Zontar: The Thing from Venus (1966) (TV)

Director:

Larry Buchanan

Writers:

Hillman Taylor (screenplay) &
Larry Buchanan (screenplay)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Plot:

A misguided scientist enables an alien from Venus named Zontar to come to earth in order to help solve man's problems...

Plot Keywords:

Venus | Mind Control | Alien | Murder | Laser

Cast

John Agar	...	Dr. Curt Taylor
Susan Bjurman	...	Martha Ritchie
Tony Huston	...	Keith Ritchie (as Anthony Houston)
Pat Delaney	...	Anne Taylor (as Patricia De Laney)
Neil Fletcher	...	General Matt Young
Andrew Traister	...	Sgt. Magalar
Warren Hammack	...	John, Rocket Scientist at Zone 6
Jonathan Ledford	...	Zone 6 Gate Guard
Colleen Carr	...	Louise, Zone 6
George Edgley	...	Mr. Ledford, Newspaper Editor (as George Edglley)
Jeff Alexander	...	Rocket Scientist at Zone 6
Carol Gilley	...	Alice, Zone 6 Clerk
Bill Thurman	...	Sheriff Brad Crenshaw
Bertha Holmes	...	Townswoman

Also Known As:

Zontar: Invader from Venus (USA) (video box title)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Dallas, Texas, USA

Company:

Azalea Pictures

Trivia:

This remake of Roger Corman's low budget It Conquered the World (1956) was one of a series of films shot in 16mm and color and was used to pad out one of American International's television syndication packages.

Goofs:

Continuity: Curt is so calm that when he attacks his 'injecta-pod' he still holds a lit cigarette in his left hand, but when he stabs and kills it the cigarette disappears.

Quotes:

Dr. Curt Taylor: Keith Ritchie came to realize, at the cost of his own life, that Man is the greatest creature in the Universe. He learned that a measure of perfection can only be slowly attained, from within ourselves. He sought a different path, and found death... fire...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Dead End (1985)

"Zontar, I'm Troubled - Maybe That Word Doesn't Even Exist in Your Sphere"

Dreadful remake of a B picture called It Conquered the World made by Roger Corman and starring Beverly Garland. This version has the king of Z's Larry Buchanan directing and a tired looking John Agar starring. Agar is in fact the only cast member that might be accused of being or having been a thespian. He also looks like he is just able to keep his composure every time he says the word Zontar or looks at a lobster-like bat alien "flying" around. Just like in the It Conquered the World, a man has contacted an alien from Venus who uses the human as a means to secure knowledge so that it can come to Earth and begin to control it. Much of the plot is the same as Buchanan had agreed to remake some of the old AIP films(like he did with The Eye Creatures - a blatant remake of Invasion of the Saucermen). I like the old, cheesy Corman film. It had heart amidst no budget, and it had talent in Corman and Garland. I even learned to like the absurd triangle, down-to-the-ground Venusian. But this film doesn't have any of that same magic. Buchanan isn't the worst director in the world, but he just isn't very good either. This movie is so cheap that nothing looks like any real care or money went into it. That is patently obvious when you see the horrid acting by all concerned except Agar who is just reasonable at best. Tony Huston as Keith Ritchie, the man responsible for bringing Zontar to our planet, is easily the worst. Nothing he says has any conviction to it whatsoever. Susan Bjurman plays his wife and is just as awful. How about the scene where she she says she didn't want to marry a monster. I was crying from laughter - not the kind of laughs that were meant to be intentional. Buchanan DOES try for laughs here and there with some soldiers, but the humour is real lame and tired material. Special effects? I mentioned the most dazzling already -- alien "bats" that look like flying lobsters and unconvincingly land on the back of necks. The other primary special effect is the alien itself, and I will be completely honest when I say that I much prefer the alien from It Conquered the World for its comparative creativity and realism. If you have seen that film, then you know just how bad it must be in this one. This film stinks to be sure but is full of great laughs in a not-in-good way. Just listen to the dialog, "This will take a second" says Huston, Agar, with as stoic a face as possible, returns and says, "I have a second." Most of the dialog is filled with similar creative juices.