ZONTAR: THE THING FROM VENUS (1967)
Confiscate my b-movie license. I don't deserve it. Somehow, I'm just now learning that Larry Buchanan's Zontar: The Thing From Venus is a remake of Roger Corman's It Conquered the World, which explains why several of the script beats felt familiar. The storyline follows Keith, a NASA scientist who has managed to tune his "space radio" to the right frequency to attract a mélange of bizarre, inimical noises on the other end. One of those noises is a voice that belongs to Zontar. With the benefit of hindsight (not to mention the film's title), we know that Zontar is a thing from Venus, but we are not privy to his/her intentions. Keith is convinced that his alien crony wants to save us from ourselves. Don't be so naïve, reader. Could it be that Zontar wants to...destroy us???
Zounds, this is turning out to be a dramatic review. I won't spoil the ending, but I will impart shrewd, sagacious words of adulation. Stuff like, "The hokey dialogue is easy to follow." Anyway, the hokey dialogue is easy to follow. I've seen John Agar play the straight man in so many sci-fi cheapies, I could probably recite his lines. Zontar is comfortable entertainment in the same way that licorice is a comfortable midnight snack. And the creature design is perfection. It's flippin' beautiful! I tip my typing wand to the artist responsible for the below drawing. Be sure to follow the link to check out his/her other works. No, this isn't a paid advertisement, but I would probably hire this person to decorate the walls of my bedroom.
Click HERE.
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