ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has refused to include the 3 trivia items shown below for this movie, in the blue text.
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~ Hispanic landscape workers boycotted this movie because they felt that such a biological threat could easily be eradicated with their Weed-eaters!

Note from me: I'm sure this is true . . . but the cost of professional landscapers in my town home subdivision per month is probable more than the entire budget of this movie!

~ Biologist around world protested the idea that crabgrass could evolve the intelligence needed to pose a threat to mankind.

Note from me: Maybe this is true . . . but any suburban home-owner who has battled crabgrass in his front yard would disagree!

~ The concept that an "experimental fertilizer" could cause crabgrass to evolve intelligence and grow to huge proportions has been proven false by the same Russian scientists who investigated the bogus tragedy at Chernobyl.

Note from me: Ummm . . . right . . .
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

Your posts encouraged me to dig out my old bootleg VHS copy of ATKC and watch it again.

What a dramatic movie! There were so many great scenes...Too many to recount them all, but there were a few that really stood out.

A scene early in the film where the killer crabgrass first began to attack suburban fathers on that fatefull Saturday morning was very powerful!



As the crabgrass began to spread, it hungered for blood! Especially the blood of attractive young women! The shots of the grass growing larger and more ravenous were AWESOME! Especially so because these were all practical effects CGI was in its diapers at the time!





And . . . as it spread and grew, the grass became a real threat . . . eating dogs and cats along with the occasional squirrel and badger! (We don' need no stinkin' badgers!)



Soon the crabgrass mutated and split . . . and split again as it spread through the subdivision!



It was only after the group of scientists from MIT, LSMFT and Cal Tech, working around the clock, came up with a device to combat the verdant menace!



All and all, this was a breakout film and it's just too bad that it never received the distribution it would have required to be considered for any Academy Awards!
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]

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It's good to know that someone other than me appreciates this rare cinematic gem. Thanks, Gord!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Eadie]

This I've got to find. It reminds of Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors (1986)":



THE "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space"!
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Art Should Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.

[Gord Green]

It's true that many people confuse ATTACK OF THE KILLER CRABGRASS with LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, while in truth there is very little that is similar.



ATKCG was filmed in 1958 The Little Shop of Horrors is a 1960 American horror comedy film directed by Roger Corman. If anything, the latter is a ripoff of the former!

LSOH was written by Charles B. Griffith. The film is a farce about an inadequate florist's assistant who cultivates a plant that feeds on human blood. The film's concept is thought to be based on "Green Thoughts," a 1932 story by John Collier about a man-eating plant.

Dennis McDougal suggests that Griffith may have been influenced by Arthur C. Clarke's sci-fi short story from 1956, "The Reluctant Orchid" (which was in turn inspired by the 1905 H. G. Wells story "The Flowering of the Strange Orchid").

If anything ATKCG was influenced by Jules Verne's 1854 novel "Impetum Ex Posuere Ultricies Crabgrass" also known as "ATTAQUE DU CRABE KILLER", one of his lesser known works and only published in a "Penny (Franc) Dreadful" of the time. A well read copy of which was found in Phil Tuckers underwear drawer after his death by his third wife.

However most Cinema Scholars worth their salt agrees that the basic plot of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS was directly influenced by Phil Tucker's ATTACK OF THE KILLER CRABGRASS! The only difference was the plot, the characters, and the location.



Produced under the title "The Passionate People Eater", LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS employs an original style of humor, combining black comedy with farce and incorporating Jewish humor and elements of spoof. ATTACK had very little humor at all, none of it Jewish, and Iit was a dark, grim tale of mutated non-Kosher vegetation!

The Little Shop of Horrors was shot on a budget of $28,000 (about $240,000 in 2020), with interiors being shot in two days utilizing sets that had been left standing from A Bucket of Blood. ATKCG on the other hand had a budget of $173.42 and was shot at Phil's house in a single day.

The proposed sequel GODZILLA VERSUS THE KILLER CRABGRASS is presently in turnaround in Hollywood. However it does look like the other project, KING KONG VERSUS THE KILLER CRABGRASS is about to be greenlit by FauxArt Studio Inc and soon to be in production. Filming to be in Nigeria with financing by some Prince or other.

If you see a similarity there between the two films...you're very much mistaken!
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Eadie]

READ what I posted! I said that it reminds me of the 1986 movie Audrey II.
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Art Should Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.

[Gord Green]

Yes, I read what you wrote.

A sunrise reminds me of a sunset. One is the dawn of a new day, full of hope and promise. The other is a signal that it's time for Happy Hour.

Do you understand the concept of "lampoon" ?


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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Eadie]

[Gord Green]

A "lampoon" is a sharp, often virulent satire directed against an institution; a work of literature, art, or the like, ridiculing severely the character or behavior of a person, society, etc.

It is also a creative work that uses sharp humor to point up the foolishness of a person, institution, or human nature in general .

In short it is a satire or exaggeration of a recognized art or form as a point of humor....Realistic to the point of satire as a façade of humor, not to be taken seriously but realistic enough to show the foibles and shortcomings of the original.

And you are absolutely correct...SPOOF is an accurate designation.
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]

[Gord Green]

From Wikipedia :

Phil Tucker (May 22, 1927 – November 30, 1985) was an American film director, writer, producer, and film editor.

While Tucker directed his first six feature films in the span of two years (while still in his mid-20s), he is best known for his first film, the science fiction B movie Robot Monster, often considered an example of "so bad it's good" film-making in the Ed Wood vein, and for the Lenny Bruce movie Dance Hall Racket featuring Bruce's wife Honey Harlow. His final film, Attack of the Killer Crabgrass was completed but never released.

In 1952, he was reportedly offered $300,000 to make a sympathetic biopic about Lucky Luciano. It was to be called "Get Lucky!" and be a musical comedy.

In December 1953, he attempted suicide in response to the poor reception of Robot Monster and his subsequent inability to find work. He swallowed copius quantities of Round up weed killer.

According to Keep Watching The Skies! by Bill Warren, his attempted suicide was actually fueled by depression and a dispute with the film's distributor, who had allegedly refused to pay Tucker his contracted percentage of the film's profits.

There are further claims that after 1955, Tucker was blacklisted within the film industry, though he did go on to direct a number of other productions, including 1960's The Cape Canaveral Monsters. It was this blacklisting that led him to produce his "magnum opus" ATTACK OF THE KILLER CRABGRASS.

By the 1970s, Tucker had established himself as a formidable film editor, finally escaping the stigma of his early directorial work. He contributed to such well-known films as Orca and the 1976 remake of King Kong, and remained in post-production throughout the rest of his career.

In addition to his love of film, Tucker had an avid interest in all things mechanical. He invented a rotary engine known as the CT Surge Turbine (CT stood for Carnot/Tucker) for which he was granted a US patent. Tucker built and operated a prototype of the engine which he tried, unsuccessfully, to sell to the automobile industry as a more efficient alternative to the conventional internal combustion engine. Instead he designed it to power a huge "weed eater".

In 2010, Zed Fest Film Festival named a top award after Phil Tucker. The Phil Tucker Spirit Award is given out to encourage and support independent filmmakers that work in the horror, suspense, science fiction, drama, action, adventure, and art house genres. The event is held annually every November in North Hollywood Arts District. The award is called the "Crabby".

He died in 1985 under suspicious circumstances. His third wife Flossy "Mother" Tucker claimed that he slipped and fell under his high power lawn mower and it reduced him to a mutilated corpse. Every part of him was found except for his socks.

To date his last film has never been released, although bootleg copies do appear on the dark web for huge sums.
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Gord Green]

TWO NEW POSTERS !




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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]

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I just found out that three days ago the site admins at the Classic Horror Film Board deleted the entire thread for this imaginary movie — after it had been enjoyed by the members there for years!

Apparently those poor guys have no sense of humor. I'm certainly glad that we have a MUCH better class of people on All Sci-Fi! (
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

Bud, Thank you for reminding us about this great movie!
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.