Invasion of the Animal People (1962)

That was an excellent one.

hyped garbage

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

"Invasion of the Animal People," though carrying a 1961 copyright, is actually a 1958 production originally titled "Rymdinvasion i Lappland" (Space Invasion of Lappland), made in Sweden by Hollywood director Virgil Vogel, coming off a pair of marginal Universal entries, "The Mole People" and "The Land Unknown." The arctic setting certainly provides a more interesting backdrop than anything that happens on film, as a trio of aliens burrow into the snow and ice, allowing a solitary creature to escape, approximately 20 feet tall and covered in fur. We only get to see the 'animal person' during the final two reels of an 80 minute feature, actually 9 minutes longer than the original, despite several scenes of exposition shortened and streamlined. The perpetrator of this 'new' movie was our old friend Jerry Warren, a hustler adept at taking other people's films and making a fast buck out of them, adding newly shot footage of his own that adds nothing but running time. Such was the case here, as John Carradine supplies three minutes of on screen narration to open the film, after which we only occasionally hear his sterling voice propping up the deadly dull proceedings. Warren needlessly begins his version with an abominable 17 straight minutes of new dialogue heavy scenes, utilizing actress Barbara Wilson for proper continuity, so by the time we reach the original footage it's a painless rendition of the unreleased "Terror in the Midnight Sun" (interrupted by only two additional Warren-shot scenes). Gorgeous brunette Barbara Wilson did a fairly daring nude scene in the Swedish version, also a veteran of pulsating pulchritude in "Teenage Doll," "Blood of Dracula," and "The Flesh Eaters." Screenwriter Arthur C. Pierce continued in the genre vein with "The Cosmic Man," "Beyond the Time Barrier," "The Human Duplicators," "Mutiny in Outer Space," "Women of the Prehistoric Planet," "Dimension 5," "Cyborg 2087," "The Destructors," and "The Astral Factor." Jerry Warren deserves some small credit for hardly tampering with what he had, but not for the two additional reels of nonsensical claptrap. Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater aired this Carradine title on four occasions: Mar 2 1968 (followed by "Journey to the Seventh Planet"), July 26 1969 (preceded by "Godzilla vs. the Thing"), May 30 1970 (followed by "The Black Doll"), and July 24 1971 (followed by "Space Monster").

You know it's a bad flick if it has Jerry Warren writing and John Carradine (The Unearthly, Night Train to Mundo Fine) narrating. (True, Carradine was also in Peggy Sue Got Married and The Secret of NIMH, but this was way before that.) Bad special effects crush this movie's hope of ever being decent. This one is one that MST3K didn't do, but should have.Nice to see Sampo isn't the only bad Swedish movie.

Unlike most of the people who have reviewed INVASION OF THE ANIMAL PEOPLE here, I actually own the film. Which is not to say that I recommend it wholly, but the film does have its quirky charms.If you are unfamiliar with Jerry Warren films, then I'll tell you a few things about him. His films are paste-together jobs, usually bought from other countries(this one is Swiss),and reedited with unrelated footage of Americans, sitting around talking. This film has plenty of all those elements, and it looks like the original film was far better than the American version.First of all, although the Animal Person is cheap-looking, it is a welcome change of pace. There was definitely some care put into the costume, and the way the costume was photographed. All the Animal footage was done before Warren got his hands on it.He included scenes of John Carradine and Robert Burton talking. And talking. And it never has much to do with the other film, the one directed by Virgil Vogel. But, this strange brew of film cuts and loose ends has a certain sedative quality to it. When viewing the location footage, it is fairly serene and technically sound. The climax is shoddy, but this is a minor complaint in view of the footage Warren shot.I feel for you Vogel. INVASION...has some moments that will have you rolling in your seat, all unintentional. But, it is hard to recommend this to serious film fans because it is hardly a film, just a pistache of two separate directors' works. I would love to see the original foreign version of this film, but I will probably have to settle for the Warren-ized version. By default, this is Warren's best film, although he tried hard to undo that as well.Skip FRANKENSTEIN ISLAND or I WAS A HIPPY VAMPIRE, and skip this one too, unless you're in the mood for a REAL BAD movie.

I have seen a lot of obscure films and am pretty sure that this one must have had the lowest budget in making it. There is a man-like creature that is HUGE- he probably stands 40-60 feet tall. Anyway the Eskimo villagers throw fire torches at it.As for the plot- there may not even be one, other than these people go out into the frozen tundra to look for a cheapie spaceship and then end up skiing half the countryside. I do however, appreciate this show's obscurity- there is , as far as I've ever seen, nothing quite like it- It makes "Plan 9 From Outer Space" look like "Gone With The Wind".