Wednesday, October 25, 2017

'Green Slime' BD: That '60s Scifi Inspiration


The Warner Archive October 10, 2017 Blu-ray release of the 1968 scifi horror flick "Green Slime" awesomely fits in with recent Archive releases. This B-movie that is filmed with a mostly American cast in Japan and released by MGM reflects the information in the (Unreal TV reviewed) Archive released documentary "When the Lion Roars" that the history of MGM includes moving from producing its own epics to providing a conduit for the movies of other studios.

"Slime" additionally fits right in with the horror-themed Blu-rays and DVDs that Archive is releasing ahead of Halloween. These include the Blu-rays of the (reviewed) John Landis horror-comedy "Innocent Blood" and the (also reviewed) '70slicisious scifi thriller "The Hidden." There is also a review of he DVD releases of the Manson family docudrama "Wolves at the Door;" the family home plagued by malevolence "Within" film rounds out the reviews for this week.

The following YouTube clip of the psychedelic version of a Bond theme in "Slime" provides a taste of the '60s-style fun of the film.


The broad view is that "Slime" is a textbook kiddie matinee film that pays homage to the serials of the '50s and provides apparent inspiration for modern scifi epics. The hobby shop models and inadvertently hilarious scenes of astronauts flying through space provide a sense of our parents (or grandparents) spending their weekend afternoons tormenting teenage ushers. It is worth noting that the bright colors and good quality cinematography look terrific in Blu-ray.

The Earth-bound space command sending a team to destroy an asteroid on a collision course obviously is in the lineage of "Armageddon." The desire to spare and study the creatures who menace the space station around which the action centers has strong elements of both the "Alien" franchise and the recent Jake Gyllenhaal/Ryan Reynolds film "Life."

A less direct element of "Star Trek" enters regarding the needs of the many outweighing those of the few. A related aspect of this is whether leaving a man behind ever is acceptable.

The filmmakers also throw in something for the ladies in the form of a love triangle between the three leads.

The more societal aspect of all this is the Cold War paranoia that exists in a modified version today regarding the threat that hostile "aliens" pose. The need to prevent them from invading America is paramount under this mindset.

All of this insightful commentary begins with a space station orbiting Earth alerting the folks down here that a huge chunk of space rocket poses an imminent threat to that planet. That prompts the powers-that-be to call retired studly astronaut Commander Jack Rankin (Robert Horton of the '50s Western series "Wagon Train") back into service to lead a daring mission to blast that asteroid before it triggers a new Ice Age.

Conflict comes in the form of Rankin having adversarial personal and professional histories with current station commander Vince Elliott. The aforementioned conflict between risking (or sacrificing) the lives of many to bring one man back alive is behind Rankin no longer being in command; the spoils of war that Elliott receives in the wake of that include an engagement to sexy station doctor/former Rankin main squeeze Lisa Benson.

Rankin saving Earth is only the beginning of the story; history repeating itself while he and Elliott are on their mission amps up the tension between the two. The titular substance hitching a ride to the station and benefiting from another "size" contest between Rankin and Elliott sets the main action in motion.

The "Life" element enters the film in the form of a station scientist preventing eliminating the threat at an early stage; his analysis is that the benefits from studying this ALF outweighs what seems to be the negligible risk of the party going out of bounds.

Of course, things do get out of hand as this rapidly reproducing entity grows into an army of creatures that seem to be the love children of the Daleks and Sigmund the sea monster of the '70s Saturday morning show that bears his name. One spoiler is that "Slimer" and Jack and Vince are not friends.

Much of the rest of the film involves the crew in a zombie-style battle against their slowly advancing foes. Getting to know more about their enemy helps some.

Of course, Jack and Vince must team up and once again face the underlying conflict regarding their relationship. This interaction further shows that old habits die hard.

The end result of all this is that "Slime" is pure space camp that shows that the classics endure.

Anyone with questions or comments regarding "Slime" is strongly encouraged to email me; you also can connect on Twitter via @tvdvdguy.













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