The Creeping Terror
Encyclopedia
The Creeping Terror is a 1964 horror
/science fiction film
, in which a slug-like monster terrorizes an American town after escaping from a crashed spaceship. The Creeping Terror is widely considered to have been one of the worst films of all time, and in September 1994, the film was the subject of the satirical television series Mystery Science Theater 3000
.
spacecraft that has crash landed in fictional Angel County in California
. A large, hairy, slug-like, omnivorous
monster emerges from the side of an impacted spaceship. A second one, still tethered inside, kills a forest ranger and the sheriff (Byrd Holland) when they independently enter the craft to investigate.
Martin, now temporary sheriff, joins his wife Brett (Shannon O'Neil); Dr. Bradford (William Thourlby, the original Marlboro Man
), a renowned scientist; and Col. James Caldwell, a military commander and his men to fight the creature. Meanwhile the monster stalks the countryside, devouring a girl in a bikini, picnickers at a "hootenanny
", Grandpa Brown (Jack King) and his grandson while fishing, a housewife hanging the laundry, the patrons at a community dance hall, and couples in their cars at lovers' lane.
The protagonists ultimately deduce that the monsters are mindless biological-sample eaters. The bio-analysis data is microwaved back to the probe's home planet through the spaceship.
Caldwell decides that the creatures must be killed, despite Bradford's objections. He orders his men to fire at the creature, which they do while standing close to one another as it moves towards them. Their gunfire proves ineffective, and all of the troops are devoured. Paradoxically, Caldwell decides a moment later to throw a grenade, and the creature dies instantly.
At the end of the film, both creatures are destroyed, but not before the signal is sent. The dying Bradford suggests that this bodes ill for the human race, but observes that since the galaxy to which the transmission was aimed is a million light years away, the threat may not manifest for millennia.
adult feature film The Stewardesses
(1969), the only micro-budget film of the 1960s or 70s to become the #1 film on the weekly Variety
box-office chart (it finally grossed over $140,000,000 in 2011 U.S. dollars
).
Silliphant's half-brother, Stirling
, was already a very successful writer at the time, having already written extensively for TV shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents
co-created Naked City
and Route 66
. He would go on to write screenplays for films like In the Heat of the Night, The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno
among about 40 others. Allan Silliphant was therefore famous by association, a fact used by Savage to draw in potential investors. The younger Silliphant brother had no idea that the family name was being used to influence potential investors. Savage reportedly offered many of the investors a small part in the film for a few hundred dollars each, in exchange for a part of the profits. However, just before the film's release, Savage was sued repeatedly, even possibly facing indictment
on charges of fraud, and vanished. He was apparently never heard from again in the context of film production, and reportedly died of liver failure
in 1975, aged 41.
Savage paid Allan Silliphant $1500, according to comments by Silliphant when interviewed for "Creep", although way less was implied by a book about "bad movies", Forthwith,22 year old Silliphant returned in three days with the original nine-page film treatment
that he had "made up" face to face with Savage, based only on a vague earlier story idea. Later in the production, there was conflict between writer and director, with Silliphant growing frustrated that Savage did not seem to share his vision that the story was "supposed" to be over the top. Furthermore, instead of shooting at scenic Lake Tahoe
, as Silliphant had intended, a muddy pond at Spahn Ranch
had to do. The assistant director was Randy Starr, who later achieved notoriety by providing Charles Manson
with the gun used in the Sharon Tate
murders. Silliphant saw that the direction the film was taking would harm his family especially half-brother Stirling Silliphant
's reputation, rather than enhance it, so he bowed out after the studio scenes were done. The production went on as a week-end affair for several more months, with Savage raising the money by selling small parts to star-struck plumbers etc. One story says Savage checked into a motel with a silent picture-only Moviola
to do a quick assembly of the film.
A point concerning the narration, about which the robots in the MST3K
episode joke, is that the narrator speaks over much of the dialog in the film while long bouts devoid of dialog have no narration (similar in style to many of the educational film
s of the '50s and '60s). Reportedly the original sound tracks were lost (one suggestion is that they literally fell into Lake Tahoe, which is almost certainly wrong since the movie was not filmed there), although William Thourlby has said that the film was shot without sound as a cost savings measure, and that dubbing was to have taken place after production. Therefore, there is only a limited amount of dialog in the film, because Savage supposedly shot scenes without professional regard to the sound quality, or even transferring it properly to 35 mm
mag stock
. Having insufficient money to pay for basic sound transfers, he finally hired a local radio news reader to narrate the entire movie in post-production
.
A comprehensive look at the making of The Creeping Terror will be found in the feature film CREEP!, due for release sometime in 2012. CREEP! explores the life of the enigmatic Arthur White (aka AJ Nelson aka Vic Savage) through dramatized re-enactments and filmed interviews with surviving members of the production of The Creeping Terror (including Allan Silliphant and William Thourlby). Look for complete information at www.creepfilm.com
slug
s that just wanted to swallow and digest prey. The first creature, which Silliphant designed with Jon Lackey, was lost to the production (possibly stolen), and Savage had to recreate the creature without professional help. The dry-carpet version, with shaggy feet visible underneath, was the best that Savage could pull together.
The monster in the film somewhat resembles a rug or thick blanket, hence has been called the "carpet monster". The back half of the monster is rather quilt-like, and obviously has several extras under it. The front half of the monster is a man in a bulky suit, with the monster's mouth being a hole located between the knees of the puppeteer
in front. The monster is barely mobile, moving at a slow crawl, and in some scenes the covered feet of the actors are visible. The creature had no real way to grab onto its victims, meaning that the people who get eaten in the course of the film appear to be crawling inside its mouth of their own volition.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
/science fiction film
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
, in which a slug-like monster terrorizes an American town after escaping from a crashed spaceship. The Creeping Terror is widely considered to have been one of the worst films of all time, and in September 1994, the film was the subject of the satirical television series Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
.
Plot
A newlywed deputy, Martin Gordon (Vic Savage), encounters an alienExtraterrestrial life in popular culture
In popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...
spacecraft that has crash landed in fictional Angel County in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. A large, hairy, slug-like, omnivorous
Omnivore
Omnivores are species that eat both plants and animals as their primary food source...
monster emerges from the side of an impacted spaceship. A second one, still tethered inside, kills a forest ranger and the sheriff (Byrd Holland) when they independently enter the craft to investigate.
Martin, now temporary sheriff, joins his wife Brett (Shannon O'Neil); Dr. Bradford (William Thourlby, the original Marlboro Man
Marlboro Man
The Marlboro Man is a figure used in tobacco advertising campaign for Marlboro cigarettes. In the United States, where the campaign originated, it was used from 1954 to 1999. The Marlboro Man was first conceived by Leo Burnett in 1954. The image involves a rugged cowboy or cowboys, in nature with...
), a renowned scientist; and Col. James Caldwell, a military commander and his men to fight the creature. Meanwhile the monster stalks the countryside, devouring a girl in a bikini, picnickers at a "hootenanny
Hootenanny
Hootenanny is an Appalachian colloquialism that was used in early twentieth century America to refer to things whose names were forgotten or unknown. In this usage it was synonymous with thingamajig or whatchamacallit, as in "hand me that hootenanny." Hootenanny was also an old country word for...
", Grandpa Brown (Jack King) and his grandson while fishing, a housewife hanging the laundry, the patrons at a community dance hall, and couples in their cars at lovers' lane.
The protagonists ultimately deduce that the monsters are mindless biological-sample eaters. The bio-analysis data is microwaved back to the probe's home planet through the spaceship.
Caldwell decides that the creatures must be killed, despite Bradford's objections. He orders his men to fire at the creature, which they do while standing close to one another as it moves towards them. Their gunfire proves ineffective, and all of the troops are devoured. Paradoxically, Caldwell decides a moment later to throw a grenade, and the creature dies instantly.
At the end of the film, both creatures are destroyed, but not before the signal is sent. The dying Bradford suggests that this bodes ill for the human race, but observes that since the galaxy to which the transmission was aimed is a million light years away, the threat may not manifest for millennia.
Production
The Creeping Terror was directed, produced, and edited by Vic Savage under the alias A.J. Nelson. Although Robert Silliphant is the credited writer, the original story was written by his younger brother, Allan Silliphant, who went on to produce, write and direct the 3-D3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
adult feature film The Stewardesses
The Stewardesses
The Stewardesses is a 1969 softcore, later R-rated, theatrical 3-D film produced, directed and written by Allan Silliphant and starring Christina Hart, Monica Gayle, Paula Erickson, and Donna Stanley....
(1969), the only micro-budget film of the 1960s or 70s to become the #1 film on the weekly Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
box-office chart (it finally grossed over $140,000,000 in 2011 U.S. dollars
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
).
Silliphant's half-brother, Stirling
Stirling Silliphant
Stirling Dale Silliphant was an American screenwriter and producer. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, moved to Glendale, California as a child, graduated from Hoover High School, and was educated at the University of Southern California...
, was already a very successful writer at the time, having already written extensively for TV shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...
co-created Naked City
Naked City (TV series)
Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic "semi-documentary" format....
and Route 66
Route 66 (TV series)
Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod...
. He would go on to write screenplays for films like In the Heat of the Night, The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno
The Towering Inferno (film)
The Towering Inferno is a 1974 American action disaster film produced by Irwin Allen featuring an all-star cast led by Steve McQueen and Paul Newman.A co-production between Twentieth Century-Fox and Warner Bros...
among about 40 others. Allan Silliphant was therefore famous by association, a fact used by Savage to draw in potential investors. The younger Silliphant brother had no idea that the family name was being used to influence potential investors. Savage reportedly offered many of the investors a small part in the film for a few hundred dollars each, in exchange for a part of the profits. However, just before the film's release, Savage was sued repeatedly, even possibly facing indictment
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
on charges of fraud, and vanished. He was apparently never heard from again in the context of film production, and reportedly died of liver failure
Liver failure
Acute liver failure is the appearance of severe complications rapidly after the first signs of liver disease , and indicates that the liver has sustained severe damage . The complications are hepatic encephalopathy and impaired protein synthesis...
in 1975, aged 41.
Savage paid Allan Silliphant $1500, according to comments by Silliphant when interviewed for "Creep", although way less was implied by a book about "bad movies", Forthwith,22 year old Silliphant returned in three days with the original nine-page film treatment
Film treatment
A film treatment is a piece of prose, typically the step between scene cards and the first draft of a screenplay for a motion picture, television program, or radio play. It is generally longer and more detailed than an outline , and it may include details of directorial style that an outline omits...
that he had "made up" face to face with Savage, based only on a vague earlier story idea. Later in the production, there was conflict between writer and director, with Silliphant growing frustrated that Savage did not seem to share his vision that the story was "supposed" to be over the top. Furthermore, instead of shooting at scenic Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...
, as Silliphant had intended, a muddy pond at Spahn Ranch
Spahn Ranch
Spahn Ranch, also known as the Spahn Movie Ranch, was a movie ranch used for filming generally Western-themed movies and television programs. With mountainous terrain, boulder-strewn scenery, and an 'old Western town' set, Spahn Ranch was a versatile filming site for many scripts...
had to do. The assistant director was Randy Starr, who later achieved notoriety by providing Charles Manson
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
with the gun used in the Sharon Tate
Sharon Tate
Sharon Marie Tate was an American actress. During the 1960s she played small television roles before appearing in several films. After receiving positive reviews for her comedic performances, she was hailed as one of Hollywood's promising newcomers and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for...
murders. Silliphant saw that the direction the film was taking would harm his family especially half-brother Stirling Silliphant
Stirling Silliphant
Stirling Dale Silliphant was an American screenwriter and producer. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, moved to Glendale, California as a child, graduated from Hoover High School, and was educated at the University of Southern California...
's reputation, rather than enhance it, so he bowed out after the studio scenes were done. The production went on as a week-end affair for several more months, with Savage raising the money by selling small parts to star-struck plumbers etc. One story says Savage checked into a motel with a silent picture-only Moviola
Moviola
A Moviola is a device that allows a film editor to view film while editing. It was the first machine for motion picture editing when it was invented by Iwan Serrurier in 1924.-History:...
to do a quick assembly of the film.
A point concerning the narration, about which the robots in the MST3K
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
episode joke, is that the narrator speaks over much of the dialog in the film while long bouts devoid of dialog have no narration (similar in style to many of the educational film
Educational film
An educational film is a film or movie whose primary purpose is to educate. Educational films have been used in classrooms as an alternative to other teaching methods.-Cultural significance:...
s of the '50s and '60s). Reportedly the original sound tracks were lost (one suggestion is that they literally fell into Lake Tahoe, which is almost certainly wrong since the movie was not filmed there), although William Thourlby has said that the film was shot without sound as a cost savings measure, and that dubbing was to have taken place after production. Therefore, there is only a limited amount of dialog in the film, because Savage supposedly shot scenes without professional regard to the sound quality, or even transferring it properly to 35 mm
35 mm film
35 mm film is the film gauge most commonly used for chemical still photography and motion pictures. The name of the gauge refers to the width of the photographic film, which consists of strips 35 millimeters in width...
mag stock
Film stock
Film stock is photographic film on which filmmaking of motion pictures are shot and reproduced. The equivalent in television production is video tape.-1889–1899:...
. Having insufficient money to pay for basic sound transfers, he finally hired a local radio news reader to narrate the entire movie in post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
.
A comprehensive look at the making of The Creeping Terror will be found in the feature film CREEP!, due for release sometime in 2012. CREEP! explores the life of the enigmatic Arthur White (aka AJ Nelson aka Vic Savage) through dramatized re-enactments and filmed interviews with surviving members of the production of The Creeping Terror (including Allan Silliphant and William Thourlby). Look for complete information at www.creepfilm.com
Special effects
There were two creatures, one trapped in the spaceship, and one that slipped into the lake. Unlike all previous cinema "space aliens", these aliens were essentially giant, hermaphroditicHermaphrodite
In biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes.Many taxonomic groups of animals do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which both...
slug
Slug
Slug is a common name that is normally applied to any gastropod mollusc that lacks a shell, has a very reduced shell, or has a small internal shell...
s that just wanted to swallow and digest prey. The first creature, which Silliphant designed with Jon Lackey, was lost to the production (possibly stolen), and Savage had to recreate the creature without professional help. The dry-carpet version, with shaggy feet visible underneath, was the best that Savage could pull together.
The monster in the film somewhat resembles a rug or thick blanket, hence has been called the "carpet monster". The back half of the monster is rather quilt-like, and obviously has several extras under it. The front half of the monster is a man in a bulky suit, with the monster's mouth being a hole located between the knees of the puppeteer
Puppeteer
A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, such as a puppet, in real time to create the illusion of life. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience. A puppeteer can operate a puppet indirectly by the use of strings, rods, wires, electronics or directly by his or...
in front. The monster is barely mobile, moving at a slow crawl, and in some scenes the covered feet of the actors are visible. The creature had no real way to grab onto its victims, meaning that the people who get eaten in the course of the film appear to be crawling inside its mouth of their own volition.