It Came from the Screen

Well, hello there, and welcome back to It Came From the Screen! It’s been a little while, hasn’t it? But I thought I’d revive the blog again to see where it goes this time. After all, I’m not just watching this schlock without sharing it with you all! You’re welcome. Recently I took in quite the movie at my home of Macabre Manor, that being 1968’s The Green Slime.

The plot of The Green Slime is a simple one, really. Being among the stars now, mankind has discovered a giant asteroid coming toward Earth, one big enough to wipe out all life on the planet. They send their best man, Commander Jack Rankin, to go blow it up. He does it! Yay! No, the comet isn’t the big bad in this movie, it’s just a means to it.

While on the comet, they discover some sort of…green slime, that’s the best way to put it. And in fact it’s so good, that’s what they named the entire movie. Someone brings green slime back to the ship, it creates a hostile alien life form with tentacles, and they slowly take over the base while making a strange sort of whooping noise.

So, who’s who in this cast of space cadets? Well, easy enough, I’ll tell you who! Robert Horton plays Commander Jack Rankin, who not only has a strong 60’s style quaff, and also is kind of a jerk the whole time. Horton would also appear in several episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he stared in Wagon Train, and a bunch of TV movies. Richard Jaeckel played the second in command as Commander Vince Elliot, and he was just trying to do his best, but Rankin was basically not having any of that. Jaeckel was in quite a few projects in his day besides the Green Slime, some of which were Alfred Hitchock’s as well! He also stared in Starman and Airplane II the Sequel! Then rounding out the trio of main characters was Luciana Paluzzi as Dr. Lisa Besnon. Of course she was the ove interest of Elliot, but used to be the love interest of Rankin. Drama! She was the ships main Doctor caught in an awkward love triangle. Kind of? Paluzzi also played in Black Gunn, Calling All Police Cars, and Deadly Chase, which was her last film as she retired in from acting in 1978.

This film was directed by Kinki Fukasaku who directed a whooole bunch of films, perhaps most famously to a modern audience being 2000’s Battle Royale. That’s right, he was directing movies all the way from the early 60s to the early 2000s, quite a career. You’ll never guess who this film was written by, though, go on take a guess! It was Bill freakin’ Finger! If that name sounds familiar to you, you’re a comic book nerd like I am, because that’s the guy who co-created Batman with Bob Kane back in the late 30s. What a legend! Well, he co-wrote this movie with Tom Rowe and Charles Sinclair, but I don’t know anything about those two guys, sorry fellas!

I watched this film mainly because it was labeled as a tokusatsu movie. If you’re unfamiliar with that term (i.e. you have a life unlike me,) it’s a Japanese word for a type of movie that relies heavily on practical effects. Think of stuff like Godzilla or Super Sentai, which is the Japanese series that spawned Power Rangers. Lots of action, lots of practical effects, and lots of cool stuff like robots! But this movie didn’t feature any robots. It did, however, feature weird looking aliens with one giant eye and tentacles.

Overall, I wouldn’t label this as a terrible movie. In fact, I found myself enjoying it. But then again, this is exactly the kind of thing that a werido like me enjoys. The characters were clashing a little too constantly for me, but I’m a team player. And that doesn’t always get the drama. This movie was a solid hour and a half ride, and I found the pacing to be pretty good for such an old movie. What I mean is, sometimes the pacing of 60s movies can kind of drag. But this movie kept moving and didn’t stop.

Unlike some of the movies that I’ve watched for this blog, I don’t think there was any real subtext to the film (i.e. no cold war subtext) but there WAS a funky little song that played at the beginning and end of the movie. And let me tell you, it went hard for 1968. It didn’t have to go that hard, but it did that for us. It did that for us.

Honestly, I’d recommend watching this movie if you enjoy weird alien flicks. Don’t go into it expecting the likes of Alien and you’ll be fine. I’m pretty sure this movie was on the very first episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, but don’t let that dissuade you. Actually, never let that stop you from watching a movie. Even if you do watch in on MST3K, you’ll get a treat. But I believe this particular episode is lost media. What a shame, I’d love to hear what the guys have to say about it.

So, if you’re curious, or are into aliens, or even just a slime aficionado, you can rent this movie for three bucks on Amazon, or I’m sure some of you astute people out there can find it another way. But whatever you do, wherever you go, just be sure to beware the GREEN SLIIIIIME!