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Zontar the Thing From Venus (1966)

 
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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 12:20 am    Post subject: Zontar the Thing From Venus (1966) Reply with quote



Anyone else remember Zontar?

I saw this on TV a long time ago, just like I'd seen a bunch of other low budget sci-fi/horror films as a kid, possibly on the Creature Features show hosted by Bob Wilkins.

I wasn't aware back then that this really was a made-for-TV film, one of the really early ones. The Zontar film was one of several TV remakes of older semi-classic AIP films; in this case, a remake of Roger Corman's It Conquered the World (1956). AIP got this strange idea to hire a guy named Larry Buchanan to direct these lame remakes to fill out some TV syndication packages. Another one was In The Year 2889 (TV-1968), which was a remake of Corman's The Day the World Ended (1956). And yet another was The Eye Creatures (TV-1965), which may have been a remake of Invasion of the Saucer Men.

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The method here was to take the script of the original movie and just re-film it, but in a more dull fashion. In It Conquered the World, the hero was played by Peter Graves. Here, it's John Agar, on the downside of a good fifties career.

The acting is horrendous. Agar is OK but the rest of the cast are strictly amateur hour — many of them perhaps having never acted before, but part of Buchanan's 'stock company.'

The older guy playing the general, for example, also played the house owner in In The Year 2889. The guy playing the traitor also appeared in Buchanan's other TV films.

The special FX range from awful to non-existent; the shot of Zontar's saucer is particularly bad, a 5-dollar kid's toy which couldn't even hover correctly. Zontar, as one can see in the stills above, was quite a different visual from the alien in It Conquered the World.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 04, 2014 3:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh yes, it's here! The whole movie on YouTube! Better watch this one before a team of crack lawyers swoop in and has it removed!

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a classic, free of charge.

Man, what a great country this is! Very Happy


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Wed Jan 08, 2020 9:53 am; edited 2 times in total
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Krel
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 1:13 am    Post subject: Re: Zontar-the Thing From Venus (1966) Reply with quote

Bogmeister wrote:
Anyone else remember Zontar?

I saw this on TV a long time ago, just like I'd seen a bunch of other low budget sci-fi/horror films as a kid, possibly on the Creature Features show hosted by Bob Wilkins.

I wasn't aware back then that this really was a made-for-TV film, one of the really early ones. The Zontar film was one of several TV remakes of older semi-classic AIP films; in this case, a remake of Roger Corman's It Conquered the World (1956). AIP got this strange idea to hire a guy named Larry Buchanan to direct these lame remakes to fill out some TV syndication packages. Another one was In The Year 2889 (TV-1968), which was a remake of Corman's The Day the World Ended (1956). And yet another was The Eye Creatures (TV-1965), which may have been a remake of Invasion of the Saucer Men.

The movie "The Eye Creatures", was a remake of "Invasion of the Saucer Men".

With the rise in popularity of color tv, AIP was worried that tv stations would not want to rent their old b&w movies. So they hired Larry Buchanan to remake these three movies for the syndication package. Very, very cheaply, and on 16mm film. They weren't very popular.

I have seen all three, but not since the 60s. But I have seen the originals on tv many times since the 60s. I guess that it didn't matter so much that they were in b&w after all.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 04, 2015 7:19 pm    Post subject: Re: Zontar-the Thing From Venus (1966) Reply with quote

Krel wrote:
With the rise in popularity of color tv, AIP was worried that tv stations would not want to rent their old b&w movies. So they hired Larry Buchanan to remake these three movies for the syndication package. Very, very cheaply, and on 16mm film. They weren't very popular.

I have seen all three, but not since the 60s. But I have seen the originals on tv many times since the 60s. I guess that it didn't matter so much that they were in b&w after all.

Jimbo Berkey's wonderful site makes it easy to watch Zontar — though it's still just as hard to sit all the way through, I'm afraid. Very Happy
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Custer
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 16, 2018 8:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I see that the movie can be purchased on dvd for a relatively modest price from cheesyflix.com. There's some sort of clue in that name I guess! Smile
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scotpens
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 16, 2018 12:20 pm    Post subject: Re: Zontar-the Thing From Venus (1966) Reply with quote

Krel wrote:
. . . With the rise in popularity of color tv, AIP was worried that tv stations would not want to rent their old b&w movies. So they hired Larry Buchanan to remake these three movies for the syndication package. Very, very cheaply, and on 16mm film.

Buchanan also made Creature of Destruction, a remake of The She-Creature (1956).
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Zackuth
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 16, 2018 8:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I saw this movie last year for the first time. Yikes!! It’s hard to believe that with the same script It Conquered the World, which I do enjoy watching, was turned into that waste of good film.
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Krel
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 16, 2018 11:58 pm    Post subject: Re: Zontar-the Thing From Venus (1966) Reply with quote

scotpens wrote:
Buchanan also made Creature of Destruction, a remake of The She-Creature (1956).

The movie with the SCUBA wet suit monster, that one wasn't part of the deal. That costume was used in at least one other movie that I know of, "It's Alive" from 1969. He paid for the wet suit, so I guess he figured he might as well get as much use out of it as he could.

Buchanan seemed to be competing with Ed Wood for bottom of the barrel movies. Except I think that Ed Wood's movies might be a bit mor entertaining.

David
.
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scotpens
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2018 1:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

In case anyone is interested, there's a thread over on CHFB about the comparative crappiness of Larry Buchanan's films versus those of Jerry Warren.

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/monsterkidclassichorrorforum/larry-buchanan-vs-jerry-warren-who-was-worse-and-w-t68786.html
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 15, 2019 12:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jimbo Berkey's website, Free Classic Movies, presents some personal recollections from his boyhood days in the 1960s, and he invites us to watch Zontar, the Thing from Venus.
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In 1966 I was a fifteen year old who was — along with the rest of the world — entering the age of outer space exploration and the search for space men and space ships.


__


The Russians landed a space ship on the moon that year, and they also crash landed another spacecraft on the planet Venus. In the U.S., Gemini VIII headed for outer space with Astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott, who performed the first rendezvous and docking with another vehicle in space.


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And a lot of skeptical people like me believed that men from Mars or Venus or the Moon had already landed on Earth and were working with the government. Project Blue Book was an official government study of Unidentified Flying Objects, but the public parts of it showed no real evidence of creatures from outer space.


__


Of course, we believed that the real evidence was top secret, and the government wouldn't tell us about the real outer space creatures that it knew about. And of course there was Area 51 — the super top secret military base in Nevada. Rumors were that the government held the frozen remains of space aliens they were studying, and more creatures from outer space landed there daily.


__


Zontar, The Thing From Venus looks a bit corny and phony through today's eyes, but in 1966 this movie sent chills through many men and women, as well as us kids.

Pop a big bowl of white kernel popcorn and drizzle lots of warm melted butter on it, and get ready for a movie that raised goose bumps on your mom and dad or gram and grandpa about 50 years ago.


____Jimbo Berkey
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
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trekriffic
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 01, 2019 11:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I could do better SPFX in my garage!

Wait! I do! Razz
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