It Conquered the World

Poster tagline: EVERY MAN ITS PRISONER! EVERY WOMAN ITS SLAVE!!! If we are to believe the words of Roger Corman himself, this film was supposed to be a veiled warning against totalitarianism. But the central dramatic line, which slips into self-parody throughout, is grossly mishandled by the director, and the central monster itself also undermines the intended seriousness. The monster that "conquered the world" looks like an overgrown carrot with pointy teeth and crab-like tentacles that move clumsily up and down like a teddy bear. It has no legs, so it moves like it's riding on hidden wheels, it lives in a cave and spits out little bats that bite into the back of its victims' necks, putting them under its mental control. That sounds fun, but the attacks in question are three in total, and the monster itself only appears for a few seconds in the last ten minutes. In the meantime, the viewer has to endure dull dialogue, a pointless romantic plot and "dramatic" acting by all involved, with star Lee Van Cleef, in particular, probably not putting this job in his resume. But I admit that the showdown with the monster would be a hit on youtube :o) (03/22/2012)

With the help of the kindhearted Dr Anderson (Lee Van Cleef in one of his first significant roles), an alien from Venus (that is, a walking tent with a bloodthirsty expression) establishes a new order on planet Earth. Surprisingly, it’s not as bad as it might seem at first sight. The actors are tolerable, the dialogues are not as lumpish as in similar movies of the time. The scenes with Dick Miller and Jonathan Haze bring at least some humoristic relief that the rest of the film would also have benefited from. I quite enjoyed it and I’m wondering whether I should not give this flick a slightly better rating. (05/31/2018)