Terror in the Midnight Sun

The other reviewers have pretty much summed up this sci-fi snow fest but I just have to mention a couple things - the overall cinematography isn't all that bad and I have to say some of the special effects took some effort. I especially am intrigued by the landing of the meteor/space ship at the beginning - the part where it skids in through the snow and buries itself in the mountain side. It is a pretty well done 5-10 seconds of the film, obviously a miniature of some kind and surprisingly well done compared to the rest of the film's mostly mediocre FX.

Actually it's a Swedish-American collaboration. A spaceship (that looks VERY much like a meteor) crashes in Northern Sweden before the eyes of some Samis. Some people, including the young geologist Erik Engström and the American Dr Wilson, travel up to a village in the vicinity to take a look at the ship - and Dr Wilsons beautiful niece Diane. At about the same time the aliens (who never speak, but sound kinda like synthesizers) release their pet - a hilarious, 3 metre high, furry monster with ridiculous teeth (you've got to see it for yourself). I guess you get the picture. Without spoiling any of the fun I can say that the rest of the story involves wrecking of Sami villages, a totally uncalled-for nude scene (well, almost) , and a love affair (WHO could it be between?). This is a 50's monster turkey with real class, it has all the cliches and very few dull moments. If you watch it until the end, you get to see a visual effect that is BY FAR the worst one I've ever seen.

I have seen a lot of obscure films and am pretty sure that this one must have had the lowest budget in making it. There is a man-like creature that is HUGE- he probably stands 40-60 feet tall. Anyway the Eskimo villagers throw fire torches at it.As for the plot- there may not even be one, other than these people go out into the frozen tundra to look for a cheapie spaceship and then end up skiing half the countryside. I do however, appreciate this show's obscurity- there is , as far as I've ever seen, nothing quite like it- It makes "Plan 9 From Outer Space" look like "Gone With The Wind".

On the DVD I rented there were two versions of the same movie, Horror in the Midnight Sun, and Invasion of the Animal People. Although these are quite different, IMDb has these listed together as Rymdinvasion i Lappland. Horror in the Midnight Sun was a fairly decent movie. It's another low budget B movie from the late 50s. A lot of these have their problems and Horror in the Midnight Sun is no exception but it is an entertaining movie. It was also interesting to watch a movie of this genre that is Swedish/American made. It's a Swedish version of a B Sci/Fi monster movie. I'm glad I watched it. It was nothing special but still decent. Invasion of the Animal People was not as good and by itself would be a mess. When seen after watching Horror in the Midnight Sun, it does show how a movie can be cut up, pieces spliced in and the movie changed. Watching to see what and how the film was changed was the only thing I found interesting with Invasion of the Animal People. If you're really into 50s Sci/Fi B monster movies, you should take a look at Horror In The Midnight Sun but if you only have a chance to see Invasion of the Animal People, don't bother.

This was a 1959 Swedish/American co-production. In the Lappland of Sweden a meteor crashes. Turns out it's not a meteor--it's a spaceship from another world. For no given reason--a huge, hairy monster comes from the spaceship, walks around, causes destruction and kidnaps a woman who has come with a team of scientists to explore the "meteor". Can anything stop this monster?

And what does it want?

There are lots of things wrong with this film--it has a romantic title song (for a SF feature!!!!); it opens with hysterically lousy special effects showing the spaceship landing; the monster doesn't show up until 50 minutes in (the film is only 70 minutes long); endless skiing footage; lousy acting (particularly Babara Wilson); laughable lapses in logic (note how conveniently Wilson's busted ankle is ignored). Also there's a pointless and fairly explicit nude shower scene which has no bearing whatsoever with the story! Still, it has an intelligent script; it's well-directed; takes place in a most unusual setting; has a very scary-looking monster and moves pretty quick. No classic but interesting.

It came to American in 1962. For some reason producer Jerry Warren destroyed it. He changed the title to "Invasion of the Animal People" (?????) and added John Carradine to the cast (probably for marquee value). Carradine opens up the film with the most insipid speech I've ever heard (it makes next to no sense) and narrates portions of it. Warren added dreadful new footage (badly shot and acted) which added nothing to the story; gave it a really silly new opening (involving Wilson); says it takes place in Switzerland (????); rearranged footage and cut out huge chunks. What is left is a hysterically bad, incomprehensible mess! I believe Carradine later said this was one of his worst movies (he's not kidding). It's known as being a camp classic.

But now BOTH versions are available on DVD. It's more than a little interesting to see how Warren totally destroyed a fairly good movie. It's a good thing the original is now available for people to view. "Invasion" gets a 1 (I wish I could give it a zero) but "Terror" gets a 7. Like I said, no classic but pretty well-done...and how many monster movies do you know that were made in Sweden?