A Film that sounds like Satire, but is 100% real.
This is The Green Slime, a 1968 Sci-Fi Film from Toei with a cult reputation. Does it live up to the sort of hype?
The Plot involves a mission to Space, a strange discovery and the only thing worse than having horse flies everywhere- aliens!
Are they silly or scary?
The titular substance is a key to the Plot.
There's also lots of really silly, seriously done melodrama.
A trio of Writers (and Tom Rowe) brought us this Film and they worked on such Films as The Wild, Wild Planet, The War of the Planets and War Between the Planets (which is not the same Film).
Is it just serious enough to work?
To find out, read on...
An Astronaut- played by a guy who really wants to be Roger Moore- is assigned on a life or death mission.
A planetoid is flying towards Earth and he's the man for the job.
He has to dock at and deploy from a Space Station (the 1960s equivalent of the ISS) in Earth Orbit.
As luck would have it, the guy running the Station is a guy he has a predisposed problem with (Richard Jaekel).
Drama!
He goes up with a crew- including Jaekel- to the planetoid and take samples.
Time is running out, but you should stop to pick up some slime samples!
They blow it up- which seems like a minor thing- and fly away.
They absorb electricity and can zap you to death with a touch!
The Base has to do with an outbreak of the Aliens, as they regenerate from a few drops of titular green liquid.
Time for a lockdown- boot up Zoom!
The Aliens are hard to wrangle, but they do their best.
They can get them to smaller areas of the Station, but it is not easy.
How bad is it? They are using a Dutch Angle!
The Station is emptied out, save for a small contingent.
Not Roger Moore agrees to stay behind to launch it- now covered on the outside by tiny Aliens.
Jaekel helps out, but dies in the process, ending their beef.
The Station crashes into Earth's atmosphere and then abruptly explodes.
It is a sad, but also heroic ending.
A Film that is just serious enough to work for this kind of thing.
The Writers and Producers treat this whole thing as 100% serious. That's the key thing.
This Plot has roving tentacle monsters that eat electricity.
This one is way too easy to make silly.
Because they act like this is a serious Film about serious things is why it works.
It is full of melodrama and serious faces.
I can't stay at mad you, silly Film.
How is this not on Svengoolie yet? I blame licensing rights. I need to wave my finger at whoever is keeping this off of MeTV.
Speaking of a finger, this one was co-written by Batman's true creator- Bill Finger!
Next up, I have to do a Birthday Review for the first time in a while. Will this one make me hear voices? Stay tuned...
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