THE
SLIME PEOPLEDirector: Robert Hutton
Rhino
THE
SLIME PEOPLERhino Video's DVD presentation of THE SLIME PEOPLE is strictly for the Mystery Science-Fiction Theater crowd. The laughs are unintentional as actor/director Robert Hutton battles three giant rubber-suited stuntmen that are made-up to resemble, at best, at least in profile, the military apes from the recent Tim Burton fiasco, and at their worst the denizens of HORROR OF PARTY BEACH.
Next to THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS (1955) this sci-fi stinker excels in being dreadful on every level. The acting is almost nonexistent except for veteran actor Les Tremayne (WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953), ANGRY RED PLANET (1959) & MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS (1959) who manages to invest his small role with great humor and, talk about props, this man is in love with a goat whom he calls "Honey." Oh well, whatever gets you through the night!
The real epiphany for this reviewer was seeing the former Mrs. AIP AKA Mrs. James Nicholson (Susan Hart) look and act in a manner that would have NEVER gotten her to the altar until she hit that fateful beach in her invisible bikini.
Robert Hutton, who is responsible for this mess, must have run into Robert Clarke at the post office and figured if a Sun Demon can get made for $25,000, he could get The Slime People off the ground for the cost of those three rubber suits and a fog machine.
The genre experiences of Mr. Hutton should have given him more insight into making one of these films. After all, he played scientists in such films as TROG (1970), INVISIBLE INVADERS (1959) and appeared in the box-office hits TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972) and TORTURE GARDEN (1967), not to mention the infamous howler, THE VULTURE (1966).
The producers of this little opus appear early on as a couple of drunks swigging "Red Eye" in a projection room as the survivors watch newsreels of the SLime People dissing LA to the max.
For those of us who fondly remember the 50s (aside from Mr. Tremayne), it was nice to see veteran Robert Burton in a substantial part as he was a childhood memory as Dr. Frankenstein's (Whit Bissell's) assistant in the immortal I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN (1957).
In watching this I sincerely missed those three little robots that used to sit at the right hand side of the screen and make movies like this not only watchable but endearing. To sit through it with nothing more stimulating than a soft drink this reviewer must cry out, "Thumbs down!"
The print itself is murky and varies in quality from reel to reel. Visual quality is at its best in the final reel of the film. However the fog machine does not help matters in keeping track of who's sliming who. The sound is poor with noticeable hissing throughout the entire picture and at times entire lines are lost.
But for $9.95 the decision is entirely yours! It's certainly cheaper than making a trip to LA and find out THE SLIME PEOPLE was really a documentary! (Christopher Dietrich)