TERROR
IN THE MIDNIGHT SUN (1959)
INVASION OF THE ANIMAL PEOPLE (1962)
Directed by Virgil Vogel/Jerry Warren
Something Weird DVD
Reviewed 08.24.04
Review by Joseph A. Ziemba
THE FILMS
You’ve got a heavily-padded,
yet somewhat effective, Swedish
film involving an abominable snowman,
young love, and three aliens. It
really works just fine on its own...at
least from fifty minutes onward.
Oh, there’s a severe lack
of static people sitting in a bare
set and talking for minutes on end?
Saints preserve us -- hand that
sucker over to Jerry Warren, ASAP!
Terror In The Midnight Sun is a 69 minute Swedish film that
falls somewhere between cheap, goofy
romance (first half) and strange,
creepy nonsense (second half). The
slim plot goes something like this:
A circular alien craft touches down
in icy lands, so a group of scientists
and one playboy are dispatched to
investigate. Mr. Smooth drums up
the charm with an elder scientist’s
daughter. At fifty minutes, a fifteen
foot yeti is misinterpreted as a
threat. In turn, he fights back
by walking around and flattening
miniature cabins. Does the bigfooted
one work for the conehead aliens?
I’m not sure. Do the aliens
retreat from whence they came and
leave the poor yeti to deal with
a gaggle of angry, torch-bearing
villagers? Yes, but not before the
padding flexes it up. Get set for
loads of flying, ice-skating, skiing,
ski-lift riding, night club crooning,
and a surprising bit of partial
nudity; shuffled in at random, and
all testing the limits of your opened
eyelids.
Despite the wince-inducing romance
scenes (and endless supply of padding),
Terror wasn’t
all that bad. Unusual for a low
budget film of this type, the long,
quiet shots of the monster’s
snowy movements worked well and
conjured up some solid creeps. In
addition, virtually nothing is explained
in regards to the aliens and monster,
proving that a bit of the ol’
mystique can go a long way (for
boring information overload, see
the similarly plotted Monster
A-Go-Go). Throw in the loungy
theme song and a genuinely sad ending
and you’ve good enough reason
to sit through an hour of boredom
to get to the good stuff.
Paging Mr. Warren. In order to present
Terror to television
audiences in the early 60s, Jerry
Warren applied his benign editing
powers to liven things up. Yep,
just like similar filmic abominations
like Creature Of The Walking
Dead and Attack Of
The Mayan Mummy. The idea
is simple: remove all of the boring
padding from Terror and replace it with...even duller
padding. Invasion Of The
Animal People is born! The
skiing, singing, and flying is gone.
Enchanted shots of people hanging
around and talking on closet-sized
sets are now present. 69 minutes
becomes 80, John Carradine spouts
off in a wood-paneled “laboratory,”
Katherine Victor complains to a
shrink, and we get a new prologue
that tries in vain to set up a sensible
story. It’s unbelievable and
incomprehensible. Solid work, J.W.!
AUDIO AND VIDEO
Given the age and origins of these
films, things could be worse. Terror appears in better shape, with a
slightly soft picture, a dark print,
and lots of deep blacks. Some white
speckling was present at times,
but for the most part, it’s
a pretty clean print. The mono sound
was just fine, but contained some
odd buzzing from time to time. Invasion is messier, with lots of emulsion
lines, scratches, and noisy blips.
The mono sound was muffled as well.
But really, it’s a Jerry Warren
film, so whatever.
EXTRAS
It’s a full-on Swedish party.
Odd swede culture, boobs, and swell
Terror extras -- dive
on in.
Let’s hit the shorts. Two
eight minute widescreen oddities
kick things off with mind-boggling
weirdness. First, visit the “Lapland
Reindeer Ritual” and see the
nasty treatment of our horned friends,
followed up with some love-making,
mountain-cliff style. You’ll
never want to see a Swedish woman
attempt to castrate a reindeer with
her mouth again. Ever. Is this for
real? Insane. Next, it’s “Swedish
Teens Run Wild,” as the young
turks of Sweden treat speeding cars
like they were bedrooms, destroy
a carnival, and exhibit a couple
making out on top of a car. Fascinating
in its detached tone. Lastly, Lon
Chaney, Jr. takes your hand for
“The Girl In The Glacier,”
an entertaining twenty-four minute
episode from the obscure 13th
Demon Street TV show. Written
and directed by Curt Siodmak, a
murderous bug-eyed scientist becomes
obsessed with an ancient girl, who
happens to be imprisoned in a huge
block of ice. Far more effective
than any Karloff-hosted Veil episode, I’d like to see more
of this swedish-subbed show hit
DVD.
Up next is a sextet of smutty Swedish
sexploitation trailers. If this
is up your alley, dig in to films
with titles like “To Ingrid
My Love Lisa,” and “Love
Swedish Style.” I watched
“Sweden: Heaven And Hell,”
which was more than enough.
Ah, the film related supplements
for Terror. Included
is a thorough behind-the-scenes
still gallery, which runs around
five minutes. Mostly comprised of
black and white shots, your attention
will be snapped when a few interesting
color stills pop up, as well as
some great looking ad art. Top notch.
Rounding everything out is a commentary
track with producer Bertil Jernberg
and a moderator (I couldn’t
understand his name when it was
spoken). Although filled with great
recollections of the film and Swedish
filmmaking in general, the thick
accents and low-timbered voices
make for a challenging listen. Breaking
it up over a few days is the way
to go...
FINAL THOUGHTS
Setting the high bar of devotion
for such bottom-rung schlop is Something
Weird’s raison d'être.
On those terms, this Swedish deuce
does not disappoint. It’s
a strong rental for the original
version of the film (and extras),
but I don’t see much replay
value after the initial bad-film
shock wears off. |
Pipes!
Alien lair
He's surprised to see you, that's
all
Basement Carradine
No socks
I could not resist
|
