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ZONTAR:THING FROM VENUS/IN THE YEAR 2 - DVD Movie
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Double Serving Of Cheese From Larry Buchanan!,
This review is from: Grindhouse Double Feature (Zontar, The Thing From Venus / In The Year 2889) (DVD)
I have always liked ridiculous sci-fi films from the 1960s, and this DVD is wonderfully representative of the genre. "Zontar, The Thing From Venus" is one of my all-time favorite cheesy sci-fi movies. It was made by Larry Buchanan in 1966 as a remake of "It Conquered The World," which is itself an enjoyable bit of B-Grade cinema. By all estimates the remake is horribly inferior to the original, but "Zontar" makes up for in silliness and bogus science what it lacks in quality production values. The most notable difference between "Zontar" and "It Conquered The World" is the monster. Zontar looks like a three-eyed, hooded Sleestak with pincher jaws, whereas the original monster looked like an enraged carrot.
The story concerns Keith, a brilliant lunatic scientist (Tony Huston) who conspires to bring Zontar from his home planet to help the people of Earth become more peaceful. His friend, Curt (the always gentlemanly John Agar) thinks he is nuts and eventually convinces him that he must destroy Zontar, who has taken up residence in a local cave because "it is close to his Venus environment." (Sure.) Zontar attempts to take over the world by launching "injectapods" at people which fly to their victims and implant a pin in their neck making them a biological sub-unit of Zontar. (Following all this?) I love watching the injectapods fly, and you will too when you watch this movie. After much bloodshed and panic in the streets (sample exchange after the power has gone out: "My husband's in an iron lung, what shall I do?"...now that's dialogue you don't see in just any film,) Keith finally dispatches Zontar with a "Plutonium-Ruby Crystal Beam Gun" which involves the funniest special effect I have ever seen on film. The movie concludes with a real Ed Wood moment of solemn pondering about the future of mankind. In a nutshell, this is a great piece of cheese. Sure it's silly, Sure it is ludicrous watching Keith speak to Zontar via some radio gear that just goes "Bwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwu" over and over. But if you are looking for an excellent piece of mid 1960s paranoid sci-fi lunacy, "Zontar: The Thing From Venus" would be tough to beat! "In The Year 2889," on the other hand, is a dour post-nuclear annihilation movie where a group of dissimilar people survive in a big house in a secluded valley, and have to figure out who is going to repopulate the earth. This cast is fronted by former Mouseketeer Paul Petersen and the lovely Quinn O'Hara along with Buchanan regular Neil Fletcher ("Zontar" and "Creature of Destruction") as Captain John Ramsey, the leader of the motley crew. The film is straightforward and bleak, and features endless discussion of the chances of rain, and when the meteorology angle gets boring, has various subplots running hither and yon involving a psychopathic misogynist, a hilarious monkey-monster with long gray hair, mange, and a fear of water, girls in bikinis swimming in a pool (yes, it's truly a struggle to survive...,) and the least sexy dance number in film history. The lines of conflict are pretty clear and it's no surprise how the film will end: I loved the final shot of a couple holding hands and a title card reading "The Beginning." Nice touch. These films were made on a miniscule budget, but both worked in the cold war inspired world that tainted so many of these early science fiction films. While I absolutely love "Zontar," "In The Year 2889" is also a fascinating and worthwhile (if depressing) B-movie from Buchanan. If you are looking for 1960s cinematic cheese, this combination is hard to beat.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Zontar: The Thing from Venus... It lives in a humid cave... just saying.,
By Julian Kennedy (St Pete Florida) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Grindhouse Double Feature (Zontar, The Thing From Venus / In The Year 2889) (DVD)
Zontar: The Thing from Venus: 5 out of 10: This cheap Larry Buchanan remake of the already cheap It Conquered the World has a couple of surprises.
First the things that are not surprises. The movie was made for [...] bucks. The monsters include flying killer lobsters on strings. The comic relief is so painful one must prevent the urge to take a fork to ones ears. The surprise? Some of the acting is reasonably good. John Agar makes a fine hero and both Pat Delaney and Susan Bjurman are easy on the eyes. There is a lot of killing for a made for TV kids sci-fi (including a vicious uxoricide) and it is surprisingly effective. In fact, the narrative taken as a whole works well considering the main monster is named Zontar and is from Venus. I recently saw Zontar for the second time and before viewing it, I noticed my score was a decent five out of ten. I felt I must have been in an overly generous mood when I first saw the film but once again, it drew me in not because of the cheese factor as so many cheap sci-fi films do, but despite it. Moreover, the monster at the end is actually pretty well done. I admit the film causes a spell on me that transports me my nine-year-old self. Despite the fact I never saw the movie as a youth. Like an old Scooby'Doo episode or a Japanese monster movie, Zontar seems to have just the right amount that certain something that makes me feel young again. My nine-year old self is quite impressed with Zontar. In the Year 2889: 2 out of 10: Great now I can't get that damn song out of my head. (No it doesn't appear on the soundtrack. Cope to think of it I'm not sure if this film even has a soundtrack.) For one thing all the characters dress and look like extras in the Zapruder film so I'm not sure where this whole year 2889 comes from. The plot of of this made for TV mess? The earth was destroyed by nuclear war except this one house with three months worth of food for three people but then an extra guy shows up with an alcoholic stripper. Personally if the earth is destroyed by nuclear bombs I'm rooting for the alcoholic stripper to show up. (Heck who am I kidding I'm always rooting for the alcoholic stripper nuclear radioactive fallout or not). Very talky with some okay performances and silly monsters it is another Buchanan TV remake but better than his usual fair. More time wasting curiosity than anything mistaken for entertainment.
1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
themeatnpotatoesofitall,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Grindhouse Double Feature (Zontar, The Thing From Venus / In The Year 2889) (DVD)
Below 3 Stars People? WHY no cgi?Come on now, lets use our imaginations a little shall we.. I enjoyed them..(no widescreen lame.. would poped nother*Star if it was) Regardless that these movies had some EXTRA EXTRA SHARP CHEESE EFFECTS LOLO!!The acting was above average..and the core concepts were kinda cool.. an Alien invader invades planet by manipulating a(flood wearing)(or they were also called high waters,the gap of space between the bottom of your pants to the top's of your shoes,meaning yeah.. you can walk in a flood..and your pants won't get wet HA!HA!LOL!LOL!! had to break that down, for the younger generation..so this flood wearing.. LOL!!So this high water wearing scientist..is manipulated by an alien, and convinced, that it would be in the best interest of humanity that they..by the use of some crazy flying bionoid, thingees (that look like a cross between a Bat and a Lobster LOLO!!) be fused together with an entity that goes by the name "ZONTAR" and yeah he's from venus..Why I liked it? good concepts, above average acting, cool shots filmed in real caves(WWHAT!!WHA!!WHATT!! no cgi caves) LOL!! charactors were funny to watch especially when they were trying to dodge the flying bionoids.. 2889 was also amusing.. the hard core old man with the pistol talking tough was great..he was'nt taking any*$%&@!^%* HA!HA!LOL!! funnneee!!
some slices of cheese also in this one, still cool concept..nuclear war devastaes world..a few people come together under one roof taking refuge in (I'M the Boss not taking any #*!$*&!! )old man's home..the world outside is plagued with infected humans that have mutated due to cheese..expose.. no wait.. I mean.. radiation exposure.. LOL!!HAha!HA!!
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