ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Looking for variety?

You've come to the right place!

Below is a story about extremely gifted children, a story about a lovable and loyal dog, and story about cute fuzzy creatures . . . who eat people brains!

Good gosh, could we ask for movies more family friendly than these? I think not! I mean, just look as these adorable kids!





So, gather your family on the living room couch, make bowls of popcorn for everyone, and enjoy this Disney-like trilogy of warm and friendly films!
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Children of the Damned (1964)

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Although it is often referred to as a sequel to "Village of the Damned", the plot differs in enough ways to make the claim seriously questionable. No mention is made of the events in the first film. The only real similarity is that the story concerns six children who were all born to virgin mothers and who are perceived as a threat to mankind because they possess strange telepathic and mind-control powers.



Unlike the first film, however, the children are of different nationalities (not identical blonds, as the children in the first film) and they do not mature at an accelerated rate.

It's as if the basic premise (six super-intelligent kids who are a threat to mankind) was reworked into a new story. The children are explained as being "quantum leaps in evolution" (not alien offspring, as in the first film).

And yet the story never clarifies why they were all born at approximately the same time in different parts of the world (coincidence?). When one sympathetic government agent asks the children, "Why are you here?", the children reply, "We don't know."




Mankind, rather than the kids, are portrayed as the bad guys. Despite some confusion over these basic plot elements, director Anton M. Leader does deliver a clear message concerning the hate, fear, and intolerance which society feels towards anyone who doesn't "fit in", as well as the greed for power which nations feel in their efforts to gain dominance over each other.

Starring Ian Hendry, Alan Badel, Barbara Ferris.
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A Boy and His Dog (1975)

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Wow . . . great poster, eh?

Author Harlan Ellison's satirical novel became director L. Q. Jones' satirical movie about a post-holocaust age in which savage gangs prowl the desert, fighting over the remaining scraps of modern technology and anything remotely female.



Don Johnson (remember "Miami Vice"?) plays a young loner who roams the desert with an intelligent, telepathic dog. One of the most appealing aspects of the film is the dog's dialogue (in the voice of Tim McIntire) giving Johnson wise counsel (which Johnson too often ignores), using his keen canine nose to sniff out women (which Johnson should avoid, but doesn't), and composing blue limericks:

"There once was a fellow named Lodge, who had seat belts installed in his Dodge. When his date was strapped in, he committed a sin, without ever leaving his garage."



Johnson meets a lovely and disarming girl (Susanne Benton) who lures him down to a hidden underground complex where a fanatical group of survivors live in a mock-up of Small Town America.





Their leader is Alvy Moore (who also wrote the screenplay) and Jason Robards. Because of the shortage of males (just the reverse of the female shortage on the surface), Robards promises to let Johnson fertilize the community's women. But Johnson learns too late that they intend to forcibly extract his semen and use artificial insemination!

Stay tuned for a gruesome-but-hysterical joke at the end — assuming your friends haven't already spoiled it for you.



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The Brain Eaters (1958)

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This poster is a masterpiece: a screaming woman with yellow pupil-less eyes and vampire fangs has lost most of her hair, part of her scalp, a piece of her skull, and all of her mind.

I love it. I had this poster on the wall of my room when I was a kid. It kept Mom and Dad out.

This movie is only about 60 minutes long and the special effects are substandard, but some real imagination went into this minor effort directed by Bruno Ve Sota, with a plot based on The Puppet Masters by Robert Heinlein.



A strange Earth-drilling craft surfaces in a small town and disgorges a horde of fuzzy little parasitic creatures who fasten themselves to the necks of the townsfolk and control their brains. Scientist Ed Nelson (who is also the film's producer) battles the invaders.

I should probably mention that we are told about all these events through dialog: there are no scenes of the drilling machine surfacing, no shots of the creatures scampering out, and no horrifying moments while we watch in horror as a brain-hungry hairball crawls up a victim's back and makes their internet connection with his brain.

In fact, all the shots of the victims simply show them with a bulge in their shirts, right below the collar. Bummer, huh?



The few scenes we get of the brain eaters moving around slowly aren't very impressive. Star Trek fans will giggle when they realize that the brain eaters are like little black Tribbles with tiny antennas and bad attitudes.





However, watch for the scene in which the hero enters the drill-craft and confronts a bearded old man . . . played by Leonard Nimoy!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)