Main Cast: Steve Terrell, Gloria Castillo, Frank Gorshin, Raymond Hatton, Lyn Osborn
Release Year: 1957
Country: US
Run Time: 69 minutes
Plot
Invasion of the Saucer Men can't make up its mind whether it wants to be a comedy, a j.d. melodrama or a horror outing. When a spaceship lands in the woods, Johnny (Steve Terrell) and Joan (Gloria Castillo) accidentally run over one of the aliens. In retaliation, the saucer-men kill Joe (Frank Gorshin), an opportunistic boozehound who stumbles across the body. Meanwhile, the hand of the extraterrestrial corpse detaches itself from its body and wreaks havoc on the countryside. But the aliens are foiled when it is discovered that they cannot withstand the glare of automobile headlights! The Saucer Men costumes were designed by Paul Blaisdell, who was certainly capable of better work. Lyn Osborn, the former Cadet Happy on TV's Space Patrol, makes his final screen appearance as Frank Gorshin's drinking buddy. Originally released on a double bill with I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Invasion of the Saucer Creatures was cheaply remade for television as The Eye Creatures (1966). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Russ Bender - Doctor; Douglas Henderson - Lt. Wilkins; Sam Buffington - Colonel; Jason Johnson - Detective; Don Shelton - Mr. Hayden; Scott Peters - 1st Soldier; Jan Englund - Waitress; Kelly Thordsen - Sgt. Bruce; Ed Nelson - 1st Boy; Roy Darmour - Sgt. Gordon; James Bridges - Boy; Buddy Mason - Policeman; Robert Einer - Soda Jerk; Angelo Rossitto
Credit
Don Ament - Art Director, Edward L. Cahn - Director, Ronald Sinclair - Editor, Charles Gross - Editor, Ronald Stein - Composer (Music Score), Carlie Taylor - Makeup, Frederick E. West - Cinematographer, James H. Nicholson - Producer, Robert J. Gurney, Jr. - Producer, Paul Blaisdell - Special Effects, Howard A. Anderson - Special Effects, Alex C. Weldon - Special Effects, Al Martin - Screenwriter, Al Martin Gurney, Jr. - Screenwriter, Robert J. Gurney, Jr. - Screenwriter, Paul Fairman - Short Story Author
Invasion of the Saucer Men (also known as Invasion of the Hell Creatures, working title - Spacemen Saturday Night) is a 1957sci-fi comedy film starring Steven Terrell and Gloria Castillo and produced by American International Pictures (AIP). The screenplay by Robert J Gurney Jr and Al Martin was based on the short story 'The Cosmic Frame' by Paul W Fairman.
The Plot
A spaceship lands in the woods. A teenage couple, Johnny Carter (Steven Terrell) and Joan Haydon (Gloria Castillo), driving down lover's lane without headlights, accidentally run down one of the aliens. Joe Gruen (Frank Gorshin) a drunken opportunist, comes across the alien's corpse. He plans to keep the body in his fridge, but the aliens arrive and kill him by injecting alcohol into his veins via their hypodermic fingernails. Having reported their close encounter to the police, Johnny and Joan return with the Sheriff, only to find Joe's body in place of the alien. The police plan to charge them with manslaughter. Meanwhile the dead alien's hand detaches itself, grows an eye, and runs amok. The military, following a UFO report, are soon involved. They surround the alien's spaceship, but in the end it is the teenagers who defeat the aliens when they discover that they cannot stand the glare from their car headlights.
The alien makeup was designed by Paul Blaisdell.
AIP remade the film in color in 1966, cheaply, to pad out their TV sales back catalogue of movies for American television, as The Eye Creatures.
