Monster of the Day #1520

Updated on March 6, 2017 By Ken Begg 16 Comments

Ah, AIP. The company that famously came up with an exploitable title first, then some poster art which they shared with owners on the drive-in circuit. If the response was positive, *then* they wrote a script and shot the film.

I’ve done at least one week of these before, and the five we’ll do this week basically all came out within a year of each other.

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  • Gamera977

    Or more accurately: ‘It Attempted To Conquer The World’

    or ‘It Gave It’s Best Shot at Conquering the World’

    or ‘By Golly It Came Pretty Darn Close to Conquering The World!’

  • Eric Hinkle

    It can be amazing to watch this or really most any AIP movie, realize while you see it that it’s ridiculous — and yet you’ll want to see it again, maybe own it on DVD.

    AIP may have done a lot that was wrong, but how did they manage to do it so well?

  • bgbear_rnh

    I love Lee van Cleef in westerns, but he needed to do a few more Sci Fi films.

  • sandra

    According to Roger Corman, the monster model was only about 3 feet tall. So Beverly Garland said “You came to conquer the world, huh? Well, TAKE THIS!” and kicked it across the room. That would have made a much better ending for the movie.

  • bgbear_rnh

    Insert Beverly Garland making sarcastic air quotes.

  • Gamera977

    Yeah, they could have only shown the monster in close-ups so we didn’t know how big it was until Mrs. Garland sent it flying!

  • Ericb

    Despite their many flaws these movies were fun and often wonderfully inventive, especially compared to what passes as B-movies these days.

  • Flangepart

    Beulah? Great, the called the monster by my mom’s middle name. Glad she never found out about this one.

  • Rock Baker

    One of my top three favorite movies.

  • Wade Harrell

    They were never boring! Even if the overall concept seemed hackneyed, there was always some original twist that made it feel fresh.

  • zombiewhacker

    Or “Well, It Never Actually Conquered The World, But It Did Forget To Turn Out The Lights In Peter Graves’ Living Room Before Graves Came Back Home.”

    Um… too wordy?

  • zombiewhacker

    BTW, has anyone ever seen the 80s comedy “Modern Romance”? Albert Brooks plays a film editor at American International Pictures doing post-production work on a silly outer space science fiction flick starring George Kennedy. (Kennedy plays himself.)

  • Ken_Begg

    Good, often witty scripts. Good casts (Peter Graves, Lee Van Cleef, Beverly Garland). A fab Paul Blaisdell monster. The 71 minute running time might be the capper, though. Add 20 minutes to the thing and it might well have worn out it’s welcome.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Wasn’t AIP also the outfit that brought over most of the Toho and Gamera films, as well as some of those luchadors-versus-monsters films from Mexico?

  • Flangepart

    Kinda, but- truth in advertising.

  • Gamera977

    ‘It Peed On Peter Grave’s Car Tires’