dr_mabeuse

You really can't fully appreciate the teeth-grinding awfulness of "The Creeping Terror" without knowing the jaw-dropping insanity behind how it was made, which is at least as amazing as the movie itself. The story's recounted in Harry Medved's "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time" (or maybe Walichinsky's "The Golden Turkeys". Not sure.)

"Vic Savage", the producer/director/star wasn't quite an out-and-out con man, but he was close. A man with a vision, he showed up Lake Tahoe, CA with the female lead "Shannon O'Neil" in tow (variously reported as his wife or girlfriend, but generally also assumed to be underage) and managed to convince various citizens that he was a great producer and about to make the defining outer space monster flick of all time, and offering to sell parts in the movie to all who might want to be part of film history.

There was no shortage of takers, and Vic was able to raise enough money for his venture to start filming, but not, as is readily apparent, enough money for much of anything else. The monster was put together from carpet scraps and radiator hose and manned by students from some nearby college who worked for beer. Vic did most of the shooting himself, using junked cars and school gyms. The music was composed by high school band director Frederick Kopp (and is not to be missed: an ensemble of organ, piano, snare drum, and trumpet!) The scientist is played by a hack actor named William Thourlby, who would go on to win fame as Richard Nixon's wardrobe adviser and as author of the best- selling book, "Dress For Success". The script itself was written by the brother of famed screenwriter Sterling Silliphant.

When shooting concluded, Vic then lost the entire soundtrack! (But not, thankfully, Dr. Kopp's stirring music) Gone! With no money for a re- recording, Vic hit on the brilliant idea of having the whole film narrated by some big-voiced announcer, so that there's not a line of spoken dialog in the entire film, just people's lips moving while the announcer tells us what they're saying.

The film actually opened, but about that time Vic Savage and Shannon O'Neil just disappeared and were never heard from since.

A good cast and they do their best with what they're given, but the story makes no sense, the characters' actions are inexplicable, and there are too many moments of unintentional humor, as when a man is killed by being pierced with pieces of a phonograph record or when they get the witch drunk to a hip hop beat and then hit her over the head with a bottle and she grabs her hostage and pouts off. The scene when the two witch and her victim (played by the same actress) are in the house together sets up like a 3 Stooges routine, and the plot begs the question: if the witch wants to possess this other woman's soul, why doesn't she just do it instead of leading these people on this elaborate chase? Not to be missed is Christopher Walkin's eyeglasses and his automotive explanation of the afterlife (paraphrased): "The ancient Egyptianas - they wee materialists. They expected the body to last through eternity, like a used car that you souped up. But the Druids, they knew you couldn't drive in the afterlife. You had to get out and walk." Huh? The ending is absolutely indecipherable. Seems like they just ran out of film.