Heinlein Sues!

 

 (imdb)

THE BRAIN EATERS-1958-In the town of Riverdale, IL., a huge cone shaped object is discovered. Hick senator Powers (Cornelius Keefe) takes charge of the investigation and meets the mayor's son Glen Cameron (Alan Frost aka Alan J. Factor) who informs Powers there have been 3 murders since the discovery of the cone and his dad is missing. Dr. Kettering (co-producer Ed Nelson), Dr. Wyler (David Hughes) and Alice Summers (Joanna Lee) are studying the cone. After Kettering goes into the cone and finds nothing, the mayor (Orville Sherman) shows up, goes crazy and is shot to death. He seemed to have some kind of parasite on his neck that destroyed his nervous system. And there are more! While one guy roams around recruiting victims, Kettering tries to come up with a solution. He hardly has time to mourn when Alice is taken over and just as suddenly a missing scientist emerges from the cone. Later Kettering and Cameron go into the cone and meet another missing scientist (Leonard Nimoy). 

This is a nice low budget sci-fi film with some unusual camera angles by Bruno VeSota. Co-star Joanna Lee was in Ed Woods' PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE the next year. Author Robert Heinlein sued the film company saying the script was based on his novel “The Puppet Masters”. Uncredited executive producer Roger Corman settled out of court with Heinlein.

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Creeps

 

NIGHT OF THE CREEPS-1986-In 1959 some aliens lose a parasite like monster that jumps into the mouth of a college kid as his girlfriend is killed by an ax toting escaped lunatic. In 1986 two dweebs looking for a corpse to fulfill a pledge accidentally release the kid from a cryogenics lab. The parasite jumps into a lab technician and starts to multiple and spread. An asshole police captain Cameron (Tom Atkins), haunted by the ax murder, tries to solve the murders. The creatures reanimate corpses including the ax loony. Dick Miller has one scene as Walter, a cop in charge of weapons. Dead prom guys terrorize their dates. After his friend JC (Steve Marshall) is killed, dweeb Chris (Jason Lively) convinces his prom date Cynthia (Jean Whitlow) and Cameron to destroy the zombies with fire. 

Most of the lead characters have last names of famous horror directors(Romero,Cronenberg,Landis, etc). There's an alternate ending that was used in the theatrical release and sometimes showed up on TV. Fred Dekker directed this gory but fairly entertaining horror movie. He later made MONSTER SQUAD and ROBO-COP 3.

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Good Day, Eh? Not!

THE THAW-2009-In the Canadian Arctic a group is studying global warming's impact on polar bears. A famous scientist David Kruipen (Val Kilmer) is planning to bring an expedition of young people there. He also bribes his reluctant daughter Evelyn (Martha MacIsaac) to come along. At the last minute the group is warned to stay away but they go anyway. The camp residents are infected with a parasite from prehistoric times that lays eggs in human skin. Arms are severed, people vomit and have gapping wounds in this talky not very original production from Canada. 

Writer-director Mark Lewis needs to get a better hobby than making gory derivative horror movies....

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Well Shivers My Timbers!

SHIVERS (THE CAME FROM WITHIN)-1975-David Cronenberg's first feature is about medical transplants using a parasite as a substitute. It's very talking, badly acted, ineptly directed and unintentionally funny. All the characters seem creepy and/or deranged.

After a scientist kills a woman and burns her with acid, Dr. Roger St. Luc (Paul Hampton, a TV actor and musician) investigates the murder and discovers the scientist's weird experiments. His nurse is played by Lynn Lowry (from THE CRAZIES, which this seems influenced by) who has a nude scene. Most of it takes place in a trendy high rise apartment building. The parasite infects its victims and sends them into bizarre sexual frenzies. ("I'm hungry for love" proclaims an infected fat woman)

Barbara Steele (she was in CAGED HEAT the same year) gets infected while taking a bath and seduces a female neighbor. Another TV actor Joe Silver (also in Cronenberg's RABID) has the bloodiest death.

Well Cronenberg certainly got better!

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