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The Crawling Eye

The Crawling Eye

List Price: $14.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: EYE carumba!
Review: OK. This is a movie based on a popular television (?) series in England called The Trollenberg Terror. Our print of the movie actually had this title rather than "The Crawling Eye" which, I will admit, was why I bought this. The movie stars Forrest Tucker as an American investigator working on behalf of the UN, or something like that. So our pal is riding along on the train across the swiss alps in a traincar with two sisters, one mousy and frail and the other an overstuffed full-blown vixen-type. The mousy one has a Deanna Troi moment and falls, conveniently, into the arms of our hero. She insists that they get off at Trollenberg where our hero is also disembarking. They are greeted ("One room, or two"?) not very warmly by folks at the hotel. In fact, all the townspeople have been stampeded by a series of nasty "accidents" up on the mountain: people losing their heads while climbing. Literally! Now, this starts out as a pretty good movie. The plot moves along, the cinematography is very good, the acting is fine. The gore is nicely contained such that it's effectively scary when you see the headless body, the head in the bag, etc. It all falls apart when you finally see the giant eyeball. Oh, come on! They are AWFUL. I absolutely laughed out loud. At least the tentacles explain how the eyeballs were tearing people's heads off. I couldn't help but think that instead of molotov cocktails, they should have held the eyeballs at bay with a squirt bottle of lemon juice. When the airplanes came to napalm the eyes all I could think was "fried eggs". In fact, this brings me to a question: what was an American citizen doing calling in the RAF to drop bombs on Switzerland?
Another question: What were the sisters for? The "sensitive" one passed out when the going got tough and they needed her to talk to the eyeballs. The whole subplot could easily have been dropped. And except for the non-sequitor scene mentioned below, they didn't add anything.
The non-sequitor scene of note: The vixenish sister leans in for her close-up in her drapey low-cut dress and it was effective enough to induce my spouse to sort through the scene index to enjoy it a second time. Recommended for afficionados of this kind of dreck!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: should have received an academy award.
Review: one of the best sci fi movies of all time. They should make movies like this one.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Good Film Despite Its Budget
Review: One of ther highlights of the DVD revolution has been the ratio of B movies released to A features. While many award winning A features still await release, the marketplace is loaded with plenty of low budget horror, science fiction and programmers for the film buff to choose. And, as any film buff knows well, the "B" in B movie does not stand for 'bad'. The B movie shelves are loaded with many undiscovered gems.

This film, despite its title, is one of them. Like a few other British sci-fi movies, this one got its start as a serial on the BBC. Entitled "The Trollenberg Terror," it told the same story as we see in the film. The film rights were then purchased by Tempean Films and the story was put on film. (Other films to receive this same treatment were "The Quartermass Experiment," remade as "The Creeping Unknown"; and "Quartermass and the Pit," remade as "Five Million Years to Earth," both by Hammer Films.)

To make the film more palatable to American audiences Tempean added an American star (Forrest Tucker) and changed the title for distribution to America. The file now became "The Crawling Eye," a perfect name for a "B" sci-fi monster movie.

However, do not judge this film by its title. It is a tense item concerning a radioactive cloud lying atop a Swiss mountain waiting for hapless climbers to come its way. UN investigator Allen Brooks (Tucker), on vacation in Europe, stops by the village of Trollenberg to see his old friend Professor Kravett (well played by Warren Mitchell) at Kravett's observatory on the mountain. Kravett fills Allen in as to what's going on. Could this be the same as in the Andes a couple of years ago? Brooks denies it because it's not the same, but suddenly notes that a mentalist act on their way to Zurich just had to stop off at Trollenberg. Why? The film weaves its was to a fast-paced climax at the observatory as Brooks and Kravett try to save the villagers from whatever's in that now rampaging cloud. The only minus in the movie is the ridiculuous looking monster, but that's usually the case with 50s sci-fi flicks. Note how well "The Thing" worked in the abscence of the actual monster.

Viewing pleasure is enhanced with this DVD. The picture transfer is clear and the film sharp. In a further coup for flim buffs, the distributors used the English print, which was entitled "The Trollenberg Terror." If you're as film buff, sci-fi fanatic, or just someone looking for an enjoyable, intelligent film for a night's viewing, you can't go wrong with this one.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A classic, despite its low budget
Review: One really can't get too serious about these grade B films. They filled a niche, by satisfying our curiosity about aliens and our power to remain in control. The special effects weren't too special, and Forrest Tucker's performance wasn't stellar. But look for an actress named Janet Munro (Ann). She made this, and appeared in The Day The Earth Caught Fire. She died at age 38, but probably would have been a regular in sci-fi films.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Blending of Horror and Sci-Fi
Review: Retitled The Crawling Eye for release in the US, The Trollenberg Terror (1958) is considered by many to be just another bad 50s sci-fi movie (it was even featured on Mystery Science Theatre 3000). In actuality, it is far superior to the standard MST3K fare. Like Destination Moon, the significance of the film can be overshadowed by the low budget and sometimes questionable acting, but both films pushed the science fiction genre in new directions. Destination Moon is obviously the more significant film - effectively ushering in the so-called golden age of science fiction film, but The Trollenberg Terror certainly merits a viewing for anyone interested in the genre.

Perhaps most notable about The Trollenberg Terror is the degree to which it blends the science fiction and horror genres. In the opening scene of the film the lead female character, played by Janet Munro, becomes entranced when she sees the Trollenberg mountain. Soon after, we learn that she is telepathic - part of a mind-reading act with her sister. She is the most innocent of all the characters in the film, but to the monsters/aliens on the mountain, she is the most dangerous.

Other elements of horror abound in the film including bloodless zombies and, for the time, graphic violence - with a memorable but brief shot of a severed head in a backpack. It's by no means on the level of 50s science fiction classics like The Day The Earth Stood Still and Invaders From Mars, but it is far better than its reputation suggests.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: ONE EYE POPPING MOVIE
Review: Story takes place in the mountains, when strange things begin to occur. Shroud in a blanket of fog a monster lurks.I thought the movie was good during its time. I loved the eye, its great.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The best giant, killer, space eyeball movie you'll ever see
Review: The Crawling Eye (1958) had numerous monikers like The Creeping Eye, The Flying Eye, and even Creature from Another World, but started out as a British television serial titled The Trollenberg Terror (this is the title that appears in the beginning of this version of the film). Apparently the series was popular enough to warrant the making of film versions for European and American distribution.

The film stars Forrest Tucker, who, while not an original member of the series, was brought in by the British studios in order to better promote the film in America. Original series actors that transferred from the television version to the film version were Janet Munro and Laurence Payne.

The film starts off with three climbers on the side of a mountain, and one of the climbers suffers a serious case of death from the loss of his head (off-screen). The other two freak out and then we cut to three characters on a train, two being the Pilgrim sisters Sarah (Jennifer Jayne) and Anne (Janet Munro) while the third being Alan Brooks (Forrest Tucker). All three get off at the same stop, and make for a hotel near the base of the Swiss Alps. Brooks arrived at the request of a friend, Professor Crevett (Warren Mitchell), who works in a nearby observatory and has disturbing news. The two sisters, one with telepathic abilities (Munro's character), are inexplicably drawn to the mountain. We soon learn that something is stealing mountain climber's heads, leading some villagers to believe an abominable snowman with a guillotine is on the loose, aptly called 'The De-Nogginizer' (okay, no one said it, but I thought it).

Brooks makes his way to the observatory and meets with his friend Professor Crevett. Crevett gives Brooks the ten cent tour, bragging on and on about his wonderfully amazing, technologically advanced and highly fortified observatory to which Brooks cuts it shorts and asks why he was dragged out here. Dr. Crevett shows Brooks a cloud on the mountain, and makes a reference to a shared past experience and believes there is a link to the cloud and the recent spate of deaths on the mountain. Turns out there is...

Not much point in going into the story too much more, spoiling the fun for everyone, but I will tell you this, there are more deaths by beheading, giant eyeball creatures, zombies, mysterious ice clouds, and some other cool surprises. As silly as all this sounds, the overall sense of the film is serious...even though the viewer will break out into laughter, especially at the special effects. The tentacled eyeball creatures various appearances just do not allow for the keeping of a straight face. I couldn't help wonder if they had kept the mystique of the fog, revealing less about what was inside, if that would have made the film much more scary than it was...the tension was certainly there up until the point when the creatures were revealed, as the cloud hid its' secrets well, prowling the mountain, signaling death was coming. Well, being the 50's, you needed some fantastic creature, be it giant eyeballs, flying brains, or disembodied hands. If you didn't, you were pretty much cheating the audience.

I really enjoyed the number of elements involved in the story, and how nicely these things were tied together. That's not to say everything works and there are no plot holes, but the film is tight, and any missing plot points are minor and not very detectable. This film is just all out 50' sci-fi fun, much in the vein of another movie that came out in the same year, Fiend Without a Face. Cornball? Maybe, but certainly worth watching. Forrest Tucker is great taking time off from his usual westerner/action films to star here. He certainly doesn't seem to fit the part in the beginning; at least to me, but as the film progresses, he makes it work, like pounding a square peg into a round hole. Janet Munro is attractive, and I had just recently saw her in The day the Earth Caught Fire (1961), but the real eye catcher was the actress who played the character of her sister, Sarah Pilgrim, Jennifer Jayne. Yowsa! Along with being an actress, I found out she is also a writer, and is responsible for (as Jay Fairbanks) the comedy/horror/musical Son of Dracula (1974) starring Harry Nilsson, Ringo Starr, and a slew of other musical talents.

Image and Wade Williams present a really nice looking wide screen print here. The picture is crisp and clear, and suffers little deterioration. Also, this is the European edition; hence the beginning credits stating The Trollenberg Terror as the title. A trailer is available on the disc, but it certainly suffered the ravages of time, looking very worn and damaged. There is also liner notes written by journalist, columnist, film historian, radio and television commentator David Del Valle, who is considered to be one of the leading authorities on the horror/science-fiction/cult and fantasy film genres. If you can find a better giant, killer eyeballs from space movie I'd like to see it.

Cookieman108

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Well-acted but suffers from poor special effects
Review: The Crawling Eye (1958), directed by Quentin Lawrence and starring Forrest Tucker, is a film about alien creatures disguising themselves in cloud high up in a snowy mountain region. The action is slow-going throughout most of the film, centering around a human female discovered to have a telepathic connection with the aliens, as well as a series of murders in which the victims are decapitated. Later, however, in one of the film's more interesting subplots, the aliens decide to possess the bodies of their victims rather than decapitate them, for the purpose of killing the aforementioned female (they don't want her exposing them with her telepathic ability). The big eye creatures themselves, with their long tentacles, look ok, but film plummets in rating from good to fair because of below average special effects. Adapted from a British tv series The Trollenberg Terror.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: the crawling eye
Review: The movie has an interesting plot. As a young girl the performance of ANN (Janet Munro), and Forrest Tucker scared the daylights out of me. The movie has poor special effects compared to today's standards, but this is an interesting, first rate fifties sci-fi movie. Actress Jennifer Jayne, prfessor Crevitt and Philip provide good support for Forrest Tucker

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I'M WATCHING YOU
Review: THE TROLLENBERG TERROR or THE CRAWLING EYE is a British production written by Jimmy Sangster and directed by Quentin Lawrence in 1958.

Giant crawling eyes are hiding in a radioactive fog resting on the slopes of the Trollenberg mountain in Switzerland. When infortunate climbers enter the fog, they are simply decapitated by the eyes. By the tentacles of the eyes, I mean. Meanwhile, a young British girl with telepathic powers is attracted by the mountain. The eyes send two zombies to kill her but she's saved by the hero Forrest Tucker, a United Nations observer.

Well, that's a screenplay, isn't it ? A little bit irrational maybe, but, remember, we're in the fifties and strange things happened then in the world like the birth of John Travolta, for instance, so let's be tolerant. The copy presented by Image is superb and the actors are surprisingly good for this kind a production. Recommended if you're a movie lover.

A DVD zone they're here but they are so stupid.


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