ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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This independently produced shocker is low on budget and high on gore.

A group of bickering people on a remote island are threatened by the microscopic flesh-hungry amoebae-creatures that infest the surrounding ocean. The creatures act like tiny piranha, gobbling the victim right down to the bone in seconds flat.

They were created by mad scientist Martin Koslek, who lives on the island.

Sickeningly realistic makeup and mock body parts keep this from being just a cheaply-made thriller -- it's a nauseating, cheaply-made thriller. Scenes of the creatures during their buzz-saw feeding frenzies were created by pricking the negative with a needle.

Director Jack Curtis was responsible for sex films with titles like We're All Naked.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
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~ The producers used a very William Castle-like exploitation gimmick; plastic packets of "instant blood" were given out to each patron as they entered the theater in case they were attacked by flesh eaters.

Note from me: Boy, I miss the good old days, when theaters electrified the seats or suspended skeletons on wires that flew over the audience's heads!

~ According to writer/producer Arnold Drake, Terry Van Tell — aka Terry Curtis, wife of director Jack Curtis — won $72,000 on the television quiz show High Low Quiz (1957). Some of the money was used to finish this production.

Note from me: "Honey, I need more cash for the movie I'm making, and I know just how we can get it. First, we get you on one of those game shows . . . "

~ While filming on location at Montauk Point, NY, a real hurricane destroyed the sets and equipment. Production was delayed for a year and the cost rose from $60,000 to $105,000.

Note from me: What are the odds that a hurricane in New York would wreck a movie set?

~ Pay careful attention to the sound that the flesheaters make. It's very similar (if not the same) as the sound the ants make in Them! (1954)

Note from me: I guess that makes sense. Ants eat flesh too! However, I watched the first few minutes of the movie at the link below, and the sound of the Flesh Eater's is NOT the sound from Them.

~ The Nazi sequence was not part of the original film. It was later added by M.A. Ripps, who released the film in 1968 to drive-in theaters, accompanied by the 1960 shocker Macumba Love (1960).

Note from me: "Gee, if we're going to release this to the drive-ins, we need to put something in it that will hold the attention of those sex-starve teenagers. Ummm . . . how 'bout a few Nazis?"

~ The film has developed a cult following due to its gruesome, if primitive, special effects, including some memorably bloody death scenes. One character is eaten from the inside out by the titular monsters, resulting in a gushing fountain of intestinal matter. Another victim is stabbed with a wooden stake, then shot twice in the face, with resultant gaping bullet holes.

Note from me: All this, in 1964? Holy mackerel!

_______ The Flesh Eaters (1964/2) (Full-Length)


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

[ralfy]

Feature in 1080p quality:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suyihSr_8kk