Envoy of horror
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Envoy of horror |
| Original title | Not of This Earth |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1957 |
| length | 67 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Roger Corman |
| script |
Charles B. Griffith , Mark Hanna |
| production | Roger Corman |
| music | Ronald Stein |
| camera | John J. Mescall |
| cut | Charles Gross Jr. |
| occupation | |
| |
Envoy of horror (Original title: Not of This Earth ) is a black and white shot, American science fiction / horror film from 1957 . Directed by Roger Corman .
An American city is ravaged by a series of murders. The victims' bodies are completely bloodless and their organs of vision and brains burned. The perpetrator is an emissary from an alien planet who needs blood plasma to save its radioactively contaminated population.
action
The inhabitants of the planet Davanna have suffered from a fatal blood disease since a nuclear war. One of its residents has been sent to Earth to send human blood by transmitter to his home planet, where it will be used as a transfusion for the sick Davannans. The envoy has taken the name of Mr. Johnson. The only external abnormalities are Johnson's sensitive hearing and his sunglasses, which he never takes off unless he has chosen a victim to draw his blood. His pupilless eyes under his sunglasses kill his victims by burning the organs of vision and the brain.
Johnson hired nurse Nadine to look after him at his home. Your supervisor, Dr. Rochelle, is under Johnson's hypnotic spell in order not to be able to pass on his knowledge of his unusual blood count. A resident of Davanna visits Johnson to provide her with blood because her illness is far advanced. Johnson breaks into Rochelle's office, but accidentally steals a blood sample from a rabid dog. The Davanna woman collapses on the street and dies in the hospital. Nadine's friend, the police officer Sherbourne, wants to question Rochelle, but he does not provide any information under Johnson's hypnosis. Johnson kills Rochelle before he can track others down, but Nadine, who is now in danger, can call the police. Johnson flees in his car, closely followed by Sherbourne on his motorcycle. When Sherbourne turns on the police siren, the noise-sensitive Johnson loses control of the wheel and has an accident with his car.
After Johnson's funeral, Sherbourne and Nadine stand at his grave with the inscription "Here lies a man who was not of this Earth" ("Here lies a man who was out of this world"). Sherbourne expresses regret for Johnson, who in spite of everything only had the salvation of his home planet in mind, Nadine, on the other hand, declines any pity. You leave the cemetery. In the distance a stranger appears and approaches the viewer. He wears the same sunglasses and transmitter case as Johnson.
background
Envoy of Horror opened in American cinemas on February 10, 1957 and in German cinemas on October 15 of the same year .
There was also a 71-minute version of the film. This contained no additional material, but consisted of scenes inserted twice. A conversation between Johnson and a representative from his home planet was added as a "hook" in front of the opening credits. This version ran regularly on US television and circulated later on American VHS - and DVD - bootlegs .
Reviews
"Corman's most entertaining science fiction film."
“Small budgets are quickly forgiven when the often shoddy special effects are offset by so much imagination, humor and sheer joy in filmmaking. Messenger of Horror is a little gem of science fiction. "
"Primitively filmed horror nonsense of the most ridiculous proportions. (Classification: For adults, with reservations.) "
"Although it is not necessarily one of the very first set, it is one of the best SF films of the fifties - measured against its small budget."
DVD publications
The Ambassador of Horror is regularly available as a British DVD (as Not of this Earth ) and as a German DVD (under the cinema title or as Die Aliens ). In the USA it is distributed as part of the Roger Corman's Cult Classics Triple Feature DVD box together with Attack of the Crab Monsters and War of the Satellites .
Web links
- Not of This Earth in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Not of This Earth at Turner Classic Movies (English)
- Not of This Earth. In: afi.com. American Film Institute , accessed September 18, 2017 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for the envoy of horror . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , July 2009 (PDF; test number: 15 460 V).
- ^ Entry in the Internet Movie Database , accessed on March 27, 2012.
- ↑ Messenger of Horror. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed September 18, 2017 .
- ↑ Joe Dante Jr .: Infernal Dante , in: Castle of Frankenstein No. 9, November 1966, p. 44.
- ↑ Abbie Herrick: Not Of This Earth, an in depth study of an early Corman classic , in: Castle of Frankenstein No. 23, 1974, pp. 42-46.
- ^ "Corman's most enjoyable science fiction film" - Michael Weldon: The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film , Plexus, London 1989.
- ↑ "Low budgets give little reason for regret When the oft tacky effects are surrounded by so much imagination, good humor, and sheer joy in movie-making as here. Not of This Earth is a minor sci-fi gem […] "- Time Out Film Guide, Seventh Edition 1999. Penguin, London 1998.
- ↑ 6000 films. Critical notes from the cinema years 1945 to 1958 . Handbook V of the Catholic film criticism, 3rd edition, Verlag Haus Altenberg, Düsseldorf 1963, p. 154.
- ↑ Ronald M. Hahn, Volker Jansen: Lexikon des Science Fiction Films , 5th edition, Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1992.
literature
- Robert Zion: Roger Corman. The rebellion of the immediate . 320 pp., Norderstedt 2018, ISBN 978-3-7481-0101-7 . Pp. 168-173.