THE SLIME PEOPLE (1963)

THE SLIME PEOPLE (1963)

Tagline: Up from the bowels of the earth come...

(Sci-Fi, Drama, He Slimed Me) [G]

Note: This movie was not given an MPAA rating, but I think it would have been a [G]. 

I’ve never seen anything like it, they’re not human, they’re monsters!

This is the story of creatures called “The Slime People” that invade Los Angeles and the surrounding area by way of the sewers, a group of people (one of which works at a TV station as a sportscaster) flees into a less populated area after their attempts to broadcast fail to contact anyone. Of course, they took time to watch a newsreel before making any bad decisions. 

One thing I like about most 1950s and 1960s sci-fi is that they almost always try and fit a bit of a romantic storyline into the rest of the craziness going on. This movie is no exception. I would less than honest if I said the effort was effective, but at least they tried and I appreciate that. In the storyline, they explain that “The Slime People” are trying to create a new atmosphere on earth to make the surface of the earth a more livable place. Maybe when you are underground for a long time, you eventually want to check out what’s up here? This thing is also proof that if you want to film a movie with total devastation, even in the 50s you could find an area in California that looked like it has been hit by a nuclear bomb. Right now if you have a TON of security you can film any apocalyptic movie you want in Los Angeles for instance. 

Where this thing goes wrong isn’t really in the acting. The acting is actually fine for this type of movie, I have seen a lot worse, but the script itself is pretty rough. I expect the science fiction stuff to be pretty nonsensical, but there isn’t a ton of excuse for zero background on 80% of the characters and no real effort to get us to care about these characters. This is not to say the script is all bad. One other issue is that “fog” is being used by “The Slime People” which makes a lot of this movie difficult to see even on decent copies. Oddly, part of this movie also makes it seem like they are trying to sell us some table salt.  

What works in this movie is the newsreel at the beginning of the movie. It’s a little bit like the intro to KING KONG VS GODZILLA. There is also a pretty great shot of “The Slime People” at the beginning after the credits. I like that every time the main cast tries to explain “The Slime People” they immediately dismiss it like it couldn’t possibly be true. It's kind of like that conspiracy theory friend you have that you keep telling is full of crap but ends up being right 6 to 10 months later about everything. I also loved the suit designs for these slime people. They have scales and fur and slime and it’s epic. It reminded me of some of the great alien and creature designs of the 50s. I also love that even though these creatures were pretty slow, they had spears and if you hit them with a car they were just like hitting hung of metal. It was all pretty freakin awesome. 

Acting wise it sucks that the production budget was so low Susan Hart was only paid $35.00 and had to buy her own clothes. Susan plays Lisa, Professor Galbraith’s daughter. Susan was known for the movie DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE. Yep, that’s a real film, but no I haven’t seen it. Judee Morton plays Bonnie Galbraith but does not impress in this. She might actually be best known for a 2009 appearance in the TV show “House”. Les Tremayne was one of the major stars. He plays Norman and is great as usual. Tremayne was known for THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, but he was in a ton of stuff. This flicks other major actor was Robert Hutton who plays Tom. He was probably best known for THEY CAME FROM BEYOND SPACE. 

Overall the pacing is fine, but there is a bit too much running around in the fog and I can understand why a lot of people really disliked this thing. I on the other hand am not like most people and I thought it was pretty freakin rad. You give me crazy-looking creatures, corny dialog, underwater gurgling noises, rock em' sock em' fights, and salt…I am going to watch your movie several times. 

THE SLIME PEOPLE gets a 5 out of 7. It’s everything I love about Sci-Fi’s black-and-white glory days, but a bit less fog would have bumped this score up.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF BLUMHOUSE TELEVISION AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.