The Cape Canaveral Monsters (1960)

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Absolutely Fantastic

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

After the launch of Sputnik by the Russians in 1957 there were many attempts to launch American satellites that for a while were all ending in failure. I remember as a kid seeing the launches and seeing them fail every couple of months or so. By 1960 however we seemed to be getting it right and the following year we were sending men in space for the Mercury project. So in 1960 The Cape Canaveral Monsters was already a dated film on release. This dud of a science fiction film is as big a dud as some of those early launches from Cape Canaveral. This would have you believe that aliens who when not taking over dead human bodies are just dots of light are worried about our progress in space flight and are sabotaging our space program. Has to figure, if not aliens then its those Communists on orders from Moscow.A cast where you never heard of anybody performs their parts on the level of grade school drama. Some newsreel footage of our failure satellite launches integrated into some bad special effects and worse acting characterizes this film made by klutzes.

When a couple are killed in an auto accident their bodies are immediately inhabited by extraterrestrial beings. Taking refuge in an underground cave, the aliens attempt to sabotage the United States space program.Probably the most interesting thing about this film is the story of the director, Phil Tucker. Tucker pumped out six films in two years, including "Robot Monster" and a Lenny Bruce film. Then, after a failed suicide attempt, he made this little-known film. From there he went on to become an editor and worked on such films as "King Kong". So, the story here is more about Tucker than the movie itself.That being said, the story here is not bad... ignoring the sabotage aspect, we have here a story that may have more to do with vampires than zombies -- the need to use human "life forces" to stay alive. Others have drawn parallels with Romero's "Night of the Living Dead", but I think that is uncalled for.

The man who made this film, Phil Tucker, was one of the worst film directors in history. He was responsible for such travesties as "Dance Hall Racket" and "Robot Monster"--the latter of which was among the films in Harry Medved's book "The Fifty Worst Movies of All Time". Incompetence, bad acting and crappy budgets--all hallmarks of this film legend. So, when I saw that "The Cape Canaveral Monsters" was also made by Tucker, I had to watch it, as I occasionally like a terrible movie. After all, with over 12000 reviews to my credit, I need a few truly horrible films now and again after watching artsy, foreign or silent films. Unfortunately, while "The Cape Canaveral Monsters" is very bad, it never comes close to being as bad as "Robot Monster".The film is supposedly set around Cape Canaveral, Florida. But, being a Floridian, I was amazed to see LOTS of very, very high hills with caves and not a trace of a palm tree or alligator. Frankly, if there WERE caves around Canaveral, they'd be filled up with water, as the land is swampy and very wet. The location was about as un-Canaveral like as you can get--short of filming it in Alaska! The plot involves two bad actors who have stolen human bodies killed in a car accident. Following their assumption of the bodies as their own, the pair destroy rocket test after rocket test, as their planet does not want the humans venturing into space. They also want to collect a few human specimens to take back to their home planet. Two young folks who work for a professor in charge of the rocket program stumble upon these two undead aliens. Can they stop them or is the Earth royally screwed? The story idea is pretty typical of the genre--and isn't that different from Ed Wood's "Plan 9 From Outer Space". And, like "Plan 9", the film has a lot of bad acting, crappy props and the like. Bad movie buffs will love watching the Professor deliver his lines as if he's suffering from a traumatic brain injury. They will also love the one-armed guy who clearly has his arm tucked inside his jumpsuit! But the overall level of badness isn't uniform. The male lead isn't a terrible actor and the editing and direction occasionally don't look horrible. Not exactly glowing endorsements, I know, but things that make the film less attractive to those who seek out the very worst! Bad but not quite bad enough is how I see this one.

Aliens plan to invade.But Cap Canaveral may detect the invasion before the aliens are ready. So it is time for a preemptive strike.The aliens spot a couple of likely bodies on the beach. Creating an auto accident so they can pilfer the left over bodies the aliens are now in position to foil our Cape Canaveral space project.Will the aliens be detected and harassed by snotty students armed with a transistor radio?Or will they frees dry a couple of human specimens.Let this story be a warning to all who past their curfew plan to make out in a convertible on the beach.The aliens look really hokey. With fake scars and missing limbs.One fun thing is to look at all the old technology and cars.