Monster of the Day #3340

Updated on January 9, 2023 By Ken Begg 14 Comments

Our first 2023 Watch Party, to ease us in, was Angry Red Planet. The film has a weird flash-back structure, presumably to stretch out the running time (85 minutes, I think). The characters are utter cliches–tough commander, beautiful woman, older scientist, Odious Comic Relief from Brooklyn. Yeah, they went the full ten yards on the latter. The voyage to Mars takes most of the film, and it’s pretty dull. But when they reach Mars, and all the scenes are filmed through a heavy red gel and there are a number of just lovely monsters, well, that stuff’s gold.

Somebody asked if there were a kit for the infamous Bat-Rat-Spider, and I said I was sure Monsters in Motion had one, but that it was probably sold out. As the photo indicates, that was correct. Great diorama, love the astronauts, but they really needed to cover the Bat-Rat-Spider with black fur.

Next Watch Party a week from Friday.

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  • 🐻 bgbear_rnh

    The Martian genetic engineers are really twisted sobs.

  • Gamera977

    I liked how the quipping stopped as soon as the BRS showed up as everyone was glued to the screen.

  • That thing was so great. Too bad it only has the one moment. Not that the “amoeba” wasn’t cool, too, mind you.

    And I’m probably the only one who found the OCR not that bad. Might be because of all the OCRs I saw in Slasher flicks. And, of course, I have seen Wallace Ford in recent years, which does strength the immunity somewhat

  • 🐻 bgbear_rnh

    Jack K is a darn good actor on radio and TV and Film. of course, many second bananas are better actors than the hero, especially in Westerns.

    I like Wally Ford.

  • Ford burnt through a lot of my good will in The Mysterious Mr. Wong and a bunch more in The Ape Man. That said, I seem to remember him being okay in Harvey, so it could be the movies I’ve seen him in and not him.

  • Ken_Begg

    That’s fair. As OCR goes, he wasn’t nearly as odious as many.

  • 🐻 bgbear_rnh

    He is good in Westerns.

  • Eric Hinkle

    That makes me wonder. Who was the worst OCR you’ve ever seen?

  • Gamera977

    Yeah he didn’t bother me that much. I found the C.O. and his macking on the doctor to be a lot more annoying.

  • 🐻 bgbear_rnh

    There is a long list. One that comes to mind is the guy in TV re-make “Attack of The The Eye Creatures”. The pajamas still haunt me.

  • The Rev.

    I don’t know if she was strictly the worst, but the “Australian” lady in From Hell It Came was pretty noxious. Also Snails in the D&D movie.

  • Beckoning Chasm

    The thing is, I try to forget them after I’ve seen them, since the experience is so unpleasant. So, the question is akin to “What’s the worse vomiting you’ve ever experienced?” I’d rather not look back.

  • Ken_Begg

    There’s a ’70s erotic thriller called Dr. Minx. One of the main characters is a sub-Horshack guy who after the first killing does a Columbo impression for the rest of the movie–the whole movie. I saw that at B-Fest like 30 years ago and it still haunts me.

  • Rodford Smith

    The “CineMagic” red planet effect was created by Norman Maurer, who was also Moe Howard’s son-in-law. The only other movie it was used in (AFAIK) was _The Three Stooges in Orbit_. In that movie it was presented as a mad scientist’s invention which was described as being something much like the later motion-capture, but was actually hand-drawn animation.