Zontar, the Thing from Venus | |
---|---|
Genre | Horror Sci-fi |
Written by | Lou Rusoff Larry Buchanan Hillman Taylor |
Directed by | Larry Buchanan |
Starring | John Agar Susan Bjurman Anthony Huston Patricia De Laney |
Music by | Ronald Stein (uncredited) |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Cinematography | Robert B. Alcott |
Running time | 80 minutes |
Production company | Azalea Pictures |
Budget | $22,000 |
Original release | |
Release | December 1967 |
Zontar, the Thing from Venus (also known as Zontar: The Invader from Venus) is a 1967 American made-for-television horror science fiction film directed by Larry Buchanan and starring John Agar and Susan Bjurman. It is based on the teleplay by Hillman Taylor and Buchanan. [1] It is a low-budget 16 mm color remake of Roger Corman's It Conquered the World (1956), which also featured an alien invader from Venus.
At a dinner party with their wives, NASA scientist Dr. Keith Ritchie reveals to his colleague Dr. Curt Taylor that he has secretly been in communication with an alien from Venus named Zontar who he claims is coming to Earth to solve all of the world's problems. However, as soon as Zontar arrives on Earth via a fallen laser satellite it quickly becomes obvious that the three-eyed, bat-winged, skeletal black creature has a hidden agenda, as it begins causing local power outages that stop telephones, automobiles and even running water from working, and it starts taking control of people's minds using flying lobster-like "injecto-pods" that sprout from its wings. Only after his wife is killed does Ritchie finally realize that Zontar has come not as a savior but as a conqueror, and he goes to confront the hideous alien in the sulfur spring-heated cave that it has made its secret base.
In a review for AllMovie, Paul Gaita wrote "For experienced cult movie watchers, Zontar is the cinematic equivalent of a car accident, an unpleasant spectacle from which one cannot look away". [2]
According to Greg Goodsell, writing in Filmfax magazine, Zontar, the Thing from Venus is arguably Buchanan's best known film. [3]
From 1981–1992 Zontar, the Magazine from Venus was published in Boston. It included an interview with Buchanan by Ivan Stang.[ citation needed ] [4]
Creature Feature gave the movie one star, stating it was so inept that only fans of so bad it's good films would enjoy it. [5]
TV Guide states that while the movie is not good, it is not as bad as its reputation suggests. [6]
Zontar was famously spoofed by SCTV in the Season 4, Cycle 2, Episode 3 sequence "Zontar", originally broadcast October 30, 1981. [7]
Mars Needs Women is a 1968 independently made American made-for-television science fiction film from Azalea Pictures. The film was produced, written, and directed by self-proclaimed schlock artist/auteur Larry Buchanan, and stars Tommy Kirk, Yvonne Craig, and Byron Lord. The film was released in first-run syndication by American International Pictures without a theatrical release.
The Thing from Another World, sometimes referred to as just The Thing, is a 1951 American black-and-white science fiction-horror film directed by Christian Nyby, produced by Edward Lasker for Howard Hawks' Winchester Pictures Corporation, and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film stars Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, and Douglas Spencer. James Arness plays The Thing. The Thing from Another World is based on the 1938 novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell.
Free, White and 21 is a 1963 movie by self-proclaimed "schlockmeister" director Larry Buchanan. It was based on the true story of the controversial trial of a black man accused of raping a white woman in Dallas, Texas in the 1960s. The title is a version of the archaic American idiomatic phrase "free, white, and twenty-one", which means "beholden to no one".
Larry Buchanan, born Marcus Larry Seale Jr., was a film director, producer and writer, who proclaimed himself a "schlockmeister". Many of his extremely low-budget films have landed on "worst movie" lists or in the public domain, but all at least broke even and many made a profit. Most of his films were made for television and were never shown theatrically.
It Conquered the World is an independently made 1956 American science fiction film produced and directed by Roger Corman, and starring Peter Graves, Lee Van Cleef, Beverly Garland, and Sally Fraser. Shot in black-and-white, It Conquered the World was released theatrically by American International Pictures (AIP) as a double feature with The She-Creature.
John George Agar Jr. was an American film and television actor. He is best known for starring alongside John Wayne in the films Sands of Iwo Jima, Fort Apache, and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. In his later career he was the star of B movies, such as Tarantula!, The Mole People, The Brain from Planet Arous, Revenge of the Creature, Flesh and the Spur and Hand of Death. He was the first husband of Shirley Temple.
In the Year 2889 is a 1967 American made-for-television horror science fiction film from American International Pictures about the aftermath of a future nuclear war. The film stars Paul Petersen, Quinn O'Hara, Charla Doherty, Neil Fletcher and Hugh Feagin. AIP commissioned low-budget cult film auteur Larry Buchanan to produce and direct this film as a color remake of Roger Corman's 1956 film Day the World Ended.
The Eye Creatures is a 1967 American made-for-television comedy horror science fiction film about an invasion by a flying saucer and its silent, shambling alien occupants.
Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet is a 1965 science fiction film, one of two versions adapted for Roger Corman from the Soviet science fiction film Planeta Bur, scripted by Aleksandr Kazantsev and directed by Pavel Klushantsev. Curtis Harrington oversaw the editing and dubbing of principal portions of the source film, and directed new principal scenes featuring Basil Rathbone and Faith Domergue. The resulting new film was syndicated directly to television by American International Television.
The Brain from Planet Arous is a 1957 independently made American black-and-white science fiction film, produced by Jacques R. Marquette, directed by Nathan H. Juran, that stars John Agar, Joyce Meadows, and Robert Fuller. It was written by Ray Buffum. Distributed briefly by Howco International in late 1957, the film appeared in 1958 on a double feature with Teenage Monster.
Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster is a 1965 science fiction film. It was directed by Robert Gaffney and starred Marilyn Hanold, James Karen and Lou Cutell. It was filmed in Florida and Puerto Rico in 1964.
Without Warning is a 1980 American science fiction horror film directed and produced by Greydon Clark. The film stars Jack Palance, Martin Landau, Tarah Nutter, Christopher S. Nelson, Kevin Peter Hall, Neville Brand and Ralph Meeker in his final film role. It centers on an alien lifeform that arrives on Earth in order to stalk and kill humans as game. It was released by Filmways Pictures on September 19, 1980.
Susan Hart is an American actress, and the widow of American International Pictures (AIP) co-founder James H. Nicholson.
It's Alive! is a 1969 American monster movie directed by Larry Buchanan and distributed by American International Pictures. The story concerns a mad farmer who tries to feed a stranded couple to a dinosaur he keeps in a cave.
Creature of Destruction is a 1967 American made-for-television film produced and directed by Larry Buchanan. It is an uncredited color remake of the 1956 movie The She Creature directed by Edward L. Cahn.
Curse of the Swamp Creature is a 1968 American-made for television horror science fiction film directed by Larry Buchanan. Although Buchanan was producing low-budget 16mm color remakes of American International Pictures sci-fi movies for television distribution around this time, he claimed this was an original even though it bears more than a few striking similarities to the 1957 AIP film Voodoo Woman.
Creature with the Atom Brain is a 1955 American zombie horror science fiction film directed by Edward L. Cahn and starring Richard Denning.
A Bullet for Pretty Boy is a 1970 American action film from director Larry Buchanan. It stars Fabian Forte as gangster Pretty Boy Floyd and co-stars Jocelyn Lane in her final performance before retiring from acting in 1971.
Invisible Invaders is a 1959 American science fiction film starring John Agar, Jean Byron, John Carradine and Philip Tonge. It was produced by Robert E. Kent, directed by Edward L. Cahn and written by Samuel Newman.
Bill Thurman was an American film and television actor. From the early 1960s until his death in 1995, he frequently appeared in B movies and independent films, often playing "redneck types" or sheriffs. He worked with low-budget-director Larry Buchanan on numerous films, for example In the Year 2889 and It's Alive!. Thurman was one of those Southern actors who specialized in "regional" pictures, films made exclusively for distribution in the Southern States.