] The title sequence was produced by Oxford Scientific Films. [10]

Music

As Inseminoid's low budget precluded hiring an orchestra, Warren and composer John Scott agreed that the film should have an electronic score. The recording involved many hours of multi-tracking and overdubbing. Warren described the completed soundtrack as an "amazing achievement", noting that electronic scores were still "quite experimental" at the time. [3] The soundtrack was released as an LP record in 1982. [11]

Inseminoid
Soundtrack album by
John Scott
Released1982
Genre Electronic
Length34:50
Label Citadel Records [11]
Track list [11]
No.TitleLength
1."Main Title"2:35
2."The Chrysalis"3:34
3."Virus"2:22
4."Death in Space"4:01
5."The Creature Strikes"3:20
6."The Insemination"2:10
7."Sandy's Metamorphosis"4:02
8."Sandy's Warning"1:21
9."Sandy Kills"2:25
10."Birth of the Twins"2:42
11."Death of Sandy"2:27
12."Inseminoid"3:51

Release

The BBFC first certified the film X, and then 18; in 2005, it reduced this to 15. [4] [12] The Motion Picture Association of America gave the film an R rating for "profanity, nudity, violence, rape and gore". [13]

In Germany, cinemas began showing the film in January 1981 under the title Samen des Bösen (English: Seeds of Evil). In the UK, the film premiered on 22 March in the Midlands, subsequently opening at 65 cinemas in the region. It reached London in October. [3] The film was commercially successful, reaching number five at the UK box office and number seven in France. [3] [9] Inseminoid was also one of the first films to have a VHS release not long after its initial cinema run, and in November 1981 peaked at number seven in the UK video charts. It was re-released on VHS in 1992 and 1998. [3]

In the UK, the film's promotion included a regional mailshot consisting of a circular that showed a screaming Geeson in character as Sandy with the tagline "Warning! An Horrific Alien Birth! A Violent Nightmare in Blood! Inseminoid at a Cinema Near You Soon!" Warren regretted this move, commenting: "The problem with mail drops is that you have no way of knowing who lives in the house, or who will see it first. It could be a pregnant woman, and old lady, or even worse, a young child. So it was not such a good idea." [3]

To Warren's displeasure, foreign distributor Almi renamed the film Horror Planet for its North American release. This was later changed back to Inseminoid. [5] [9]

Reception

At just 12 minutes in, there's action in those outer space mine shafts, with the first victim in this sci-fi horror tale kick-starting every cliché and already-stolen Alien plot point in the book ... What follows is simply a stage for gloriously awful dialogue spouted out of amateur actors, whose deaths are more a result of pure idiocy in their dumb-as-nails characters than any kind of suspenseful horror plotting.

– Jeremy Wheeler, AllMovie [14]

Inseminoid was nominated for the Fantasporto award for best film and won the Fantafestival award for best special effects. [15] Roger Corman congratulated Warren on the film and considered hiring him as a director. [4] However, Inseminoid failed to impress members of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, who according to Warren, dismissed it as "'commercial rubbish! ... Not the sort of thing the Academy should be showing ... And certainly not the kind of film the British film industry should be making.'" [3] He also remembered that it was not well liked by female audiences: "It seems it is quite common for pregnant women to have nightmares about giving birth to some kind of monster. Of course, all their complaints and their letters which were printed in the local papers only helped to increase the queue at the box office." [3]

Alan Jones of Starburst magazine expressed a preference for the British members of the cast, calling Geeson "absolutely first-rate" but criticising the "weak performances from the token Americans", Robin Clarke and Jennifer Ashley. Praising the film's cost-effective production values, he stated that its depictions of violence carried Warren's "particular trademark". He added that Inseminoid is "not faultless by any means", citing a predictable and often "ridiculous" plot as one of the film's failings. However, he concluded that it met audience expectations for a science fiction B movie, describing it as "far less routine and far more enjoyable than I had expected." [4]

In the US, Inseminoid made the Los Angeles Times top ten list. [3] Reviews elsewhere were more negative. Edward Jones of Virginia's The Free Lance–Star praised the "novel touch" of casting an expectant mother as the villain but added that "in what has to be a new low, even for extraterrestrial-horror films, all the men end up punching this pregnant woman in the stomach." He summed up the film as "no more than a mix of everything-you've-ever-seen-in-a-horror-movie-and-didn't-particularly-want-to-see-again." [16] In a review for the Boca Raton News , Skip Sheffield branded the film "horrible" and "cheapo", advising readers to "imagine Alien without the fantastic sets, convincing special effects and literate dialogue, and you have a picture of Horror Planet." He also argued that the graphic violence is not suspenseful, punning on the name Run Run Shaw in his conclusion that "Horror Planet is a film to run, run away from – fast." [13]

AllMovie rates the film one star out of five. Reviewer Cavett Binion calls Geeson's performance "more than a bit uncomfortable to watch", describes the rape scene as "surreal and truly disgusting" and considers the choice of title "sleazy". [17] Douglas Pratt writes that the film features poor acting and production design with "some gooey gore shots but few other thrills". He concedes that the film "goes through the motions properly, however, so fans will probably find it worth passing the time." [18]

Warren rejected the notion that Inseminoid is comparable to a "video nasty". [9] On the film's supposed cult status, he said: "If Inseminoid has become some form of cult movie, then I am very pleased and, indeed, very flattered." [3] He added that if he were to re-make the film, he would demand a longer shooting schedule and reduce the lighting to heighten the suspense. [3]

Interpretation

In both [ Alien and Inseminoid], conventional sexuality is restored. In Alien, Ripley undresses at the end and displays herself as pleasurable to the audience; similarly, Inseminoid asserts the durability of established gender roles, despite the survival of the twins. However, unlike Alien, Inseminoid retains its power to disturb, as Sandy's words to Mark resound long after the final frame ... The generative mother has spoken, reinforced her eternal presence, and departed to haunt the dreams of men.

– Peter Wright [10]

Inseminoid has been criticised as a perceived imitation, [14] [19] "knock-off" [20] or "rip-off" [13] [17] [18] of the 1979 science-fiction horror film Alien . Peter Wright, a film historian and lecturer at the University of Liverpool, believes that the "atmospheric" cave sequences and the mess hall scene preceding Ricky's madness may have been inspired by Ridley Scott's film, comparing the former to the sequences set on the desolate planetoid and the latter to the violent reveal of the alien "chestburster". [10] Wright considers the Alien connection potentially "exploitative"; [21] to Barry Langford of the University of London, it underlines UK cinema's dependence on its US counterpart. [22] Alan Jones argues that "any similarity between Inseminoid and Alien is totally intentional. Except here is the basic idea contained in Alien taken to its sleaziest extreme." He finds one such parallel in the character of Kate (Stephanie Beacham), whom he likens to Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver). However, he also regards Contamination (1980) and Scared to Death (1981) as less effective imitations of Scott. [4] Edward Jones argues that the plot of Inseminoid also borrows from the novel Dracula (1897), the TV series The Bionic Woman (1976–78) and the films The Thing from Another World (1951) and Night of the Living Dead (1968). [16]

Though he acknowledged its similarities to Alien, Warren denied claims that Inseminoid was made as an imitation, pointing out that the script for his film was completed months before Alien was released in the UK. He also said that representatives of 20th Century Fox, which distributed Alien, were shown the completed Inseminoid and that even they discounted the possibility: "... in fact, the head of Fox sent us a very nice letter saying how much he enjoyed the film and wished us luck with the release ... I find it flattering that anyone can compare Alien, which cost in the region of $30 million, with Inseminoid, which cost less than £1 million. We must have done something right." [3]

Sandy (Judy Geeson) is impregnated. Peter Wright believes that this scene displays conflicting attitudes to reproduction: while the alien phallus (bottom image) promotes fertilisation, Karl injecting Sandy's arm with a phallic hypodermic needle (top image, bottom-left corner) suppresses it. In a 1997 interview, Warren said that the phallus was intended to be "some kind of artificial insemination equipment" rather than a penis, adding that for censorship reasons, the impregnation scene was shot "very impressionistically, to be like a dream": "I know that if we had shot it straight, it would have played like a rape scene and been cut out. So it has this sort of abstract quality to it that the censors didn't mind." InseminoidInsemination.jpg
Sandy (Judy Geeson) is impregnated. Peter Wright believes that this scene displays conflicting attitudes to reproduction: while the alien phallus (bottom image) promotes fertilisation, Karl injecting Sandy's arm with a phallic hypodermic needle (top image, bottom-left corner) suppresses it. In a 1997 interview, Warren said that the phallus was intended to be "some kind of artificial insemination equipment" rather than a penis, adding that for censorship reasons, the impregnation scene was shot "very impressionistically, to be like a dream": "I know that if we had shot it straight, it would have played like a rape scene and been cut out. So it has this sort of abstract quality to it that the censors didn't mind."

Various commentators have discussed Inseminoid's depiction of sexual reproduction, female sexuality, conflict between male and female gender roles, pregnancy, new motherhood and Otherness. Wright interprets Sandy's transformation as a "direct manifestation of masculine anxiety regarding female reproductive capacity". He argues that the film's horror is internalised within the seed of the alien being, which renders Sandy "woman-as-other" or "abject "Other". This is in contrast with Alien, which revolves around the transfer of "fear of woman" to "alien other". Wright argues that Inseminoid is reminiscent of Demon Seed (1977), in which a woman is raped and impregnated by an artificially-intelligent computer: "in both films, women are framed as 'Other' by their sexual congress with more conventional iconic others: the machine and the alien." In all of these films, pregnancy is depicted as a source of horror; in Inseminoid specifically, this is conveyed by the "uterine and cervical" title sequence, which to Wright suggests "entering the realm of the monstrous womb ... the titling reveals a microscopic insect resident in the body of a larger organism." [10]

Wright argues that the distorted representation of the womb reveals similarities to David Cronenberg's The Brood (1979), in which a woman gives birth to deformed offspring through parthenogenesis. Analysing the rape sequence itself, in which Karl uses a syringe to inject Sandy with an unknown substance, Wright makes a connection to dialogue in other scenes implying that the women on the archaeological team are regularly given contraceptive injections. Sandy's impregnation, conflicting with the suppression of fertilisation represented by Karl's hypodermic (and phallic) needle, reveals "coherent sexism": it "attacks the very notion of female sexual freedom, while suggesting, paradoxically, that contraception is the responsibility of women." Sandy's accelerated pregnancy and regression to the level of a savage add to her depiction as an abject Other or object of "male paranoia". [10]

During the fight between Sandy and Gary, Sandy waits until Gary has half-suffocated before killing him. Wright suggests that this sequence is reassuring from a male perspective as it suggests that no woman – not even one with unnatural strength – is strong enough to kill a man in cold blood. That Sandy is ultimately killed by a man (Mark) makes her an aid in the re-empowerment of the male sex, although her offspring are quick to avenge their mother. [10] Comparing the plot of Inseminoid to religious scripture, Christopher Partridge of Lancaster University refers to the twins as "essentially space Nephilim, technological demons with appetites and habits reminiscent of the mythic forebears." [24]

The film's sexual references continue into the epilogue, which shows the arrival of rescuers Jeff, Corin and Roy. In an allusion to the menstrual cycle, the characters state that 28 days have passed since Xeno lost contact with the team. The deaths of the archaeologists are attributed to an "internal disturbance of some kind", which Wright describes as "an ironic phrase which encapsulates the film's vision of pregnancy as an irruption of Otherness from within." [10]

On the subject of Larry Miller's novelisation, which he calls "imaginative and misogynistic", Wright notes a number of scenes that are absent from the film and distort the female form, causing revulsion in the reader. Miller has Sandy grow sores ooze pus from her nipples, which Wright likens to a new mother producing colostrum. Sandy accepts these unnatural changes with fascination. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>The Day the Earth Stood Still</i> 1951 science fiction film by Robert Wise

The Day the Earth Stood Still is a 1951 American science fiction film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Julian Blaustein and directed by Robert Wise. It stars Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Billy Gray, Frances Bavier and Lock Martin. The screenplay was written by Edmund H. North, based on the 1940 science fiction short story "Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates. The film score was composed by Bernard Herrmann. Set in the Cold War during the early stages of the nuclear arms race, the storyline involves a humanoid alien visitor who comes to Earth, accompanied by a powerful robot, to deliver an important message that will affect the entire human race. In 1995, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

<i>Alien 3</i> 1992 film by David Fincher

Alien 3 (stylized as ALIEN3) is a 1992 American science fiction horror film directed by David Fincher and written by David Giler, Walter Hill, and Larry Ferguson, from a story by Vincent Ward. It stars Sigourney Weaver, reprising her role as Ellen Ripley. It is the third installment of the Alien franchise and led to a sequel, Alien Resurrection (1997).

<i>The Quatermass Xperiment</i> 1955 film by Val Guest

The Quatermass Xperiment is a 1955 British science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, based on the 1953 BBC Television serial The Quatermass Experiment written by Nigel Kneale. The film was produced by Anthony Hinds, directed by Val Guest, and stars Brian Donlevy as the titular Professor Bernard Quatermass and Richard Wordsworth as the tormented Carroon. Jack Warner, David King-Wood, and Margia Dean appear in co-starring roles.

<i>Quatermass 2</i> 1957 British film

Quatermass 2 is a 1957 black-and-white British science fiction horror film drama from Hammer Film Productions. It was originally released in the UK as Quatermass II and was produced by Anthony Hinds, directed by Val Guest, and stars Brian Donlevy with co-stars John Longden, Sidney James, Bryan Forbes, Vera Day, and William Franklyn. Quatermass 2 is a sequel to Hammer's earlier film The Quatermass Xperiment (1955). Like its predecessor, it is based on the BBC Television serial Quatermass II written by Nigel Kneale. Brian Donlevy reprises his role as the eponymous Professor Bernard Quatermass, making him the only actor to play the character twice in a film. It is often erroneously considered as the first film sequel to use the '2' / 'II' suffix within the title, though this distinction belongs to Sanshiro Sugata Part II.

<i>It Conquered the World</i> 1956 film by Roger Corman

It Conquered the World is an independently made 1956 American black-and-white science fiction film, produced and directed by Roger Corman, starring Peter Graves, Lee Van Cleef, Beverly Garland, and Sally Fraser. It Conquered the World was released theatrically by American International Pictures as a double feature with The She-Creature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judy Geeson</span> English actress (born 1948)

Judith Amanda Geeson is an English film, stage, and television actress. She began her career primarily working on British television series, with a leading role on The Newcomers from 1965 to 1967, before making her major film debut in To Sir, with Love (1967). She starred in a range of films throughout the 1970s, from crime pictures to thriller and horror films, including The Executioner (1970), Fear in the Night (1972), Brannigan (1975) and The Eagle Has Landed (1976). She played heiress Caroline Penvenen from 1975-1977 in the BBC series Poldark, from the Winston Graham novels.

<i>Attack of the Crab Monsters</i> 1957 film by Roger Corman

Attack of the Crab Monsters is a 1957 independently made American black-and-white science fiction-horror film, produced and directed by Roger Corman, that stars Richard Garland, Pamela Duncan, and Russell Johnson. The film was distributed by Allied Artists as a double feature showing with Corman's Not of This Earth.

The Cape Canaveral Monsters is a 1960 independent American black-and-white science-fiction film, produced by Lionel Dichter and Richard Greer, and written and directed by Phil Tucker. It stars Katherine Victor, Jason Johnson, Scott Peters and Linda Connell, Though planned as a theatrical feature, it was ultimately released directly to television. The movies deals with two extraterrestrials who have come to earth to "transmit" healthy, living humans, especially women, back to their home planet and to disrupt rockets launched from Cape Canaveral. It was made shortly before the start of the USA's crewed space program and has been categorized by a reviewer as a later entry in the "reds-under-the-beds," fear-of-communism films that were often part of sci-fi during the 1950s

<i>The Astounding She-Monster</i> 1958 film

The Astounding She-Monster is a 1957 science fiction horror film starring Robert Clarke and directed, co-written and produced by Ronnie Ashcroft for Hollywood International Productions. The film focuses on a geologist, a gang which has kidnapped a rich heiress, and their encounter with a beautiful but deadly female alien who has crashed to Earth. In the UK, it was released as The Mysterious Invader. The film was released in American theaters on 1957 by American International Pictures on a double feature with Roger Corman's The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent.

<i>The Man from Planet X</i> 1951 American science fiction film directed by Edgar George Ulmer

The Man from Planet X is a 1951 independently made American black-and-white science fiction horror film, produced by Jack Pollexfen and Aubrey Wisberg, directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, that stars Robert Clarke, Margaret Field, and William Schallert. The film was distributed by United Artists.

<i>The Hideous Sun Demon</i> 1958 American film

The Hideous Sun Demon is a 1958 American science fiction horror film produced, directed, and cowritten by Robert Clarke, who also starred in the title role. It also stars Patricia Manning, Nan Peterson, Patrick Whyte, and Fred La Porta. The film focuses on a scientist who is exposed to a radioactive isotope and soon finds out that it comes with horrifying consequences.

<i>Planet of the Apes</i> (1968 film) 1968 film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner

Planet of the Apes is a 1968 American science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from a screenplay by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling, loosely based on the 1963 novel by Pierre Boulle. The film stars Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly, and Linda Harrison. In the film, an astronaut crew crash-lands on a strange planet in the distant future. Although the planet appears desolate at first, the surviving crew members stumble upon a society in which apes have evolved into creatures with human-like intelligence and speech. The apes have assumed the role of the dominant species and humans are mute creatures wearing animal skins.

<i>Frankenstein Island</i> 1981 American film

Frankenstein Island is a 1981 science fiction horror film produced, written, composed, edited and directed by Jerry Warren and starring John Carradine and Cameron Mitchell. The plot concerns a group of balloonists stranded on an island where they are captured by Dr. Frankenstein's female descendant, Sheila Frankenstein, who has been kidnapping shipwrecked sailors for years and turning them into zombies.

<i>Alien</i> (film) 1979 film by Ridley Scott

Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Dan O'Bannon. Based on a story by O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, it follows the crew of the commercial space tug Nostromo, who, after coming across a mysterious derelict spaceship on an uncharted planetoid, find themselves up against a deadly and aggressive extraterrestrial loose within their vessel. The film stars Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, and Yaphet Kotto. It was produced by Gordon Carroll, David Giler, and Walter Hill through their company Brandywine Productions and was distributed by 20th Century-Fox. Giler and Hill revised and made additions to the script; Shusett was the executive producer. The Alien and its accompanying artifacts were designed by the Swiss artist H. R. Giger, while concept artists Ron Cobb and Chris Foss designed the more human settings.

<i>Fear in the Night</i> (1972 film) 1972 British film

Fear in the Night is a 1972 British psychological horror film directed, produced, and co-written by Jimmy Sangster and produced by Hammer Film Productions. The film stars Judy Geeson as a psychologically-fragile woman who, upon relocating to a rural boarding school where her husband has taken a job, finds herself being tormented by a mysterious figure with a prosthetic arm. Peter Cushing and Joan Collins, respectively, also star as the school's mysterious headmaster and his wife.

<i>Outer Touch</i> 1979 British film by Norman J. Warren

Outer Touch is a 1979 British science fiction sex comedy film directed by Norman J. Warren and starring Glory Annen, Barry Stokes and Ava Cadell.

<i>Prey</i> (1977 film) 1977 British film

Prey is a 1977 British science fiction horror film produced by Terry Marcel and directed by Norman J. Warren. The plot concerns a carnivorous alien landing on Earth and befriending a lesbian couple as part of his mission to evaluate humans as a source of food. It was filmed in under two weeks on a budget of less than £60,000 using locations near Shepperton Studios in Surrey. It had a limited distribution on release.

<i>Terror</i> (1978 film) Supernatural horror film by Norman J. Warren

Terror is a 1978 British supernatural horror slasher film written by David McGillivray and directed by Norman J. Warren. It stars John Nolan and Carolyn Courage as two cousins who fall victim to a curse that a witch placed on their ancestors.

<i>Alien 2: On Earth</i> 1980 Italian science fiction film

Alien 2: On Earth, also known as Alien Terror, is a 1980 science fiction horror film, written and directed by Ciro Ippolito before the trademark Alien was registered. It was released following the success of the 1979 film Alien as an unofficial sequel, albeit having little connection to the film.

<i>The Flame Barrier</i> 1958 film by Paul Landres

The Flame Barrier is a 1958 American jungle adventure/science fiction film produced by Arthur Gardner and Jules V. Levy, directed by Paul Landres, and written by Pat Fielder and George Worthing Yates. The film stars Arthur Franz, Kathleen Crowley and Robert Brown. It was released in the U.S. on April 2, 1958 by United Artists as the bottom half of a double feature with The Return of Dracula (1958).

References

  1. 1 2 Pulleine, Tim. "Inseminoid". Monthly Film Bulletin . Vol. 48, no. 568. London, UK: British Film Institute. p. 93.
  2. ↑ Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American film distribution : the changing marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 301. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Meadows, Tony (21 November 2009). "The Making of Inseminoid: Interview with Norman J. Warren". widescreenmovies.org. Archived from the original on 2 August 2007. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Jones, Alan (1981). McKenzie, Alan (ed.). "Inseminoid". Starburst . No. 34. London, UK: Marvel Comics. p. 10.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Weaver, Tom (2006) [1988]. Interviews with B Science Fiction and Horror Movie Makers: Writers, Producers, Directors, Actors, Moguls and Makeup. Brunas, John; Brunas, Michael (2nd ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 193–94. ISBN   978-0-7864-2858-8.
  6. ↑ Thompson, Ruth (4 January 1981). "TV Star Scene: Discovery Just Like a Movie Script". The Modesto Bee . Modesto, California: The McClatchy Company. p. 66. OCLC   28464207.
  7. ↑ McLean, Gareth (18 June 2003). "Living in the Pink". The Guardian . London, UK. ISSN   0261-3077. OCLC   60623878. Archived from the original on 20 April 2013.
  8. ↑ Genier, Steve (April 2005). "Satan's Terror: An Exclusive Interview with Norman J. Warren". cinema-nocturna.com. Archived from the original on 21 April 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Sipos, Thomas M. (13 November 2004). "British Horror Director Norman J. Warren Returns on DVD". hollywoodinvestigator.com. Archived from the original on 21 February 2008. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Wright, Peter (2002) [1999]. "The British Post-Alien Intrusion Film". In Hunter, I. Q (ed.). British Science Fiction Cinema. British Popular Cinema (2nd ed.). London, UK: Routledge. pp. 138–42. ISBN   978-0-203-00977-2.
  11. 1 2 3 "Inseminoid Soundtrack Listing". soundtrackcollector.com. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  12. ↑ "BBFC Certifications". London, UK: British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  13. 1 2 3 Sheffield, Skip (17 November 1983). "Inseminoid Review". Boca Raton News . Boca Raton, Florida: South Florida Media Company. p. 15. OCLC   232117398.
  14. 1 2 Wheeler, Jeremy. "AllMovie Review". AllMovie. Archived from the original on 21 March 2009. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  15. ↑ Presenter: Paul McCarthy. Director, Producer, Cinematographer, Editor: Darren Perry (1999). Evil Heritage: Independent Film-Making & the Films of Norman J. Warren (DVD). Distributor: Starlite Video.
  16. 1 2 Jones, Edward (18 January 1983). "For a New Low in Terror, Horror Planet Delivers". The Free Lance–Star . Fredericksburg, Virginia: The Free-Lance Star Publishing Company. p. 10. OCLC   232119194.
  17. 1 2 Binion, Cavett. "AllMovieReview". AllMovie. Archived from the original on 15 January 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  18. 1 2 Pratt, Douglas (2004). Doug Pratt's DVD: Movies, Television, Music, Art, Adult and More. Vol. 1. UNET 2 Corporation. p. 607. ISBN   978-1-932916-00-3.
  19. ↑ Tudor, Andrew (1989). Monsters and Mad Scientists: A Cultural History of the Horror Movie. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 73. ISBN   978-0-631-16992-5.
  20. ↑ Marriott, James; Newman, Kim (2008) [2006]. Russell, Lorna (ed.). Horror: The Definitive Guide to the Cinema of Fear (2nd ed.). London, UK: André Deutsch. p. 158. ISBN   978-0-233-00201-9.
  21. ↑ Wright, Peter (2009). "Film and Television, 1960–1980". In Bould, Mark (ed.). The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction. Butler, Andrew M.; Roberts, Adam; Vint, Sheryl. Oxford, UK: Routledge. p. 97. ISBN   978-0-415-45378-3.
  22. ↑ Langford, Barry (2006) [2005]. Film Genre: Hollywood and Beyond (2nd ed.). Edinburgh University Press. p. 200. ISBN   978-0-7486-1903-0.
  23. ↑ Martin, John (October–November 1997). Bryce, Allan (ed.). "The Warren Report!". The Dark Side . No. 69. Liskeard, UK: Stray Cat Publishing. pp. 46–52.
  24. ↑ Partridge, Christopher (July 2004). "Alien Demonology: The Christian roots of the Malevolent Extraterrestrial in UFO Religions and Abduction Spiritualities" (PDF). Religion. 34 (3): 163–89. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.523.5259 . doi:10.1016/j.religion.2004.04.014. S2CID   170258932. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.