The Creature Wasn't Nice

Last updated
The Creature Wasn't Nice
Poster of the movie The Creature Wasn't Nice.jpg
Directed by Bruce Kimmel
Written byBruce Kimmel
Produced byMark Haggard
Eilhys England
Michael S. Landes
Albert Schwartz
Alain Silver
Patrick Regan
Starring Leslie Nielsen
Bruce Kimmel
Cindy Williams
Gerrit Graham
Patrick Macnee
CinematographyDenny Lavil
Edited byDavid Blangsted
Music byDavid Spear
Distributed by Almi Pictures (VHS)
Release date
  • July 1983 (1983-07)
Running time
88 min.
CountryUnited States
Language English
Budget$2 million [1]

The Creature Wasn't Nice (also known as Naked Space and Spaceship) is a 1983 American comedy film written and directed by Bruce Kimmel. The film is a parody of Alien . It stars Leslie Nielsen in a role similar to those in the farcical comedies Airplane! and Naked Gun . It co-stars Cindy Williams, Gerrit Graham, and Patrick Macnee. It was released on VHS in 1983 under the title Spaceship to emphasize Nielsen's connection to Airplane!, and released on DVD in 1999 under the title Naked Space to play up the connection to Nielsen's Naked Gun films.

Contents

The film is a low-budget comedy with simple sets and dialogue wrapped around several musical numbers. In one of the scenes, the red slimy one-eyed alien monster performs a lounge-act style musical number called "I Want to Eat Your Face." Williams performs two musical numbers, one solo and one with Kimmel, who had previously appeared with and directed Williams in 1976 in The First Nudie Musical . The film was completely re-edited by the producers - that is what was released as Spaceship/Naked Space on home video. The original version, The Creature Wasn't Nice, was only seen at two public previews. In 2019, it was announced that both versions of the film would come to home video under its original title.

Plot

Cast

Production

Bruce Kimmel came up with the idea for the film in 1979 and successfully pitched it to Cindy Williams, with whom he had previously worked on The First Nudie Musical . [1] Kimmel based the film upon his love of 1950s B-movie sci-fil films such as Target Earth , Tobor the Great , and The Angry Red Planet , as well as his distaste for more extreme forms of horror films that had risen in popularity such as Friday the 13th and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , calling them "evil" and "despicable" films. [1]

Al Schwartz of World Northal Corp. (who'd released Kimmel's cult film, The First Nudie Musical) optioned the project as his first in-house production after previously having specialized in distributing European films such as Bread and Chocolate and Cousin Cousine . [1] The film's special effects were handled by Magic Lantern Organization, which had also worked on History of the World, Part I and Flicks. [1]

Reception

TV Guide , reviewing the Spaceship version, gave the film one out of four stars, calling it a "misguided attempt at horror comedy". [2] Cavett Binion, writing for Allmovie, also reviewing the re-cut version, called the film "painfully dull [...] [Patrick Macnee's] hammy performance provides one of the film's few real laughs [...] the lovely soft-shoe number "I Want to Eat Your Face" [provided] the film's other real laugh." [3] Variety, reviewed the film under its original title at a public sneak preview in Westwood, called it "a likeably silly send-up of outer-space horror pix like 'Alien'".

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Macnee</span> English actor (1922–2015)

Daniel Patrick Macnee was a British-American actor, best known for his breakthrough role as secret agent John Steed in the television series The Avengers (1961–1969). Starting out as the assistant to David Keel, he became the lead when Hendry left after the first series, and was subsequently partnered with a succession of female assistants. He later reprised the role in The New Avengers (1976–1977).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie Nielsen</span> Canadian actor (1926–2010)

Leslie William Nielsen was a Canadian-American actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters.

A parody film or spoof film is a subgenre of comedy film that lampoons other film genres or films as pastiches, works created by imitation of the style of many different films reassembled together. Although the subgenre is often overlooked by critics, parody films are commonly profitable at the box office. Parody is related to satire, except that "parody is more often a representation of appreciation, while a satire is more often...pointing ...out the major flaws of an object through ridicule." J.M. Maher notes that the "difference is not always clear" and points out that "some films employ both techniques". Parody is found in a range of art and culture, including literature, music, theater, television, animation, and gaming.

<i>Police Squad!</i> 1982 American television crime comedy series

Police Squad! is an American television crime comedy series that was broadcast on the ABC network in 1982. It was created by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, starring Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin. A spoof of police procedurals and many other television shows and movies, the series features Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker's usual sight gags, wordplay, and non sequiturs. It resembles the Lee Marvin police show M Squad and the late 1960s series Felony Squad. It was canceled after six episodes, and yielded The Naked Gun film series from 1988 to 1994.

<i>It! The Terror from Beyond Space</i> 1958 film by Edward L. Cahn

It! The Terror from Beyond Space is an independently made 1958 American science fiction horror film, produced by Robert Kent, directed by Edward L. Cahn, that stars Marshall Thompson, Shawn Smith, and Kim Spalding. The film was distributed by United Artists as a double feature with Curse of the Faceless Man.

<i>Lifeforce</i> (film) 1985 British science fiction horror film by Tobe Hooper

Lifeforce is a 1985 British science fiction horror film directed by Tobe Hooper, adapted by Dan O'Bannon and Don Jakoby, and starring Steve Railsback, Peter Firth, Frank Finlay, Mathilda May, and Patrick Stewart. Based on Colin Wilson's 1976 novel The Space Vampires, the film portrays the events that unfold after a trio of humanoids in a state of suspended animation are brought to Earth after being discovered in the hold of an alien space ship by the crew of a European Space Shuttle.

<i>The First Nudie Musical</i> 1976 film by Bruce Kimmel

The First Nudie Musical is a 1976 American musical comedy film directed by Mark Haggard and Bruce Kimmel.

<i>It Came from Outer Space</i> 1953 US science fiction film directed by Jack Arnold

It Came from Outer Space is a 1953 American science fiction horror film, the first in the 3D process from Universal-International. It was produced by William Alland and directed by Jack Arnold. The film stars Richard Carlson and Barbara Rush, and features Charles Drake, Joe Sawyer, and Russell Johnson. The script is based on Ray Bradbury's original film treatment "The Meteor" and not, as sometimes claimed, a published short story.

<i>TerrorVision</i> 1986 film by Ted Nicolaou

TerrorVision is a 1986 American science fiction horror comedy film directed by Ted Nicolaou, produced and written by Albert and Charles Band and composed by Richard Band, all of whom would go on to found and work with Full Moon Features in 1989. TerrorVision was made by Empire International Pictures, the production company owned by Charles Band prior to Full Moon, and was released in February 1986.

Hy Pyke was an American character actor.

<i>Creature</i> (1985 film) 1985 American film

Creature is a 1985 American science fiction horror film directed by William Malone, starring Stan Ivar, Wendy Schaal, Lyman Ward, Annette McCarthy, Robert Jaffe, Diane Salinger, and Klaus Kinski. It features early special effects work by Robert and Dennis Skotak, who would go on to design the special effects for Aliens.

Bruce Kimmel, also known as Guy Haines, is an actor, writer, director, composer, and Grammy-nominated CD producer.

<i>C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D.</i> 1989 film by David Irving

C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D. is a 1989 zombie comedy film, directed by David Irving, written by M. Kane Jeeves and stars Brian Robbins, Tricia Leigh Fisher, Bianca Jagger, and Gerrit Graham in the title role.

<i>Beware! The Blob</i> 1972 film by Larry Hagman

Beware! The Blob is a 1972 American independent science fiction comedy horror film directed by Larry Hagman. It is a sequel to The Blob (1958). The screenplay was penned by Anthony Harris and Jack Woods III, based on a story by Jack H. Harris and Richard Clair. The film originally earned a PG rating from the MPAA, though it is now unrated. It is the second film in The Blob film series.

<i>From Beyond</i> (film) 1986 film by Stuart Gordon

From Beyond is a 1986 science-fiction body horror film directed by Stuart Gordon, loosely based on the short story of the same name by H. P. Lovecraft. It was written by Dennis Paoli, Gordon and Brian Yuzna, and stars Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Ken Foree and Ted Sorel.

<i>Waxwork</i> (film) 1988 film by Anthony Hickox

Waxwork is a 1988 American comedy horror film written and directed by Anthony Hickox in his directorial film debut and starring Zach Galligan, Deborah Foreman, Michelle Johnson, David Warner, Dana Ashbrook, and Patrick Macnee. It is partially inspired by the 1924 German silent film Waxworks.

<i>The Naked Monster</i> 2005 American film

The Naked Monster is a 2005 American ultra low-budget science-fiction and horror comedy fan film written by Ted Newsom and directed by Newsom and Wayne Berwick as an homage to and spoof of the "giant monster-on-the-loose" films of the 1950s. The final project took 21 years to make, and was the final film for Kenneth Tobey, John Agar, Lori Nelson and Robert Clarke.

<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>Night Fright</i> 1967 American film

Night Fright is a 1967 American science-fiction horror film directed by James A. Sullivan that was shot near Dallas, Texas.

<i>The Mean One</i> 2022 film by Steven LaMorte

The Mean One is a 2022 American Christmas horror film directed by Steven LaMorte from a screenplay written by Flip and Finn Kobler. It is a horror retelling of Dr. Seuss' 1957 children's book How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, and stars Krystle Martin, Chase Mullins, John Bigham, Erik Baker, Flip Kobler, and Amy Schumacher, with David Howard Thornton as the eponymous character. It follows a young woman as she attempts to defend her childhood town from a green-skinned creature who goes on a murderous rampage during the holiday season.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Counts, Kyle (December 1981). "The Creature Wasn't Nice". Cinefantastique . Fourth Castle Micromedia. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  2. "Spaceship".
  3. "The Creature Wasn't Nice (1981) - Bruce Kimmel | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".