Dreadful remake of a B picture called It Conquered the World made by Roger Corman and starring Beverly Garland. This version has the king of Z's Larry Buchanan directing and a tired looking John Agar starring. Agar is in fact the only cast member that might be accused of being or having been a thespian. He also looks like he is just able to keep his composure every time he says the word Zontar or looks at a lobster-like bat alien "flying" around. Just like in the It Conquered the World, a man has contacted an alien from Venus who uses the human as a means to secure knowledge so that it can come to Earth and begin to control it. Much of the plot is the same as Buchanan had agreed to remake some of the old AIP films(like he did with The Eye Creatures - a blatant remake of Invasion of the Saucermen). I like the old, cheesy Corman film. It had heart amidst no budget, and it had talent in Corman and Garland. I even learned to like the absurd triangle, down-to-the-ground Venusian. But this film doesn't have any of that same magic. Buchanan isn't the worst director in the world, but he just isn't very good either. This movie is so cheap that nothing looks like any real care or money went into it. That is patently obvious when you see the horrid acting by all concerned except Agar who is just reasonable at best. Tony Huston as Keith Ritchie, the man responsible for bringing Zontar to our planet, is easily the worst. Nothing he says has any conviction to it whatsoever. Susan Bjurman plays his wife and is just as awful. How about the scene where she she says she didn't want to marry a monster. I was crying from laughter - not the kind of laughs that were meant to be intentional. Buchanan DOES try for laughs here and there with some soldiers, but the humour is real lame and tired material. Special effects? I mentioned the most dazzling already -- alien "bats" that look like flying lobsters and unconvincingly land on the back of necks. The other primary special effect is the alien itself, and I will be completely honest when I say that I much prefer the alien from It Conquered the World for its comparative creativity and realism. If you have seen that film, then you know just how bad it must be in this one. This film stinks to be sure but is full of great laughs in a not-in-good way. Just listen to the dialog, "This will take a second" says Huston, Agar, with as stoic a face as possible, returns and says, "I have a second." Most of the dialog is filled with similar creative juices.
60 Reviews
Delightfully Awful
Hitchcoc1 May 2006
I guess when John Agar came to Hollywood, they thought he was going to be the next Cary Grant. So what does he end up doing: cheap monster movies. He was adequate as the doctor in "Tarantula." In this one, he must be embarrassed. He is so stiff and must act opposite dreadful people. The mad scientist who makes contact with Zontar is about as emotive and unappealing as one can get. His wife is even worse. Don't try to think about the believability of all this because it absolutely defies even the most primitive logic. Who are these people and why are they so important? How do you get Venus on an old time radio? They even refer to it as a "set." Zontar is, himself, just an ugly bat guy. Of course, fortunately, the scientist just happens to own a "ruby plutonium laser gun" which is the one thing that can kill Zontar. If he's that nutty about the good intentions of the alien, why does he have this? Did he build it? Don't ask. I did love the arguments between the guy and his wife, but that's because it's the most dreadful acting one has ever seen.
Men are from Earth Zontar's are from Venus
Fireball_and_Belle19 January 2006
Warning: Spoilers
'Zontar the Thing from Venus' is the kind of movie that's fun to watch even if it is predictable and outdated.
I recognized the familiar plot right away and later found out it it was a TV remake of 'It Conquered the World'. In this film John Agar played the role Peter Graves did in the earlier film. Poor John Agar, he went from being married to Shirley Temple and co-staring in classic John Ford Westerns ('Fort Apache', 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon') to starring in low budget made for TV B-films like this later in his life.
I had to laugh when Dr. Taylor (the Hero-John Agar) realized his wife was possessed by Zontar's mind control implant. He wasted no time in killing his beloved wife. Presumeably for her own good !. Geesh, would it have hurt to tie her up and TRY at least a little to see if there was a way to cure her? Who knows, maybe if he destroyed Zontar she would have returned to her normal lovable self. Or maybe he was looking for an excuse to get rid of her? (boohahaha) - "But judge, I had to kill her, she was controlled by Zontar a thing from Venus" -LOL.
There were a lot of little reminders in here of a number of other sci-fi films including 'Invaders from Mars' (the neck implants that control even loved ones) and 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' (humans replaced by aliens). But strangely enough it also reminded me of an old Dick VanDyke show episode. The one where Danny Thomas is an alien trying to conquer the earth and Laura Petrie (Dick's TV wife) is taken over and has a craving for walnuts :^D. I had to wonder if this TV movie and that episode came out about the same time.
There were some really silly lines of dialog to enjoy, like at the end where the narrator says how they learned that "Man is the greatest creature in the Universe"-gosh I hope not. Another funny scene was when the heroes car wouldn't run because all power to machines had been stopped, even a garden hose shouldn't work. Yet in the distance behind them you can see two cars driving by !
I also like the human traitor's outspoken wife and the way she charged into that cave to single-handedly try and destroy Zontar for making a fool out of her man. Evidently all housewives in the 60s kept pistols in the car glove compartment for just such an occasion. Sigourney Weaver has nothing on this lady, Go get um, Girl ! To bad she was ahead of her time and destined to fail by 60s sexist standards.
Oh and the FX when the laser weapon was used were funny too. It looked like a film negative or something flashed on the screen when they used it.
It wasn't a "good" film by any means, yet it was enjoyable at times.
I recognized the familiar plot right away and later found out it it was a TV remake of 'It Conquered the World'. In this film John Agar played the role Peter Graves did in the earlier film. Poor John Agar, he went from being married to Shirley Temple and co-staring in classic John Ford Westerns ('Fort Apache', 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon') to starring in low budget made for TV B-films like this later in his life.
I had to laugh when Dr. Taylor (the Hero-John Agar) realized his wife was possessed by Zontar's mind control implant. He wasted no time in killing his beloved wife. Presumeably for her own good !. Geesh, would it have hurt to tie her up and TRY at least a little to see if there was a way to cure her? Who knows, maybe if he destroyed Zontar she would have returned to her normal lovable self. Or maybe he was looking for an excuse to get rid of her? (boohahaha) - "But judge, I had to kill her, she was controlled by Zontar a thing from Venus" -LOL.
There were a lot of little reminders in here of a number of other sci-fi films including 'Invaders from Mars' (the neck implants that control even loved ones) and 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' (humans replaced by aliens). But strangely enough it also reminded me of an old Dick VanDyke show episode. The one where Danny Thomas is an alien trying to conquer the earth and Laura Petrie (Dick's TV wife) is taken over and has a craving for walnuts :^D. I had to wonder if this TV movie and that episode came out about the same time.
There were some really silly lines of dialog to enjoy, like at the end where the narrator says how they learned that "Man is the greatest creature in the Universe"-gosh I hope not. Another funny scene was when the heroes car wouldn't run because all power to machines had been stopped, even a garden hose shouldn't work. Yet in the distance behind them you can see two cars driving by !
I also like the human traitor's outspoken wife and the way she charged into that cave to single-handedly try and destroy Zontar for making a fool out of her man. Evidently all housewives in the 60s kept pistols in the car glove compartment for just such an occasion. Sigourney Weaver has nothing on this lady, Go get um, Girl ! To bad she was ahead of her time and destined to fail by 60s sexist standards.
Oh and the FX when the laser weapon was used were funny too. It looked like a film negative or something flashed on the screen when they used it.
It wasn't a "good" film by any means, yet it was enjoyable at times.
scientist tries to get a handle on the invasive Zontar
chermac5811 July 2004
The best part of the movie is knowing it was filmed in Dallas in 1966. Actually, the exterior shots of the scientist's headquarters were filmed at my childhood home in Dallas -- it was quite contemporary for its time. One Sunday morning the producers knocked on the door wanting to use our home, we consented, and 2 days of muddy footprints and dirty coffee mugs later, the actors and filmmakers left. We enjoy watching the familiar scenes shot at White Rock Creek and Casa Linda Shopping Center -- particularly the mass chaos scenes of a running mob. Not a great plot and especially bad props -- Zontar looks like a black plastic bag stuck on a wire that flaps in the air.
Robotic acting and a lousy script make this a craptastic failure!
planktonrules1 January 2009
Zontar is a being from Venus who has been communicating with Keith--telling him about the pending invasion of the Earth. However, instead of trying to stop him, Keith aids Zontar with promises that he'll make the Earth a paradise for all. The invasion involves turning off all human machines as well as injecting key officials with little pins in the back of their necks--making them slaves to the will of Zontar.
I am a "bad movie junkie"--I love watching grade-z horror and sci-fi films of the 50s and 60s, so it's natural I'd watch ZONTAR. However, even for a bad movie, this one is really, really bad--B-A-D, bad!! Most of the reason for this is that it was apparently directed by a monkey, as it got the absolute worst performances from everyone. Rarely will you hear and see more robotic acting--with many "actors" clearly having difficulty reading their cue cards!! Keith, the idiot who works for Zontar and is the key actor is particularly inept. His delivery is just bizarre--like he's reading and has no idea what the context is--with no emotion or conviction. The General ain't much better--as, once again, he's clearly reading from a script and it's badly dubbed over his actions on several occasions. It's sad when perhaps the best acting is done by John Agar--the uncrowned King of Bad Films. He overacts and yells some of his lines, but at least he had emotion and energy--some things that few others in the film showed. The only other emotional actor is Keith's wife, who seems to think she's playing Ophelia from "Hamlet"--as she makes little soliloquies and behaves as if she's stark raving mad! As for the rest of the film, the plot has been done better many other times (especially in INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and an episode of "SCTV"), the sets are cheap, the "monsters" look like stuffed owls and the entire project has the look of a film made for YouTube by 12 year-olds! The only reason to watch this film is if you LIKE bad movies and want to laugh and marvel at the total ineptness of the film. Also, try watching Peter Graves in IT CONQUERED THE WORLD. ZONTAR is a remake of this earlier film, but it, too, is pretty silly stuff--and you have to see the monster to believe it!!
I am a "bad movie junkie"--I love watching grade-z horror and sci-fi films of the 50s and 60s, so it's natural I'd watch ZONTAR. However, even for a bad movie, this one is really, really bad--B-A-D, bad!! Most of the reason for this is that it was apparently directed by a monkey, as it got the absolute worst performances from everyone. Rarely will you hear and see more robotic acting--with many "actors" clearly having difficulty reading their cue cards!! Keith, the idiot who works for Zontar and is the key actor is particularly inept. His delivery is just bizarre--like he's reading and has no idea what the context is--with no emotion or conviction. The General ain't much better--as, once again, he's clearly reading from a script and it's badly dubbed over his actions on several occasions. It's sad when perhaps the best acting is done by John Agar--the uncrowned King of Bad Films. He overacts and yells some of his lines, but at least he had emotion and energy--some things that few others in the film showed. The only other emotional actor is Keith's wife, who seems to think she's playing Ophelia from "Hamlet"--as she makes little soliloquies and behaves as if she's stark raving mad! As for the rest of the film, the plot has been done better many other times (especially in INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and an episode of "SCTV"), the sets are cheap, the "monsters" look like stuffed owls and the entire project has the look of a film made for YouTube by 12 year-olds! The only reason to watch this film is if you LIKE bad movies and want to laugh and marvel at the total ineptness of the film. Also, try watching Peter Graves in IT CONQUERED THE WORLD. ZONTAR is a remake of this earlier film, but it, too, is pretty silly stuff--and you have to see the monster to believe it!!
"Are you people positive you know what you're doing?"
classicsoncall26 April 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Interplanetary hitchhiker Zontar sets his sights on Earth, communicating with scientist Keith Ritchie (Tony Houston) via a home made radio set up that's actually more impressive looking than all the room size computer equipment at the "Installation". Houston resembles Jerry Seinfeld with a hard edge, so watching the film today makes his performance doubly amusing. I just love hearing the pseudo scientific explanations offered for all the mumbo jumbo in these grade 'Z' sci-fi flicks, and "Zontar" doesn't let you down. Starting with a brief mention of hyperspace hypnotism, the film is on it's way with tales of injector pods and biological implants.
The film is at it's most surreal though when John Agar trades in his cavalry mount for a bicycle, tooling around town in a business suit. His character is Dr. Curt Taylor, who gives it his all in trying to prevent Zontar's domination of earth, eight people at a time. But do you think he really had to kill his wife when she became a Zontar zombie? Gee, maybe he could have figured something else out before the picture ended.
It's amazing how sequestered every small town is in these types of flicks, the outside world is never heard from so it can lend a hand. At least The General (Neil Fletcher) makes mention of a Communist conspiracy to remind today's viewer of what was on a lot of people's minds back in the '50's and '60's. Can you believe that was so long ago?
Give Zontar credit though. He combines vacation plans with thoughts of global domination, preferring a locale noted for it's hot springs, with a bit of spelunking thrown in as well in the underground caves. Seems to me though he could have been more consistent with turning mechanical devices on and off at will. I guess he just didn't see that sting gun with the plutonium ruby crystal coming - too bad.
Hey, don't blink. Right in the middle of all the fun is a quick flash of a woman in a bikini for no apparent reason. It's one of the endearing scenes that make Zontar a blast, even if you don't believe in hyperspace hypnotism.
The film is at it's most surreal though when John Agar trades in his cavalry mount for a bicycle, tooling around town in a business suit. His character is Dr. Curt Taylor, who gives it his all in trying to prevent Zontar's domination of earth, eight people at a time. But do you think he really had to kill his wife when she became a Zontar zombie? Gee, maybe he could have figured something else out before the picture ended.
It's amazing how sequestered every small town is in these types of flicks, the outside world is never heard from so it can lend a hand. At least The General (Neil Fletcher) makes mention of a Communist conspiracy to remind today's viewer of what was on a lot of people's minds back in the '50's and '60's. Can you believe that was so long ago?
Give Zontar credit though. He combines vacation plans with thoughts of global domination, preferring a locale noted for it's hot springs, with a bit of spelunking thrown in as well in the underground caves. Seems to me though he could have been more consistent with turning mechanical devices on and off at will. I guess he just didn't see that sting gun with the plutonium ruby crystal coming - too bad.
Hey, don't blink. Right in the middle of all the fun is a quick flash of a woman in a bikini for no apparent reason. It's one of the endearing scenes that make Zontar a blast, even if you don't believe in hyperspace hypnotism.
Someone, anyone, PLEASE make it stop!!!
Coventry13 May 2007
Sitting all the way through "Zontar, The Thing From Venus" can seriously lead to self-mutilation and, in case you have absolutely no experience with zero-budget 60's Sci-Fi at all, maybe even to suicidal tendencies! You could laugh at the overall incompetence of this TV-production, but I don't suppose it was Larry Buchanan's intention to make a terribly dull & irritating remake of Corman's "It Conquered the World", because all the actors and actresses desperately attempt to keep a straight face whilst poorly speaking their inept lines and horrid dialogs. John Agar starred in a whole lot of Sci-Fi films that were produced on a shoestring-budget, but the majority of them were very enjoyable & well-made ("Tarantula", "Revenge of the Creature", "The Brain from Planet Arous") and "Zontar" is simply embarrassing. Even when people die from getting shot, this movie is dull! They're hit, reach for the wound and pull a stupid face approximately 5 seconds later and then they fall down on the ground horribly fake. The "plot" is as follows: oddball scientist Keith Ritchie supposedly communicates with an alien from Venus, and he even helps it find its way to earth, because Keith is convinced that this one alien can prevent the entire human race from destroying themselves. How? I haven't got the slightest clue. Naturally, Zontar turns out to be a mean monster and he sucks the intellect out of people's brains by sending fake bats after them. The special effects and monster designs look as if they were created by a kindergarten class during pottering hour. Zontar itself is a hideous creation, resembling something that emerged from a muck-heap, and his sidekick bats don't even remotely look like bats. The weird dork-scientist who communicates with Zontar is easily the dumbest character I've ever seen in a horror movie (and that even includes Paris Hilton in "House of Wax") and his wife isn't much better. She, imbecile woman that she is, confronts the alien all by herself in his hideout cave and stupidly tells him that she hates his guts. This all may sound funny and cheesy, but it's mostly painful and unendurable to watch. "Zontar, The Thing From Venus" wasted 80 precious minutes of my life and then still it felt like they lasted at least twice as long. Please, don't make the same mistake. Roger Corman's original "It Conquered the World" isn't a very good film neither, but it's an unhinged masterpiece compared to this irredeemably bad excuse for a film.
Liked it when I was a kid...
preppy-34 May 2005
I saw this, like most people, on Saturday afternoon TV when I was a kid. As a kid I thought it was OK. Then I saw "It Conquered the World" which this is a ripoff of. OK--"It..." is hardly a masterpiece but compared to "Zontar" it looks like "Gone With the Wind"!
This is a painfully slow movie with atrocious "special" effects and acting so bad you won't believe it. It's shot on threadbare sets where actors just stand around and talk. Why I liked this as a kid I'll never know. I do remember when I first saw Zontar I was scared (a little). Now, as an adult, I howled! It's a guy in a stupid rubber suit with three obviously fake eyes! Man, my standards must have been LOW when I was little:)
This is probably Larry Buchanan's worst film (although "Mars Needs Women" is definitely down there) and too boring to be bad/good--just BAD. Even the usually competent John Agar can't save this drivel.
Try to see "It..." and avoid this. I give it a 0!
This is a painfully slow movie with atrocious "special" effects and acting so bad you won't believe it. It's shot on threadbare sets where actors just stand around and talk. Why I liked this as a kid I'll never know. I do remember when I first saw Zontar I was scared (a little). Now, as an adult, I howled! It's a guy in a stupid rubber suit with three obviously fake eyes! Man, my standards must have been LOW when I was little:)
This is probably Larry Buchanan's worst film (although "Mars Needs Women" is definitely down there) and too boring to be bad/good--just BAD. Even the usually competent John Agar can't save this drivel.
Try to see "It..." and avoid this. I give it a 0!
Made for television remake of It Conquered the World.
poolandrews15 May 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Zontar: The Thing from Venus starts at NASA control as the fifty million dollar Laser Communications Satellite is launched despite warnings from physicist Dr. Keith Ritchie (Tony Huston) about alien life not wanting mankind to venture into space. Ritchie's best friend & Laser Communications Satellite designer Dr. Curt Taylor (John Agar) ignores his warnings & the satellite is launched. Three months later while enjoying dinner at Keith's house he shows Curt some radio equipment that he claims can let him communicate with Venus & an alien creature known as Zontar, then Taylor gets a phone call from NASA to say that his satellite has disappeared but then suddenly reappears & lands back on Earth with the Vanusian alien Zontar aboard as an intergalactic stowaway. Zontar plans to conquer the world using mind control devices & with the help of Keith who tells Zontar everything he needs to know, only brave scientist Curt can stop Zontar the thing from Venus...
Also known as Zontar: Invader from Venus this was co-written, produced & directed by Larry Buchanan & was an ultra low budget made for television remake of Roger Corman's sci-fi flick It Conquered the World (1956) proving that the remake is not a modern phenomena by any means, made to pad out one of American International Pictures television syndication packages along with similar remakes The Eye Creatures (1965) & Curse of the Swamp Creature (1966) I actually quite liked this entertainingly bad sci-fi horror flick warts & all. Now I consider myself qualified to compare Zontar: The Thing from Venus to the original It Conquered the World as I have, God help me, now seen both in the space of two days & Zontar: The Thing from Venus is almost exactly the same film. Not only is it a virtual scene for scene, shot for shot remake the dialogue is often exactly the same as well. Zontar: The Thing from Venus runs for 80 odd minutes while It Conquered the World ran for 70 odd minutes, I didn't notice any extra scenes or padding but I assume a few shots last longer here & there. The only major differences between the two films are that the alien is given the wonderful name Zontar here, the two alien monsters look totally different & oddly the names of the main character's have also been changed but otherwise the two play out exactly the same. If you have never seen It Conquered the World then that's irrelevant though, I suppose. Considering how similar the two films are I had a good time with Zontar: The Thing from Venus, the whole body snatching, mind controlling paranoia aspect is preserved & the morality tale about the worth of human emotion is also intact. Sure some of the dialogue is wooden, there are some silly moments (the way Curt suddenly shoots his wife dead, the way he casually walks up to the Sheriff despite seeing him kill someone in cold blood, the comedy relief soldiers) & it feels dated but I liked it. When all said & done, despite the low budget limitations & unintentional laughs I enjoyed watching this, for what it is I found it strangely entertaining & much better than many modern made for television horror (for instance it's much better than the awful Dinoshark (2010) which I saw recently) films. There's a certain charm & honesty about Zontar: The Thing from Venus that I liked, despite it's near universal bad reputation I will consider this a guilty pleasure from now on.
It Conquered the World was famous for it's cucumber alien monster & that's one area where Zontar: The Thing from Venus differs greatly, here the alien is a nasty looking three eyed bat winged creature with a lumpy featureless face that doesn't move that well but does look surprisingly good considering. The flying bat things look less impressive & are very static, they were obviously held up on fishing line. The idea of mind control & our bodies being taken over is a strong theme for a sci-fi horror film & the concept is used quite well here, while the low budget production values & other limitations hinder it the basis of a good story is there.
Supposedly shot on a shoestring budget of less than $30,000 in Dallas in Texas it's amazing that Zontar: The Thing from Venus even exists & that people still remember it. The acting sucks, John Agar looks bored while that soldier who puts on that awful Brooklyn accent needs to be shot.
Zontar: The Thing from Venus is a film I really rather liked, it's mixture of a decent alien monster, some unintentional laughs, a solid story that tries to have a message & some unforgettable dialogue (for the wrong reasons) made me enjoy this more than I was expecting. As has already been said many will view Zontar: The Thing from Venus as worthless low budget crap but if you scratch beneath the surface there's an enjoyable little film here. Either that or I'm just mad.
Also known as Zontar: Invader from Venus this was co-written, produced & directed by Larry Buchanan & was an ultra low budget made for television remake of Roger Corman's sci-fi flick It Conquered the World (1956) proving that the remake is not a modern phenomena by any means, made to pad out one of American International Pictures television syndication packages along with similar remakes The Eye Creatures (1965) & Curse of the Swamp Creature (1966) I actually quite liked this entertainingly bad sci-fi horror flick warts & all. Now I consider myself qualified to compare Zontar: The Thing from Venus to the original It Conquered the World as I have, God help me, now seen both in the space of two days & Zontar: The Thing from Venus is almost exactly the same film. Not only is it a virtual scene for scene, shot for shot remake the dialogue is often exactly the same as well. Zontar: The Thing from Venus runs for 80 odd minutes while It Conquered the World ran for 70 odd minutes, I didn't notice any extra scenes or padding but I assume a few shots last longer here & there. The only major differences between the two films are that the alien is given the wonderful name Zontar here, the two alien monsters look totally different & oddly the names of the main character's have also been changed but otherwise the two play out exactly the same. If you have never seen It Conquered the World then that's irrelevant though, I suppose. Considering how similar the two films are I had a good time with Zontar: The Thing from Venus, the whole body snatching, mind controlling paranoia aspect is preserved & the morality tale about the worth of human emotion is also intact. Sure some of the dialogue is wooden, there are some silly moments (the way Curt suddenly shoots his wife dead, the way he casually walks up to the Sheriff despite seeing him kill someone in cold blood, the comedy relief soldiers) & it feels dated but I liked it. When all said & done, despite the low budget limitations & unintentional laughs I enjoyed watching this, for what it is I found it strangely entertaining & much better than many modern made for television horror (for instance it's much better than the awful Dinoshark (2010) which I saw recently) films. There's a certain charm & honesty about Zontar: The Thing from Venus that I liked, despite it's near universal bad reputation I will consider this a guilty pleasure from now on.
It Conquered the World was famous for it's cucumber alien monster & that's one area where Zontar: The Thing from Venus differs greatly, here the alien is a nasty looking three eyed bat winged creature with a lumpy featureless face that doesn't move that well but does look surprisingly good considering. The flying bat things look less impressive & are very static, they were obviously held up on fishing line. The idea of mind control & our bodies being taken over is a strong theme for a sci-fi horror film & the concept is used quite well here, while the low budget production values & other limitations hinder it the basis of a good story is there.
Supposedly shot on a shoestring budget of less than $30,000 in Dallas in Texas it's amazing that Zontar: The Thing from Venus even exists & that people still remember it. The acting sucks, John Agar looks bored while that soldier who puts on that awful Brooklyn accent needs to be shot.
Zontar: The Thing from Venus is a film I really rather liked, it's mixture of a decent alien monster, some unintentional laughs, a solid story that tries to have a message & some unforgettable dialogue (for the wrong reasons) made me enjoy this more than I was expecting. As has already been said many will view Zontar: The Thing from Venus as worthless low budget crap but if you scratch beneath the surface there's an enjoyable little film here. Either that or I'm just mad.
And I thought only Ed Wood could make movies like this
rj-2725 August 2018
Apparently there are other fecally bad directors and producers that don't know any real actors. I just haven't seen them. Till now. At least Ed Wood Jr. got the great Bela Lugosi to work for him. The best Larry Buchanan could coax into this trash fest was household name John Agar. You really have to wonder who thought a distributor could look kindly enough on a movie this bad to finance it. But here it is. Several of the actors look like they're channeling Clutch Cargo - you know, stiff as a board and only their lips move? And those are the good ones. Anyway, the bat-thing hides out in a phony stalagmite stage set just waiting for humans to figure out how to kill him so that the voice over at the end can wax eloquent how the answers to life's conundrums are to be found within, not without. Just in case you wondered aloud why you allowed yourself to sit through this apoplectic producing poop party.
Skeet
ferbs549 January 2014
The memory of Roger Corman's lovable shlock classic "It Conquered the World" (just one of four pictures that Corman came out with in 1956) is pretty fresh with me, since, just four months back, I happened to see this cult item on the big screen. It was playing at NYC's wonderful Film Forum as part of a double feature, paired with 1957's "I Was a Teenage Werewolf." Filmed on the cheap and clocking in at a scant 68 minutes, "It Conquered," I was happy to relearn, yet manages to wholly satisfy by dint of its convincing players, endearingly cheezy special FX and imaginative direction. Well, as it turns out, I should have left well enough alone, but no, I had to go and rent out the picture's wholly UNsatisfying and completely inferior remake, "Zontar, The Thing From Venus." A scene-for-scene rehash of Corman's original, this was a made-for-TV product that was released a full decade after "It Conquered"; a completely unnecessary outing that manages to come up short in every department. Although the names of the characters have been changed, the story elements are wholly similar, and though both films were patently produced on only the scantiest of budgets, the latter, unlike its illustrious forebear, reveals a regrettable lack of talent both in front of and behind the camera.
As in the first film, "Zontar" concerns itself with an alien visitor who uses an Earth scientist as a dupe/cat's-paw in its plans for global conquest. Here, that fool is named Keith Ritchie (lamely portrayed by Tony Huston), a scientist who estranges both his wife (a correspondingly bad performance by Pat Delaney) and his best friend and fellow scientist Curt Taylor (John Agar) as he becomes more and more obsessed with communicating with his new alien buddy via shortwave radio. But after the USA's latest $50 million "laser satellite" is abducted, and after Zontar takes up residence in a nearby cave, causes a global blackout, and commences to send his flying, lobsterlike "injectapods" to take over the minds of various key townspeople, even Keith Ritchie starts to wonder whether or not his alien savior is all it claims to be....
I must say, "Zontar"'s director, Larry Buchanan, is now an impressive 4 for 4 with me; all the pictures that I have seen from this "auteur"--1965's "The Eye Creatures," 1966's "Curse of the Swamp Creature" and 1967's "Mars Needs Women"--have been rock-bottom deplorable, and now, as if to finish off a loosely connected quartet of sci-fi crud..."Zontar"! This last is a genuine labor to sit through, and a true affront to Corman's beloved original. While that 1956 film was surely no exemplar of the cinematic arts, it at least offered some solid acting turns by its three leads (Peter Graves, Beverly Garland and Lee Van Cleef), as well as another ingratiating performance by the always dependable Dick Miller. "Zontar," on the other hand, features some truly subpar thesping (Huston and Delaney are remarkably bad), and while John Agar, old pro that he is, manages to give a decent performance (AND do a few stunts of his own; just look at him vault over those fences, at 45 years of age!), this yet remains the lamest sci-fi film that he has ever appeared in; "Revenge of the Creature" (1955), "Tarantula" (1955), "The Mole People" (1956), "The Brain From Planet Arous" (1958) and "Attack of the Puppet People" (1958) are all in a different class completely, as compared with this Venusian dreck. "Zontar" also offers the viewer special FX of a decidedly amateurish nature (the shots of the laser satellite orbiting above Earth look like the work of a 4th grader), while the Zontar creature itself cannot hold a candle to the original. Indeed, Paul Blaisdell's grimacing "carrot monster" for the Corman film is a by-now iconic image of '50s sci-fi, while the vaguely batlike Zontar (who we never even get a good look at) is fairly forgettable. And as for those "injectapods," the flying lobster things here cannot compete with the cute little bat mites that the original film gave us. To make matters even worse, "Zontar" features a script with an embarrassing amount of hokey lines ("That doesn't surprise me, nor does it dismay me") and terrible, forced humor ("I wonder what effect this power failure has on my wife's big mouth"). And it fails to satisfy on even the most basic levels of filmmaking, such as giving the viewer a decent establishing shot of Zontar's cavern. Simply stated, I cannot see any reason why a viewer would wish to see this film, if he/she could acquire the Corman original instead. It is truly the most needless of remakes. Today, the film comes to us on a DVD from the RetroMedia Entertainment group, on the flip side of which resides Buchanan's "The Eye Creatures." The fact that these two stinkers exist on the same disc results in a DVD whose only suitable function, sorry to say, is skeet....
As in the first film, "Zontar" concerns itself with an alien visitor who uses an Earth scientist as a dupe/cat's-paw in its plans for global conquest. Here, that fool is named Keith Ritchie (lamely portrayed by Tony Huston), a scientist who estranges both his wife (a correspondingly bad performance by Pat Delaney) and his best friend and fellow scientist Curt Taylor (John Agar) as he becomes more and more obsessed with communicating with his new alien buddy via shortwave radio. But after the USA's latest $50 million "laser satellite" is abducted, and after Zontar takes up residence in a nearby cave, causes a global blackout, and commences to send his flying, lobsterlike "injectapods" to take over the minds of various key townspeople, even Keith Ritchie starts to wonder whether or not his alien savior is all it claims to be....
I must say, "Zontar"'s director, Larry Buchanan, is now an impressive 4 for 4 with me; all the pictures that I have seen from this "auteur"--1965's "The Eye Creatures," 1966's "Curse of the Swamp Creature" and 1967's "Mars Needs Women"--have been rock-bottom deplorable, and now, as if to finish off a loosely connected quartet of sci-fi crud..."Zontar"! This last is a genuine labor to sit through, and a true affront to Corman's beloved original. While that 1956 film was surely no exemplar of the cinematic arts, it at least offered some solid acting turns by its three leads (Peter Graves, Beverly Garland and Lee Van Cleef), as well as another ingratiating performance by the always dependable Dick Miller. "Zontar," on the other hand, features some truly subpar thesping (Huston and Delaney are remarkably bad), and while John Agar, old pro that he is, manages to give a decent performance (AND do a few stunts of his own; just look at him vault over those fences, at 45 years of age!), this yet remains the lamest sci-fi film that he has ever appeared in; "Revenge of the Creature" (1955), "Tarantula" (1955), "The Mole People" (1956), "The Brain From Planet Arous" (1958) and "Attack of the Puppet People" (1958) are all in a different class completely, as compared with this Venusian dreck. "Zontar" also offers the viewer special FX of a decidedly amateurish nature (the shots of the laser satellite orbiting above Earth look like the work of a 4th grader), while the Zontar creature itself cannot hold a candle to the original. Indeed, Paul Blaisdell's grimacing "carrot monster" for the Corman film is a by-now iconic image of '50s sci-fi, while the vaguely batlike Zontar (who we never even get a good look at) is fairly forgettable. And as for those "injectapods," the flying lobster things here cannot compete with the cute little bat mites that the original film gave us. To make matters even worse, "Zontar" features a script with an embarrassing amount of hokey lines ("That doesn't surprise me, nor does it dismay me") and terrible, forced humor ("I wonder what effect this power failure has on my wife's big mouth"). And it fails to satisfy on even the most basic levels of filmmaking, such as giving the viewer a decent establishing shot of Zontar's cavern. Simply stated, I cannot see any reason why a viewer would wish to see this film, if he/she could acquire the Corman original instead. It is truly the most needless of remakes. Today, the film comes to us on a DVD from the RetroMedia Entertainment group, on the flip side of which resides Buchanan's "The Eye Creatures." The fact that these two stinkers exist on the same disc results in a DVD whose only suitable function, sorry to say, is skeet....
Low budget Saturday afternoon Sci Fi. fun.
phage73925 February 2002
Low budget Saturday afternoon Sci Fi. fun. A scientist communicates with the bizarre Zontar believing that he (it) will be beneficial to mankind! Zontar lands on Earth and hides in a cave with the intent to control the populace with parasitic batlike sentries that detach from his body and attach themselves to victims. Sure it's cheap, but the dialog is fun, and Zontar's costume is not to be missed! If you are looking for a high class production you are missing the fun! This is what makes these movies such treasures! This is Larry Buchanan's remake of "It Conquered the World"(there was no first version of Zontar) Larry also remade "Invasion of the Saucer People" as "The Eye Creatures."
Silly,Entertaining Saturday afternoon delight !
ronnybee21128 March 2020
Yes,this could be called a crummy movie,but I like it. You have seen much worse movies that had a much bigger budget than this one,I promise you.(It is a great example of being resourceful and doing an awful lot with very little). A great rainy-day movie for sure. If you have a smidgeon of imagination or if you were ever 9 years-old you will enjoy this!
(Look for a possible inspiration to the star wars light-saber vs training-ball-pods part in this film)
How can it conquer the world when it never even leaves the limestone caves?
mark.waltz9 October 2018
Warning: Spoilers
In an opening which seems to be a combination of a 1960's TV commercial and a daytime soap opera, this cheaply made TV remake of "It Conquered the World" is interesting in a few aspects but misses out on the delightful cheesiness of the original. It is also a good real longer than the original film and thus the waiting of the arrival of the actual monster takes a bit longer. Taking over the roles played in the original by Lee Van Cleef and Beverly Garland are Tony Huston and Pat Delaney, perfectly acceptable had they been doing a coffee commercial or starring on "Another World", but lacking in oomph as the man in touch with Venus and his sexpot wife who should have the ability to scream like Fay Wray. At first, I didn't realize that this was a remake of one of the great camp science fiction movies of all time, but then I was also surprised a few months ago to discover a TV remake of "Invasion of the Saucer Men" ("The Eye Creatures") not surprisingly by the same production team. It should be noted that the team from American International who did the original versions of these cult classics had nothing to do with the development of the remakes, and in that aspect alone, the tongue in cheek disappears as a result.
As for the monster itself, it has been described in rather disgusting terms, but for me, it looked like a giant candy bar with wings (think the Baby Ruth bar in "Caddyshack"), possibly filled with too many nuts or raisins. It was only when the bat like creature appeared in the sky that I realized what this was a remake of "It Conquered the World". It was only when the bat like creature came out of nowhere to attack selected victims that I realized what this was a remake of. In support, top-billed John Agar and Susan Bjurman play close friends of Huston and Delaney, perplexed by Huston's mysterious talk of some creature he speaks to regularly called Zontar, with Neil Fletcher as the army general who gets stung by Zontar's man-made machines that insert what looks like paperclips in the back of their neck to control them. There are some continuity issues too, such as the entire town scampering about, then switches to other activities going on, and even more scampering about when the camera cuts back to the same scene 10 minutes later. Being in color as opposed to black and white (and obviously videotaped as opposed to filmed) exposes the cheapness of the film, although the limestone cave sequence is pretty thrilling, made all the more scary because of the presence of the creature there rather than just a normal cave like in the original film. This makes Delaney's encounter with Zontar slightly more frightening because of the thought of her getting lost inside the cave, although I much prefer the hysterical encounter between Beverly Garland and the turnip monster in the first film.
As for the monster itself, it has been described in rather disgusting terms, but for me, it looked like a giant candy bar with wings (think the Baby Ruth bar in "Caddyshack"), possibly filled with too many nuts or raisins. It was only when the bat like creature appeared in the sky that I realized what this was a remake of "It Conquered the World". It was only when the bat like creature came out of nowhere to attack selected victims that I realized what this was a remake of. In support, top-billed John Agar and Susan Bjurman play close friends of Huston and Delaney, perplexed by Huston's mysterious talk of some creature he speaks to regularly called Zontar, with Neil Fletcher as the army general who gets stung by Zontar's man-made machines that insert what looks like paperclips in the back of their neck to control them. There are some continuity issues too, such as the entire town scampering about, then switches to other activities going on, and even more scampering about when the camera cuts back to the same scene 10 minutes later. Being in color as opposed to black and white (and obviously videotaped as opposed to filmed) exposes the cheapness of the film, although the limestone cave sequence is pretty thrilling, made all the more scary because of the presence of the creature there rather than just a normal cave like in the original film. This makes Delaney's encounter with Zontar slightly more frightening because of the thought of her getting lost inside the cave, although I much prefer the hysterical encounter between Beverly Garland and the turnip monster in the first film.
Buchanan's Cheap-O Remake Parade
judex-123 September 2003
Seems like this is a little muddled. AIP-TV needed some truly inexpensive features to pad out a syndication package, and Buchanan ended up with the job. Reports vary, but they apparently used scripts that were "readily available", with the following results:
It Conquered The World - Zontar, The Thing From Venus
Invasion Of The Saucer Men - The Eye Creatures
Pajama Party - Mars Needs Women The She Creature - Creature Of Destruction
The Day The World Ended - In The Year 2889
Pretty mindbending to experience these, when unprepared. I was dozing in and out of "Zontar" the first time, and I woke up thinking I had dreamt most of it.
I'll have to accept the common thought that much was filmed around Dallas, but I have to say that it sure looks like Bronson Canyon much of the time...heh
--Judex.1--
It Conquered The World - Zontar, The Thing From Venus
Invasion Of The Saucer Men - The Eye Creatures
Pajama Party - Mars Needs Women The She Creature - Creature Of Destruction
The Day The World Ended - In The Year 2889
Pretty mindbending to experience these, when unprepared. I was dozing in and out of "Zontar" the first time, and I woke up thinking I had dreamt most of it.
I'll have to accept the common thought that much was filmed around Dallas, but I have to say that it sure looks like Bronson Canyon much of the time...heh
--Judex.1--
Makes Roger Corman seem like Orson Welles:
robertguttman30 April 2015
This ultra-cheesy remake of Roger Corman's notorious 1956 sci-fi epic, "It Conquered the World", is so bad that it makes the original seem like Citizen Kane by comparison. Some bad movies are so bad that they're actually fun to watch. However, this is one bad movie that is so bad that it is simply bad. "Zontar" was supposedly produced on a budget of $20,000, and it certainly looks it.
The one good thing that seeing this film will accomplish is to give the viewer a greater appreciation for the talent of Roger Corman and his company. Yes, Corman also produced his films in a very short space of time, and on an almost non-existent budget. However, Corman had the talent to turn the lemons he was given to work with into lemonade, whereas the producers of this awful tripe were clearly incapable of creating anything but vinegar. Strictly "Grade-Z".
The one good thing that seeing this film will accomplish is to give the viewer a greater appreciation for the talent of Roger Corman and his company. Yes, Corman also produced his films in a very short space of time, and on an almost non-existent budget. However, Corman had the talent to turn the lemons he was given to work with into lemonade, whereas the producers of this awful tripe were clearly incapable of creating anything but vinegar. Strictly "Grade-Z".
"He's inside that circling laboratory now"
hwg1957-102-26570424 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
While watching this I thought, it all seems a bit familiar then discovered it was a remake (re-imaginining is definitely not the word!) of 'It Conquered The World' of 1956. It would take Zontar a long time to conquer the world as he could only manufacture his mind control devices eight at a time in a day. There are a lot of people in the world. Am not sure Zontar planned his invasion that well particularly as he lurks in a warm cave because that's the environment closest to Venus and being in the open probably would kill him.
The acting is nothing special though Tony Huston as Zontar's patsy Keith acts so intensely it's exhausting to watch him. Genre stalwart John Agar looks tired.
It's a Larry Buchanan film.
The acting is nothing special though Tony Huston as Zontar's patsy Keith acts so intensely it's exhausting to watch him. Genre stalwart John Agar looks tired.
It's a Larry Buchanan film.
Lots of talking, smidges of the Venusian and his creatures
Apollo15AnnoPianoCatDogSnailAnt7 August 2020
The Venusian of the title, is shown along with his creature brethren, could be more, while the dialogue sessions between the main people, are somewhat ok for the sake of just lots of talking in rooms, the hero Curt, is played by the famous guy, of numerous scifi flicks of interest, thus has some interest to check him out, also just noting this is a tv movie, adjusts the expectations. Check out for fans of John Agar.
PS: It has now come to my attention from the other reviews that this is a remake of It Conquered the World (which was featured on mst3k) and also that the other Buchanan made Eye Creatures (also on mst3k) is a remake of Saucer Men. I actually prefer Eye Creatures over Saucer Men because Saucer Men, from what I checked before I tuned out has a farce-like tone that really does not function and is the only 50s/60s scifi that I am displeased with, either make a comedy or make a scifi, the beginning with the credits on a book format with the pages being turned with some cartoon drawings on there, and the lighthearted cartoonish music throughout while the characters yuck it up, but none of that is funny because the other portions are trying to be a real scifi, it comes off kinda weird tonally while Eye Creatures is done with conviction: a legitimate scifi, no matter how corny it appears. Bravo Buchanan. As for this remake, I do trust Corman from his other movies, so I am sure the original could be better (surely up to par) with this, however I actually have not checked that yet so this Zontar, is the first that I have checked this treatment out which is favorable to this movie to check out this premise here first.
PS: It has now come to my attention from the other reviews that this is a remake of It Conquered the World (which was featured on mst3k) and also that the other Buchanan made Eye Creatures (also on mst3k) is a remake of Saucer Men. I actually prefer Eye Creatures over Saucer Men because Saucer Men, from what I checked before I tuned out has a farce-like tone that really does not function and is the only 50s/60s scifi that I am displeased with, either make a comedy or make a scifi, the beginning with the credits on a book format with the pages being turned with some cartoon drawings on there, and the lighthearted cartoonish music throughout while the characters yuck it up, but none of that is funny because the other portions are trying to be a real scifi, it comes off kinda weird tonally while Eye Creatures is done with conviction: a legitimate scifi, no matter how corny it appears. Bravo Buchanan. As for this remake, I do trust Corman from his other movies, so I am sure the original could be better (surely up to par) with this, however I actually have not checked that yet so this Zontar, is the first that I have checked this treatment out which is favorable to this movie to check out this premise here first.
"What else can happen in one day?"
richardchatten20 April 2024
The reason for this film's existence is that with the advent of colour TV viewers ceased being choosy about what to watch as long as it was in colour.
Hence this quickie remake of 'It Conquered the World' starring 'B' movie mainstay John Agar and our old friend Bronson Caverns under the alias "the old Hot Springs Cave", which if memory serves follows the plot of the original pretty closely since the producers were obviously too cheap to come up with a new plot, as evidenced by Agar riding a bicycle rather than drive a car on the pretext - it says here - that all terrestrial power has been neutralised; while the military attribute the strange occurrences to "some kind of communist conspiracy"
It certainly is bad - with the cool name 'Zontar' promising something rather more impressive than the enormous boggle-eyed bat that we actually see - but the addition of colour gives it a glossier look with John Agar wearing a sharp suit and the ladies in chic sixties hairstyles; while the employment of negative printing (SLIGHT SPOILER COMING:) embellishes a couple of shots near the end.
Hence this quickie remake of 'It Conquered the World' starring 'B' movie mainstay John Agar and our old friend Bronson Caverns under the alias "the old Hot Springs Cave", which if memory serves follows the plot of the original pretty closely since the producers were obviously too cheap to come up with a new plot, as evidenced by Agar riding a bicycle rather than drive a car on the pretext - it says here - that all terrestrial power has been neutralised; while the military attribute the strange occurrences to "some kind of communist conspiracy"
It certainly is bad - with the cool name 'Zontar' promising something rather more impressive than the enormous boggle-eyed bat that we actually see - but the addition of colour gives it a glossier look with John Agar wearing a sharp suit and the ladies in chic sixties hairstyles; while the employment of negative printing (SLIGHT SPOILER COMING:) embellishes a couple of shots near the end.
Venus.FM now available on subscription radio ....
mobile719 January 2006
Warning: Spoilers
SPOILERS ------------------------------- I have a lot of respect for John Agar who was a real decent "B" movie actor but even he couldn't save this stinker. Instead of seeing a decent SciFi flick I saw a history lesson as I warped back to a typical 1960s house, ice bucket (for the bar), plastic furniture, open shelving and all. Shudder.
In a nutshell, Zontar (the Venetian alien) hops a ride on one of our satellites back to earth. Even though he/it claims that Venus is incredibly advanced, I guess all of the Venus-to-Earth gondolas were unavailable. Even funnier is the fact that we spent 50 million dollars to send up a satellite only to call it back to earth to check on its systems. Taxpayers revolt!!! Zontar, who is communicating with a Frankie Valle look-alike via hyperspace hypnotism, is out to take over Earth and to "save us from ourselves," and give us perfection. Zontar lands our satellite in a cave. All power stops. Cars, faucets, radios, watches, iPods just like "War of the Worlds." We next see scores of people running every which way in a small Opie-like town, but not John Agar, our hero (again, think "War of the Worlds remix), who fights against the human traffic to see what's up. Zontar, sends out little bat-birds (a.k.a. Injectapods, the ORIGINAL 'iPods') that sting humans in the back of the neck and take over their emotions. There's only one bat-bird per human, so if the bat-bird fails then that human must be killed via more traditional and human methods a handgun. Anyway, it's up to John Agar to save humanity, and it's up to you to see how he does it. Or does he? Booohahahahaha. The real hero of the movie was the misguided human's wife who goes after Zontar with a pistol.
Blooper: There was supposed to be no power anywhere but when the lady scientist woke up from a nap she asked the others if there was any coffee. When they indicated that it was gone, she was going to make some. Sigh. She didn't reach the kitchen. It's amazing how much one can scream through strangulation.
Motto of the story: Perfection can only be obtained from within ourselves, and it comes from learning, which is why many filmmakers learned to make better Scifi movies after seeing this one.
In a nutshell, Zontar (the Venetian alien) hops a ride on one of our satellites back to earth. Even though he/it claims that Venus is incredibly advanced, I guess all of the Venus-to-Earth gondolas were unavailable. Even funnier is the fact that we spent 50 million dollars to send up a satellite only to call it back to earth to check on its systems. Taxpayers revolt!!! Zontar, who is communicating with a Frankie Valle look-alike via hyperspace hypnotism, is out to take over Earth and to "save us from ourselves," and give us perfection. Zontar lands our satellite in a cave. All power stops. Cars, faucets, radios, watches, iPods just like "War of the Worlds." We next see scores of people running every which way in a small Opie-like town, but not John Agar, our hero (again, think "War of the Worlds remix), who fights against the human traffic to see what's up. Zontar, sends out little bat-birds (a.k.a. Injectapods, the ORIGINAL 'iPods') that sting humans in the back of the neck and take over their emotions. There's only one bat-bird per human, so if the bat-bird fails then that human must be killed via more traditional and human methods a handgun. Anyway, it's up to John Agar to save humanity, and it's up to you to see how he does it. Or does he? Booohahahahaha. The real hero of the movie was the misguided human's wife who goes after Zontar with a pistol.
Blooper: There was supposed to be no power anywhere but when the lady scientist woke up from a nap she asked the others if there was any coffee. When they indicated that it was gone, she was going to make some. Sigh. She didn't reach the kitchen. It's amazing how much one can scream through strangulation.
Motto of the story: Perfection can only be obtained from within ourselves, and it comes from learning, which is why many filmmakers learned to make better Scifi movies after seeing this one.
Awful
1bilbo9 April 2015
Warning: Spoilers
I love "B" movies - especially the bad ones but this is unwatchable.
I suspect that certain people made films like these in order to avoid paying tax in some way. It wouldn't matter that the film is tripe and a failure because certain people could still pay themselves a fortune before a failed distribution.
It has to really bad for me not to want to watch a "B" Sci Fi movie so this one now rates as the worst movie I have ever seen.
The plot centres around a scientist getting special messages through his very powerful radio - messages that only he can understand. Then there is the wife who made him promise to keep it all a secret - so much of this opus consists of him listening to the radio bleeps whilst his wife pleads with him to reconsider co-operating with the Venusians.
Then there is another scientist who stands next to a panel of switches and keeps tweaking their positions whilst wondering what has happened to the satellite they have just launched.
The version I have just watched seems out of focus and I wondered if it was actually filmed on 8mm.
Not worth the time.
I suspect that certain people made films like these in order to avoid paying tax in some way. It wouldn't matter that the film is tripe and a failure because certain people could still pay themselves a fortune before a failed distribution.
It has to really bad for me not to want to watch a "B" Sci Fi movie so this one now rates as the worst movie I have ever seen.
The plot centres around a scientist getting special messages through his very powerful radio - messages that only he can understand. Then there is the wife who made him promise to keep it all a secret - so much of this opus consists of him listening to the radio bleeps whilst his wife pleads with him to reconsider co-operating with the Venusians.
Then there is another scientist who stands next to a panel of switches and keeps tweaking their positions whilst wondering what has happened to the satellite they have just launched.
The version I have just watched seems out of focus and I wondered if it was actually filmed on 8mm.
Not worth the time.
"Hey loook! I see a funny boyd!"
wbswetnam27 March 2012
Zontar the Thing from Venus is another low-budget Z-grade flick directed by Larry Buchanan. The basic premise of the movie is that Zontar (a "thing" from Venus) has been in touch with Keith, a scientist on Earth, and Zontar has convinced Keith that he will come to Earth and make everything all right. No more wars, fighting, crime, bad movies... etc. all of the world will live in peace and harmony once Zontar arrives, Keith believes. Keith has built a sort of closet-sized radio for listening in to the aliens, and it is through this device that Zontar communicates with him. Keith is just the 5th columnist that Zontar needs for his real plans... to take over the Earth. Keith only discovers a little too late, of course, that he was duped.
The film is inept, inconsistent and illogical. For example, Keith claims that Zontar has made all mechanical and electrical devices to be inoperable. Yet, guns still work and so do bicycles, both of which are clearly mechanical devices. Also, the sirens are wailing as people run around town in a tizzy - don't sirens need electricity to work? Oh well I guess Zontar overlooked some devices. Also, the military personnel assigned to protect Zone 6 - there's only 10 soldiers? Why would the military put a high-ranking general in command of a measly 10 privates??? And what was the point of flashing the image of a bikini model in the middle of the film? I had pretty low expectations when I sat down to watch this cinematic mess, and Zontar the Thing from Venus was exactly what I expected it to be - horrible and inane. Still it's slightly better than Manos the Hands of Fate and Monster A-Go-Go.
The film is inept, inconsistent and illogical. For example, Keith claims that Zontar has made all mechanical and electrical devices to be inoperable. Yet, guns still work and so do bicycles, both of which are clearly mechanical devices. Also, the sirens are wailing as people run around town in a tizzy - don't sirens need electricity to work? Oh well I guess Zontar overlooked some devices. Also, the military personnel assigned to protect Zone 6 - there's only 10 soldiers? Why would the military put a high-ranking general in command of a measly 10 privates??? And what was the point of flashing the image of a bikini model in the middle of the film? I had pretty low expectations when I sat down to watch this cinematic mess, and Zontar the Thing from Venus was exactly what I expected it to be - horrible and inane. Still it's slightly better than Manos the Hands of Fate and Monster A-Go-Go.
Wow!
Steve_Nyland2 October 2005
Warning: Spoilers
This movie is nothing short of miraculous and is twice as thrilling, entertaining, and stupid as the recent Tom Cruise Burger King commercial WAR OF THE WORLDS, directed by UN Secretary General Kolfi Annan in retaliation for our surviving the War on Terror this long. ZONTAR is by comparison a triumph of the imagination, in that one has to understand that what we are viewing on screen are most likely paradigms for a bigger budgeted film that the likes of Larry Buchanan could never afford. He cannot afford to depict an alien invasion of the Earth so he chose the next best thing -- Film various people talking about it.
The whole film revolves around the home made "high power" radio set constructed by a misunderstood rocket scientist who intercepts the progressive jazz stylings + personal communications from Zontar, a three eyed cave dwelling goon from Venus who has come to the Earth to show us what a real communist revolution & takeover would amount to even without George Soros funding it. People are brainwashed, shot, strangled, and forced to wear inoperative wrist watches. None of the cars work, nobody can bathe or call their friends without the OK of Zontar in his cave, and only a chosen few are allowed amenities of life such as operating handguns and pretty young wives with pert breasts -- Ample reasons why the Soviet Union finally caved in once Russian men got their hands on Hustler Magazine. I mention the pert breasts because Mr. Buchanan appears to have made a career out of casting pretty would-be actresses in his movies based upon how much we would like to watch them remove their sweaters on camera, and once again he fits the bill here. There is something said to leaving it to the imagination.
Former Mr. Shriley Temple & John Wayne "Yes Man" John Agar actually looks credible as the rocket scientist hero of the film, who proves his dedication to mankind by first riding a bicycle on camera while wearing a suit, and then shooting his wife. So much for the pert breasts. Agar is famous for having been married to a former child mega star and appearing in a host of atrocious B horror/sci fi hybrids but here he actually manages to get some acting in, and by golly if he isn't more convincing than Mr. Cruise in the film mentioned above. I can believe John Agar would indeed be very concerned about a global takeover by a malevolent being from Venus bent on world supremacy, but I could not believe for one second that Tom Cruise was actually a mechanic from New Jersey and fathered children. I could see him having a cat, but not a job.
Back to ZONTAR though, what impressed me the most about this film was that the cast looked like they were totally committed to the project, and the main action consisted of a series of increasingly hysterical discussion scenes set in and around these Naugahyde and wood paneled 1960's track homes that people apparently allowed them to film inside of. Some of the conversations were sweeping in their epic scope of pitting mankind against the cruel, impartial and uncaring Cosmos, and nobody delivered a line that was meant to be anything less than movingly emotional or terrifyingly profound -- They talk like the Superfriends. Viewers who obsess over minutia like the phoney looking monster, the bizarre flying stuffed owl and amusing sight of John Agar riding a bicycle are missing the point of the film, which is that for questions on the mysteries of the Universe we would best be advised to look inward, lest we mistakenly gaze into the sun and be blinded. This movie was not just a low budget ripoff, but a warning, and I don't think it was heeded for one second. We are still doomed.
9/10 for making people think about it, even if what they think isn't very much.
The whole film revolves around the home made "high power" radio set constructed by a misunderstood rocket scientist who intercepts the progressive jazz stylings + personal communications from Zontar, a three eyed cave dwelling goon from Venus who has come to the Earth to show us what a real communist revolution & takeover would amount to even without George Soros funding it. People are brainwashed, shot, strangled, and forced to wear inoperative wrist watches. None of the cars work, nobody can bathe or call their friends without the OK of Zontar in his cave, and only a chosen few are allowed amenities of life such as operating handguns and pretty young wives with pert breasts -- Ample reasons why the Soviet Union finally caved in once Russian men got their hands on Hustler Magazine. I mention the pert breasts because Mr. Buchanan appears to have made a career out of casting pretty would-be actresses in his movies based upon how much we would like to watch them remove their sweaters on camera, and once again he fits the bill here. There is something said to leaving it to the imagination.
Former Mr. Shriley Temple & John Wayne "Yes Man" John Agar actually looks credible as the rocket scientist hero of the film, who proves his dedication to mankind by first riding a bicycle on camera while wearing a suit, and then shooting his wife. So much for the pert breasts. Agar is famous for having been married to a former child mega star and appearing in a host of atrocious B horror/sci fi hybrids but here he actually manages to get some acting in, and by golly if he isn't more convincing than Mr. Cruise in the film mentioned above. I can believe John Agar would indeed be very concerned about a global takeover by a malevolent being from Venus bent on world supremacy, but I could not believe for one second that Tom Cruise was actually a mechanic from New Jersey and fathered children. I could see him having a cat, but not a job.
Back to ZONTAR though, what impressed me the most about this film was that the cast looked like they were totally committed to the project, and the main action consisted of a series of increasingly hysterical discussion scenes set in and around these Naugahyde and wood paneled 1960's track homes that people apparently allowed them to film inside of. Some of the conversations were sweeping in their epic scope of pitting mankind against the cruel, impartial and uncaring Cosmos, and nobody delivered a line that was meant to be anything less than movingly emotional or terrifyingly profound -- They talk like the Superfriends. Viewers who obsess over minutia like the phoney looking monster, the bizarre flying stuffed owl and amusing sight of John Agar riding a bicycle are missing the point of the film, which is that for questions on the mysteries of the Universe we would best be advised to look inward, lest we mistakenly gaze into the sun and be blinded. This movie was not just a low budget ripoff, but a warning, and I don't think it was heeded for one second. We are still doomed.
9/10 for making people think about it, even if what they think isn't very much.
interesting in retrospect
gpeltz16 February 2010
OK, so you get over the low budget cheesy production values. This was 1965, cold war and the Ruskies had everyone nervous. And then along came Zontar...The thing is, I can relate to the basic horrors of the film. Fears of being cut off, and isolated. OK, at one point the General even points to the Commies as the culprits. The process for take over had validity, our social patterns are fragile and subject to sabotage. A few key figures at a time, Military, Scientific and Political, and control may be possible, such are the implications. The thoughts of killing a loved one is heavy ground for a Z movie to tread upon.
Mind controlling parasites were much more convincingly portrayed in later films like, "The Puppet Masters", and the whole "body snatcher" concept was already ten years old. The movie still conveyed the creature, not so much as an alien, but rather as a terrorist planing a plot to blow up the President. Tapping this, gives this cheesy production, subliminal bite. The writing was better then I expected. The dialog was for the most part concise, with the nonsense mixed with the sublime. ( I saw a funny boid. Indeed !)
Now then, go ahead and laugh at the funny looking monster, if only they had CGI, they cudda been a contenda!
Mind controlling parasites were much more convincingly portrayed in later films like, "The Puppet Masters", and the whole "body snatcher" concept was already ten years old. The movie still conveyed the creature, not so much as an alien, but rather as a terrorist planing a plot to blow up the President. Tapping this, gives this cheesy production, subliminal bite. The writing was better then I expected. The dialog was for the most part concise, with the nonsense mixed with the sublime. ( I saw a funny boid. Indeed !)
Now then, go ahead and laugh at the funny looking monster, if only they had CGI, they cudda been a contenda!
This Might Be the Worst Movie Ever Made
Mr Blue-431 October 1999
This opus gives any Ed Wood film a run for its money as "worst film ever." Except while there yuks to be had watching this scifi mishmash, it lacks the one-of-a-kind delirium that Wood brought to his work. One thing I remember most about this is that it's another film where when the "army" is called in, all we ever see is five guys.
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