Customer Reviews

Slime People [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I was sooooo excited to see that Rhino Video was finally releasing this schlock 1962 B&W C-grade Sci-Fi/Horror gem, having worn out 2 VHS video copies of it. I grew up with this title, and it's still FABULOUS-as bottom-shelf as it gets. However, when I received my copy, it had no audible dialog track for the actors! I contacted Rhino for a replacement, having told them about the problem. After sending back the original copy at my own expense, I received a replacement approx. 1 mo. later. It too contained no dialog track. The sound track for the ambient sound (background/sound effects/musical score) is there, and the picture/transfer print is nice, but without dialog, it is thoroughly unwatchable. All in all, the most unsatisfying experience I have had with ANY DVD product ever. I don't know if I just happened to score the "mother lode" with 2 defective copies out of thousands, or what. I do know that I tried all available audio setting combinations available on my DVD player, and none would make the dialog track audible. I compared other DVD's to it on every setting imaginable, and they all worked flawlessly. I would say that the quality control of Rhino products is deplorable, and that their customer service dept's. cheif aim is to get you off of their backs. I give up. I'll get another VHS copy.
-Steven & Ateusa Cappello-Oregon

Here's my take on The Slime People. There's a group of guys sitting around the studio trying to come up with a movie idea, one that won't be rejected like all of their previous submissions. From out of nowhere, the fog machine goes haywire and won't shut off, and the studio has to send everyone home. Before a tech can get there to fix the thing, though, these would-be filmmakers decide that this is the chance they've been dreaming of; they have to move quick, though, before someone fixes the machine. They quickly decide to make a monster movie; naturally, since this is the early 1960s, atomic testing will be used to explain how the whole mess is really our own fault and not the monsters'. But what kind of monster should it be? Someone yells out - "I know, let's make it slime people." Since the repairman is on his way and no one has a better idea, they go for it. This is what they came up with: these slime people have been living underground and in our sewers for a very long time; nuclear testing has put a burr in their collective saddle so they have come up top to take over our world - well, Los Angeles, anyway. They've got this machine that makes fog, and this fog lowers the temperature enough so that they can survive above ground; then there's a wall, a wall somehow made out of the fog, which seals the whole city within an impenetrable barrier. Brilliant, they all say - all but one - and get right to work. Mr. "Rain On Our Parade" keeps asking questions: What are we going to use to make the wall? Why do these Slime People all look strangely like Bigfoot? Why is there no slime actually involved here? You know the type. Look, they explain, it doesn't matter how dumb the monsters look, and we don't even have to build a fake wall at all - there's fog all over the place. People won't even be able to see the heroes half the time, much less the crummy sets and ridiculous monster outfits. Mr. Pessimist nods and then asks how apparently reptilian creatures, being cold-blooded, could survive beneath the earth and why, if they came aboveground, they would want to lower the temperature rather than raise it for their own comfort and survival. Don't worry about it, kid, they say; one of our characters is going to be a professor; when you have a professor in your film, you can say and do whatever you want. If the professor says it's so, the audience will believe it. The rest, as they say, is bad movie history.

Maybe this isn't exactly how The Slime People came about, but it might as well have been. In many respects, it's your typical old monster-type movie, only this one has extra helpings of fog hiding a lot of what is supposedly happening. The whole thing is rather silly, really, yet The Slime People proves somewhat entertaining in spite of itself in a B horror movie sort of way.

This was a good movie. Most of these reviews say that its so bad its good. That by definition is a good movie. The problem is that a lot of these people either don't remember the late 50's and early 60's or they have forgot the times. I was a young kid when this came out. The first time I saw one of the slime people come out of the sewer I was pretty nervous. The hero is heroic, the girls are pretty (for their time), the professor was a genius about everything and the marine was what people saw a marine as in those days. Special effects are hoaky by todays standards. Of course there isn't a thousand people getting killed every five minutes either.Since it first came out on beta I bought a copy. I have had a copy ever since. I just ordered the DVD. I hope the sound works. If it doesn't I'll buy a new tape and convert it. This is a must have movie.

Beware! The Rhino DVD does not include the soundtrack. Let me qualify that statement; it has an incidental sound effects track, but not the dialogue track.

I sent it back to Rhino, but they only sent along another silent copy. I asked them to check it out before they replaced it, but ...... I'm not going to ship back to Rhino; I already spent more than this turkey is worth and am not going to pay the shipping charges again.

It's a shame as someone had done a great job on cleaning up the video-excellent clear and crisp visuals. A lot of effort for nought....a movie that appeals only to the lovers of bad films and rubber-suited monsters (you know who you are).

If Rhino ever fixes their mistake, will someone please let me know?

This is another of those sentimental favorite Saturday-afternoon cheesy monster flicks, though I have to admit it's probably rough sledding for the mainstream movie crowd. While not the monumental mess that bad film junkies hope for, there's still plenty of horrible acting and bizarre dialogue and plotting, and the Slime People themselves are pretty cool looking (even if you can see their pants underneath the suits). Fans of Zappa-style "cheepnis" won't be disappointed. On the downside, it's a bit talky at times, and the younger crowd raised on Bottin and Baker and CGI may find it boring.
Rhino's DVD is plenty sharp and the source print is very clean with only some very light, sporadic speckling visible. The beginning and end of the movie exhibit very-good-to-excellent tonal values and detail, although the middle third or so looks quite dark. It appears that it was filmed this way (there's lots of fog everywhere and apparently these scenes were shot day-for-night, if badly). Other scenes interspersed with the dark sections look just fine. My Video Gems VHS pre-record appears quite a bit brighter, though it's also too contrasty, very soft, and lacking in detail; generally far inferior except for the brightness issue. Rhino's transfer appears to more accurately capture the values of the source material, though this leaves some scenes almost unwatchably dark. Fans of this movie will probably bear with it, others may find it rough going. No trailer, just chapter stops like other Rhino/Acme releases. All in all not bad for the money, but not spectacular either.

First off, I would like to say I had not seen this film in years before buying this DVD version. My copy had no audio or video problems like some have stated in their reviews. In fact, the print looks very good.

I know this is not considered a very good movie, but for some reason, I like it! It is silly and the actor's playing the Slime People choking at the end are hysterical. When they were falling to their death on the ground, I expected the poor creatures to kick their legs in the air! LOL! Some nights, I'm up late and this goofy old horror stuff is just what the doctor orderd! If you're a fan of 50's sci-fi and other cheaply made horror films, this is one film, you might want to take a look at.

All the best from Hollywood;Heroic men,beautiful women in tight sweaters,a wise professor and rubber suited monsters all with a hip jazz score,what else do you want.Oh and not to mention,'boy meets girl' boy kills monster etc.Standard plot lines,some good acting,some not,but this movie was never intended to be an Oscar winner.Well worth the price and one of the more memorable 50s films,so if you like fun 50s movies you will like this one,but it ain't brain surgery!

I've read a number of comments on here for The Slime People (1963), specifically in relation to the dialog track being missing from the Rhino DVD release...I can understand the frustration in not getting what one pays for, but those who did receive versions without this element might consider themselves lucky, as I watched the movie last night, and the dialog didn't help the film any...the film was directed by Robert Hutton who, incidentally, also stars...I can't help wonder if he got the directing gig and then cast himself in the lead role afterwards. If I come off as sounding biased against Mr. Hutton it's only because this is the 2nd feature I've seen this week starring this individual, the other being the tepid sci-fi feature They Came From Beyond Space (1967), and after that, I wasn't too keen on spending more time with him anytime soon...also appearing with Hutton is Robert Burton (I Was a Teenage Frankenstein), Susan Hart (The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini), who, by the way, was married to James H. Nicholson, co-founder of AIP (American International Pictures), William Boyce, Judee Morton (The Explosive Generation), and Les Tremayne (The War of the Worlds, The Monolith Monsters, The Angry Red Planet).

The film starts with a strange creature, armed with a spear, rising from the sewer (actually it uses one of those underground elevators to rise to street level, but whatever). Soon afterwards a man is found dead on the beach due to severe case of lead poisoning (he had a spear protruding from his back), which leads into the opening credits, followed by scenes involving a small aircraft, piloted by television personality Tom Gregory (Hutton), struggling through some inclement weather. He manages to land the plane, but discovers the airport is deserted, that is until a station wagon arrives containing Professor Galbraith (Burton) and his two daughters Lisa (Hart), and Bonnie (Morton)...where the hell did they come from(turns out they were away in the mountains while nearly everyone else evacuated)? Anyway, they relate a fantastic story to Tom about scaly, slime covered, prehistoric, man-like creatures taking over L.A. by using a fog machine to encase the city in an impenetrable dome made of hardened slime (turns out the monsters were disturbed by our deep drilling and underground nuclear testing, and have now decided to take over the surface world)...to which Tom thinks they're a bunch of real jokers but learns otherwise after viewing some news footage back at the television station where he works. This is also where they hook up with Calvin `Cal' Johnson, a marine (okay, since when is `The Ducktail' an approved hairstyle for the marines?) who got separated from his unit and sought refuge at the station. The group formulates a plan (well, the professor does, and the rest go along with him) to break through the wall by trying all kinds of different chemicals...after this some stuff happens (most of it pretty boring), the group ends up in a butcher shop (hey, turkey legs are 35 cents a pound), some more stuff happens, Bonnie gets kidnapped, blah, blah, blah...oh yeah, there's a whole lot of fog which tends to obfuscate matters, but this wasn't necessarily a bad thing...

I said this for the film They Came From Beyond Space and I'm saying it again for this one, Robert Hutton just doesn't seem like leading man material to me...in supporting roles he'd be fine, but I have yet to see him carry an entire film. Actually, he seems to be more of the villain type as he has sinister features (like that pencil line mustache)...but compared to the others in this film, Hutton comes off like a master thespian. I don't want to pick on William Boyce too much as this was his first (and only) role, but he was truly terrible and his character came off as an idiot (so do the rest, but his doubly so due to his own incompetence)...watch for the scene in which he, during a moment of frustration, smacks his fist in his hand ala Burt Ward (as the Robin character) in the mid 1960's Batman television show. The women acted pretty in pretty much standard fashion for a film like this, often screaming in phony terror, getting all overly dramatic, and, in general, presenting themselves as liabilities. The only halfway interesting character is that played by Les Tremayne (he played a kooky writer the group picks up about mid picture), but he's written as such an antagonizing jerk you just know he's not going to make it until the end. Of course, no one is aided by the terrible script and directionally challenged and tedious plot, perfectly illustrated in the method used to fill the audience in on a good number of the details by making us watch the characters watch newsreel footage, much of which talked about battles between the army and hordes of slime men, but never actually showed any fighting. Especially sickening is the love angles that develop between Professor Galbraith's daughters and the two men, who are about as charming as dead wood. For a film that's only about an hour and fifteen minutes long, it sure knew how to drag things out...the monsters (by the way, three creatures, which is the most seen on the screen at anyone time, hardly makes an invasion) looked pretty decent, but were hardly slimy, as indicated by the title. While they looked reasonably decent, they did move around like guys in elaborate rubber suits unsure of their footing (slow and awkward), were hardly menacing, and made really funny noises akin to someone unclogging a drain...gurgle gurgle...blort...gurgle...at least the filmmakers didn't shy away from showing them as they're the first thing we see as the story opens. And one more thing with regards to the group retreating to the butcher store...I was half hoping they'd take up arms (cleavers, boning knifes, etc.) and fight the creatures, but no such luck...

The picture one this Rhino DVD release looks pretty good, but does show some signs of wear. The audio is a different story...some have commented on here that the dialog track is missing from their DVD...I had no such problem with mine, as the audio came through pretty well until about halfway through as some audio fuzz made the dialog difficult to hear. This cleared up, but then came back again near the end. There are no special features on this DVD, but there are chapter stops, for what its worth.

Cookieman108

By the way, the tagline for this film 'Up from the bowels of the earth come...' is partially appropriate...this film came from the bowels of something...

This is definitely one of those so bad it's good movies. I've got quite a few other DVDs that would fall into the same category and love 'em all. HOWEVER,,,, on this one the sound was so bad that it pretty much ruined the movie for me. One channel had mostly hissing coming from it. I'm wondering if it might be just a bad copy,,,but I kinda doubt it.

I saw this movie when it first came out, brings me back a bit.. I loved it then and couldn't wait for it to keep showing up on tv.. I couldn't watch it enough..When i found it in a store i knew i had to buy it..even tho it is a grade b movie, it brought back alot of great memories from my childhood... The actors weren't great, the monsters were kinda funny..today, whenever we see fog we joke about the slime people being out there somewhere...