Monster of the Day #496

From a script by Ed Wood. Seriously. Never seen this, but it’s available on the Web in its entirety, and I think is on some of those Mill Creek megasets. I doubt at this point a clean copy of the film will ever pop up, but you never know.

  • Ericb

    When John when to San Francisco to become a flower child back in ’67 this isn’t quite what he had in mind.

  • Flangepart

    A plant monster…by Ed Wood. Oh, the irony.

  • Ericb

    This is what you get when you put The Creeping Terror, a Venus Fly Trap and a 1972 Peter Gabriel into a Brundlefly machine.

  • Beckoning Chasm

    It’s on “Chilling Classics.”  Which I have, and I was pretty sure I’d seen all of, but I don’t remember this at all.  Oh well, that’s why I have a DVD player and am underemployed, right?

  • bgbear_rogerh

    I don’t trust that new guy Bob, I think he is a plant

  • Ericb

    He gives new meaning to “melts in your mouth, not in your hand.”

  • Gamera977

    I would be awesome to have the plant monsters fight the giant grasshoppers from ‘The Beginning of the End’.

    ‘Noooooooo, the giant locusts are here to SAVE us!!!’

  • Only 4 MotDs until #500. I wonder what it will be?

  • I’m happy to hear the film is out there! This was one picture I was convinced I’d never see! The title was simply THE VENUS FLY-TRAP, right?

  • Ken_Begg

    Correct, although it’s now (slightly) better known under it’s video title, The Revenge of Dr. X.

  • I miss you guys! Work has been horrificly busy. (You’d think that would be good, but deadlines in state government suck.)

    I’d vote for this guy in the election!

  • I heard (and again, this one is pretty obscure, so I’m just noting this is what I heard) that the film was issued on VHS with the title sequence lifted from MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND.

    I ran across it on Ebay years ago, and the guy was selling the original version with the correct titles and everything! Haven’t found it since, but that sounded like the right copy to get.

  • Beckoning Chasm

    I watched the first twenty minutes, and yes, the credits are indeed lifted from MDoBI.  John Ashley, Angelique Pettyjohn as the stars, Eddie Romero as producer and co-director.  All untrue. No writer credited, but it definitely has Wood’s way with dialogue.

    Twenty minutes was about all I could stand.

  •  My dad and I watched the whole thing together.  Not quite sure if he’s forgiven me for bring the thing into the house yet…

  • Was the real star Anthony Eisley? Man, I feel sorry for that guy. I’ve always been a fan of his too. He must’ve relished those episodes of The Invaders he did.

  • Mostly known by the title The Revenge of Dr. X for some reason. It’s definitely one of those movies you could edit down to about 3-5 minutes and make people think its an absolute must-see bad movie masterpiece. Then they actually sit down to watch it and quickly realize there’s a ton of fast forwarding to be done. Still a wonderfully wacky monster suit design. Looks like something Ultraman would have fought.

  • The Rev.

    I’d have said “Zone Fighter,” myself.  Most of Ultraman’s foes had nothing on those crazy-ass monsters.  Plus, a lot of them were overly detailed, like this thing.

  • Does that include Ultraman Taro? (Taru? Tarou?) What I’ve seen of that series was pretty freaky in the way-out monster department.

  • The Rev.

    I meant the original “Ultraman,” personally.  The series did have a few weird ones (Pestar possibly being the most bizarre ever) but for the most part weren’t particularly unusual.  “Ultraman Taro” was definitely up there in the Ultraverse for crazy monsters, from what I’ve seen.

    Seriously, though, Zone Fighter opponents Wagilar and Spylar are the first thing I thought of on seeing this critter.  Zandolla, Garaborg, Needlar, and Kabutoji are also pretty wacky.

    Let’s put it this way:  Gigan is right at home on Zone Fighter, and is not nearly the weirdest monster on the show.

    He also has an apparent relative in Barakidon.