Killers From Space/Phantom From Space

[peter johnson]

My wife picked me up a brand-new DVD double-feature for a whoppin' $1 --
I had heard of both Killers From Space and Phantom From Space before, but never seen them, nor did I know they were by the same guy --
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that both of these Poverty Row masterpieces were made by none other than W. Lee Wilder -- the older brother of the famous & successful Billy Wilder!!  I didn't even know Billy Wilder HAD a brother, much less a brother who made low-budget horror & science-fiction films.
Both of these pictures are of great interest to perusers of this site --
Both use the same stock military footage to denote panic & "the gathering storm" in response to weird goings-on.
Killers uses some amazing stock atom-bomb footage.  One amazing fact I learned from this film is that if an atomic bomb goes off nearby your home, it won't even ruffle the curtains, let alone break the glass in your windows.
As long as you don't actually touch a radioactive object, then you can stand as close as you like to it for as long as you like without it harming you.
Killers stars a very young -- dark-haired! -- Peter Graves.  It has scenes of alien abduction, the use of hypnosis to recover lost memories, bug-eyed aliens in suits that are a dead knock-off of Lee Falk's The Phantom comic strip, alien probing/operations on human victims, lots of blue-screen giant bugs & lizards, and lots of cigarette smoking.  Just a feast of pleasant BADness!!  
Phantom has an obligatory "Dr. Girl", who is inexplicably cool about this invisible alien running around all over the place, yet screams her head off when a special light she uses to show the invisible monster actually works and shows the monster's hand.  I've watched this scene several times now and it doesn't make a lick of sense in any context.  Priceless!!  Also, really cool car antennae, great hats on the guys, an excellent alien/monster that evaporates at the very end, showing its bones & veins, and lots of cigarette smoking.  One guy even flicks his butt onto the disappearing remains of the alien!!!
Just some solid stuff here, folks.  Thought you should all be informed . . .
peter johnson/denny crane

[trek_geezer]

Hey Peter , I have the same DVD and did a mini-review of each. I thought both movies had good stories but were limited by the budget.  Gotta love those bulging eyes and bushy brows.

A bit of trivia about the Phantom from Space's costume, the helmet it from the infamous Robot Monster.

I have a growing collection of those dollar DVD's.

[neil]

"Confessions from the dollar dvd baskette"
sounds like a tv movie
thanks for filling my brain with more knowledge i will never use.

[Just Plain Horse]

I first caught "Phantom from Space" almost a decade ago when the scifi channel was in its infancy and only showed monster movies. Fairly boring and flat, but such is the staple of most of Wilder's films. Better than "Snow Creature", though...

"Killers from Space" is kind of amusing, and I have a soft spot for any film that has both atomic bomb footage and giant monsters (or photographically enlarged animals...). I still remember that "language" the aliens spoke which was just normal english played in reverse.

[Flangepart]

Oh, the MST factor is high on the Wilder plantation!
I had a ball riffing these things.
Such great material...
The fact that  "Dr Girl"s" husband looked like George Reeves as Clark Kent.
The bug eyed alines reminding me of "The Zanti Misfits."
The fact that the Phanton from Space looks like a Kanamit...."To serve man is a..."
Long slow shots of a Lockheed Constilation in flight in "Snow creature"...like the plane, but come on! What, ...its product placement!?...
The fact "Snow creatures" hero is the Tad hardchunk of insolent white guy syndrome.

Oh, yeah....these are on my list of "Movies Joel/Mike and the bots should have done."...oh, yeah...

[peter johnson]

Yes, you're exactly right!!
Dixie and I were even saying to each other, "Oh, look!  Here comes Clark Kent again . . .".
Lots of people responsible for Star Trek & Outer Limits MUST have seen both these films as Saturday Matinees -- too many similarities of plot and design and attitude.
Has anyone recorded the backward speech and played it forward?  I wonder:  "Hey Fred, bring us some coffee -- looks like it's a wrap!"
peter johnson/denny crane

[Just Plain Horse]

I gotta agree about the hero of "Snow Creature" being a tad racially biased... Get a load of the line when the British alcoholic guy says, in reference to the natives getting ahold of their radio, "I hope they haven't been monkeying with it." We have come a long way...