Zontar: The Thing from Venus
About Zontar: The Thing from Venus
At a dinner, NASA scientist Keith Ritchie tells Curt Taylor he has been talking to Zontar, a being from Venus who will solve Earth's problems. Zontar arrives on a fallen laser satellite. The three-eyed, bat-winged creature cuts power, stops phones, cars, and water, and sends flying injecto-pods to take over minds. After Ritchie's wife is killed, he goes to the cave Zontar has heated with a sulfur spring.
Cast & crew
More about Zontar: The Thing from Venus
Larry Buchanan directed this 16mm color television remake of Roger Corman's It Conquered the World (1956). Hillman Taylor and Buchanan wrote it from Lou Rusoff's earlier story. Robert B. Alcott photographed it. Azalea Pictures made it. American International Television released it in December 1967. Wikipedia gives a budget of $22,000. A circulating copy runs about 80 minutes. John Agar plays Curt Taylor. Anthony Huston plays Keith Ritchie. Susan Bjurman plays Martha Ritchie. It was shot around White Rock Lake in Dallas. The main house is on Rogue Way in Lochwood.
Themes
Making
Buchanan shot the invasion in a Dallas neighborhood and a cave set, for $22,000.
Look
Robert B. Alcott shot the 16mm color scenes at White Rock Lake and the Lochwood house.
Preservation
A copy is on the Internet Archive.
Notes
- The file year is 1966. Wikipedia dates the television release to December 1967.
- Also called Zontar: The Invader from Venus.
- Pat Delaney plays Anne Taylor. Neil Fletcher plays General Matt Young. Warren Hammack is in the cast.
- The injecto-pods look like lobsters and grow from Zontar's wings.
- A copy is on the Internet Archive as Zontar_Thing_From_Venus.
Scenes
- Ritchie announces Zontar at the dinner table.
- He goes into the sulfur-spring cave after his wife is killed.
Influenced by
- It Conquered the World (1956)
Also available
- Internet Archive (Zontar_Thing_From_Venus)
