Elizabeth Kaiser – Tripping Through Gateways

Unlike prior features, the Late Night Double Feature is two ideas that Mihm had where he felt they would not necessarily carry an entire film, but he still wanted to tell. Each episode is about modern TV show length, making them very quickly paced.

In X: the Fiend from Beyond Space an intergalactic mission in 2014 is awakens from deep sleep They have brought aboard an alien corpse. Well, they assumed it was a corpse. After the alien disappears, the crew tries to locate it, but do not realize the creature is assimilating the crew one at a time.

This is kind of what you might get if Alien was made in the 50’s (Right down to the female leads taking on the alien fiend for much of the story). The story has some fun dialog (at one point, they determine the alien must be intelligent as it was wearing pants). The alien looks great with a classic sci-fi feel. X hits the ground running very quickly, wasting no time (but still finding moments to make references to classic and modern sci-fi) .

The Wall People is interesting because the idea feels very modern. Scientist Barney Collin’s wife was killed in an accident and then his son disappeared mysteriously. Eight years later Dr. Edwards and Dr. Gabriel pay him a visit. Barney is not quite…right. He has been unable to convince anyone of his theory that there is an evil inter-dimensional being that takes children from their beds through the walls of their rooms.

The film plays with questions of Barney’s sanity and reality. Is he dead? Is he on Pluto? It is very “Twilight Zone” in that nature.

This segment has some really nice stop motion action evocative of the time. Most of this tale rests on the shoulders of Doug Sidney who does a real good job of conveying Collin’s as someone struggling to save his kid but having reached the edge of his sanity.

The double feature format works real well here. Although there is an intermission between the films, it might have been fun to include one or two faux trailers (a la Grindhouse, though Mihm may have avoided this consciously specifically because of such comparisons).

He is all ears and teeth and he’s from hell! Alice is trying to find her young brother Danny in a local cave network. Instead, she runs into a mysterious stranger. Alice and Danny’s father Stan runs to the sheriff’s office when his children never return home. With the help of local Geologist Dr. Edwards, they try and find the children, only to discover a giant mutant bat creature.

The creature is able to paralyze its victims and is collecting our heroes to have as a meal.

As with any 50’s era horror, the monster is the result of science. In this case, atomic testing is done in the caves.

The sets for this film are very simple. It is the caverns or the police station. So, in some ways, this almost resembles a play. This is the first film in the Mihmiverse to not feature Professor Jackson (or even his son Captain Jackson), but he is represented by his wife, who brings Dr. Edwards the scientific device that will help save the day.

The music in Mihm’s films really evoke the films of the fifties. It can be overdramatic, sometimes even goofy. It almost always hits the right tone for the film, and that is true here.

The Bat Monster, as prior monsters, looks a bit slapped together with arts and crafts style. It has large unblinking eyes and teeth that look a bit like plastic. In spite of this, there are some nice shots of the creature. Specifically a full reveal as it steps from the shadows.

Terror From Beneath the Earth carries on the b-movie monster tradition fairly well. While a bit more serious than It Came From Another World, it still has its moments of fun.

In the far, far distant future of 1987, Captain Jackson, son of Professor (now Director) Jackson, is on a mission to Mars. He and lieutenant Elliot arrive on Mars and discover a lush jungle…er…midwestern wooded area and Lieutenant Elliot ends up a prisoner of warrior cavewomen.

Elliot is desperate to get back to his spaceship as he finds himself catapulted between rival cave woman clans. While both are really disdainful of men, you can tell the good Cave Women from the Bad Cave Women because the Bad Ones wear leather and have dark hair, while the Good Ones wear cloth outfits and are blonde.

The film uses very simple coding (not uncommon for the era that inspired the film). Part of the amusement in the films of Mihm is the archaic ideas of the sexes. These are not presented as the “Good old days when men were men and women were women”. I have noted that Christopher does not mock the horror and sci-fi of the 50’s and 60’s. But that is not entirely true. He pokes a lot of fun at the silly mentalities (Girl scientists?! Girls with opinions?!) of the time. In this film, the portrayals of independent woman as hating men is the target for mockery. The Cave Women are so over the top in their talk about how inferior men are, the oppressive matriarchy comes off as the fevered nightmare of Rush Limbaugh.

Visually, you start seeing some growth. The monster looks a little better. There is some nicely done green screen that manages to still give that old movie set look. And the portrayal of Mars is a lot like those early films that imagined other planets looking vaguely earth-like…but you know…rockier. Also, the space suits are in that great line between looking cobbled together and being a little futuristic.

There were a few points where the film drags, but at the same time, this is not that out of character for a lot of sci-fi and horror of that era. Setting it in the future of 1987 (so “far” from the 50’s, but well in our “past”) creates it’s own humor with the visuals of how far and advanced we would be. Of the first three films, this one, in some ways, feels the closest to the sci-fi films of the 50’s.

Tag: Elizabeth Kaiser

The Secret Invasion (The Late Night Double Feature, 2014)

Up From the Depths (Terror From Beneath the Earth, 2009)

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (Cave Women of Mars, 2008)