The Slime People

The Slime People is a 1963 horror film directed by Robert Hutton, who also starred in the film. The film was featured on the first season of the television show Mystery Science Theater 3000,[1] as well as the 1986 syndicated series The Canned Film Festival.[2]

The Slime People
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Robert Hutton
Produced by	Joseph F. Robertson
Written by	Blair Robertson, Vance Skarstedt
Starring	Robert Hutton Les Tremayne Robert Burton
Music by	Lou Foman
Cinematography	William Trolano
Edited by	Don Henderson Lew Guinn
Distributed by	Donald J. Hansen Enterprises
Release date	1963
Running time	76 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$56,000 (estimated)

The film was infamous for its extensive use of fog machines, with the fog becoming so thick towards the end that it is virtually impossible to see any of the actors.

Plot

The film concerns a race of subterranean reptile-men (dubbed "slime people", due to their slime-covered skin) who create a wall of "solidified fog" around Los Angeles and proceed to invade the city. A pilot (portrayed by Hutton) lands in Los Angeles after some flight difficulties, and finds the city almost deserted. He later encounters other survivors, including a Marine separated from his unit, and a scientist and his two daughters, and the group does their best to halt the further invasion of the slime people.

Cast

• Robert Hutton as Tom Gregory
• Les Tremayne as Norman Tolliver
• Robert Burton as Prof. Galbraith
• Susan Hart as Lisa Galbraith
• William Boyce as Cal Johnson
• Judee Morton as Bonnie Galbraith
• John Close as Vince Williams

Production

Filmed at the KTLA television studio, the film ran out of money after nine days of shooting; the cast completed the film without pay.[3] Additional sequences were shot at Whitman Field airport in Pacoima, Los Angeles and Mandeville Canyon. Producer Joseph F. Robinson recalled that the filmmakers originally intended to feature midgets as giant voles, who would serve as the advance guard of the invasion, but the sequence was so bad it was cut from the released film.[4] Robinson stated that the film was shot for around $80,000 and featured eight costumes worn by stuntmen. In an interview with Hutton, he said that neither he nor the stuntmen were paid for their work in the film, and that the slime people costumes cost over half of the film's budget. Richard Arlen was the original choice to play Prof. Galbraith, but Robert Burton took the role. Burton died of cancer shortly after filming.[5] The Slime People was the only film directed by Hutton, who later wrote the script for the 1975 horror/drama film Persecution.[6]

Release

Home media

The film was first released on VHS by Video Gems in 1981, and later by Rhino Home Video on February 20, 1996.[7]

It was released on DVD in 2001, first by Tapeworm on January 16, 2001 as a double feature with Creature (1985), and then by Rhino on August 14. It was later released on DVD by VCI Video as a part of its two-disk Creepy Creature Double Feature collection alongside The Crawling Hand (1963).[8]

Reception

Author and film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film a BOMB, his lowest rating, stating that the film "talks itself to death".[9] On his website Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings, Dave Sindelar criticized the film's inconsistent tone, repetitive soundtrack, and lack of visibility due to the overabundance of fog.[10] TV Guide gave the film a negative review, awarding it 1 out of 4 stars.[11] Allmovie also panned The Slime People, calling it "cheap" and "inept", and further stated that the film only worked in short spurts.[12] Graeme Clark from The Spinning Image awarded the film 4/10 stars, writing, "One thing you can say about The Slime People is that the money is all there up on the screen. It's just a pity there wasn't very much of it, because the cash evidently went on making the costumes for the titular monsters and the rest went on post-production mist effects."[13] Reviewing VCI Video's release of the film, Glenn Erickson from DVD Talk called it "a prime example of a no-budget monster show hoping to find a place on a drive-in double bill".[14]

The Terror Trap awarded the film 3/4 stars, writing, "Quick and quirky, it’s among the last in the great double-bill creature feature era".[15]

Notes

1. ""Mystery Science Theater 3000" The Slime People (TV Episode 1990) - IMDb". imdb.com. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
2. ""The Canned Film Festival" The Slime People (TV Episode 1986) - IMDb". imdb.com. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
3. p.253 Lisanti, Tom Susan Hart Interview Drive-In Dream Girls: A Galaxy of B-movie Starlets of the Sixties McFarland, 2003
4. It Came from Horrorwood: Interviews with Moviemakers in the SF and Horror Tradition by Tom Weaver
5. pp. 256-250 Weaver, Tom Joseph F. Robertson Interview" It Came from Horrorwood: Interviews with Moviemakers in the SF and Horror Tradition McFarland, 26 Oct 2004
6. Shipman, David. "Obituary: Robert Hutton". Independent.co.uk. David Shipman. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
7. "Amazon.com: Slime People [VHS]: Edward Finch Abrams, William Boyce, Robert Burton, John Close, Susan Hart, Bob Herron, Judee Morton, Dr. Tracy J. Putnam, Jock Putnam, Blair Robertson, Joseph F. Robertson, Fred Stromsoe, Les Tremayne: Movies & TV". Amazon.com. Amazon. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
8. "The Slime People (1963) - Robert Hutton". Allmovie.com. AllMovie. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
9. Leonard Maltin; Spencer Green; Rob Edelman (January 2010). Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide. Plume. p. 608. ISBN 978-0-452-29577-3.
10. Sindelar, Dave. "The Slime People (1962)". Fantastic Movie Musings.com. Dave Sindelar. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
11. "The Slime People Review". TV Guide.com. TV Guide. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
12. Eder, Bruce. "The Slime People (1963) - Review - AllMovie". AllMovie.com. Bruce Eder. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
13. Clark, Graeme. "Slime People, The Review (1963)". The Spinning Image.co.uk. Graeme Clark. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
14. Erickson, Glenn. "DVD Savant Review: Creepy Creature Double Feature Volumes 1 & 2". DVD Talk.com. Glenn Erickson. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
15. "The Slime People (1963)". Terror Trap.com. The Terror Trap. Retrieved 20 August 2018.

External links

• The Slime People on IMDb
• The Slime People at AllMovie
• The Slime People at the TCM Movie Database
• The Slime People at Rotten Tomatoes