- For the episode, see MST3K 418 - Attack of the the Eye Creatures.
Contents
Plot
A military briefing film shows a hovering flying saucer resembling a domed yo-yo as the narrator (Peter Graves) describes how the military's "Project Visitor" has been tracking it and anticipates it will land in the central United States. After the briefing, Lt. Robertson reports to the base near the expected target where he berates his subordinates for their habit of using the monitoring equipment to spy on teenagers making out in the woods.
One of the teens sees an object land nearby and tells his friends at a local bar, including Stan Kenyon. Stan and his girlfriend Susan Rogers later accidentally hit one of the multi-eyed, lumpy greyish-white aliens from the ship with his car, so they drive off to call the police. Out in the woods, they are forced to use the phone of a grumpy local codger who resents the "smoochers" who use his property as a lovers' lane, frequently threatening them with a shotgun.
Meanwhile Carl, one of two drunken drifters new in town, comes across the dead creature and decides to put it on exhibition as part of his latest get-rich-quick scheme. Carl excitedly rushes to call his buddy Mike, then returns to the site where other aliens arrive, scaring him and causing a fatal heart attack. When the police finally investigate, they assume that Stan ran over Carl and they arrest Stan, refusing to believe his story. Having overheard the bar conversation about the UFO, Lt. Robertson reports to his commander, who reluctantly authorizes a cordon around the saucer. They accidentally blow up the spaceship and congratulate themselves for their effective defense, not realizing that the creatures weren't in their craft and are still roaming the woods.
Easily escaping from the police, Stan and Susan meet up with Carl's friend Mike and the three of them attempt to prove the alien danger to the community. Mike is cornered and attacked by the angry creatures, but Stan and Susan manage to flee and inadvertently discover that the monsters explode when exposed to bright light. However, after the autopsy determined that Carl died from a heart attack and that Stan had not killed him, the police want nothing more to do with him and refuse to help. The teenagers then gather their friends together and drive out to the clearing where they left Mike. Surrounding the aliens with their cars, the teens use their headlights to evaporate the remaining creatures. Mike survives his attack, and Stan and Susan resume their interrupted plans to elope.
Cast
- John Ashley as Stan Kenyon
- Cynthia Hull as Susan Rogers
- Chet Davis as Mike Lawrence
- Bill Peck as Carl Fenton
- Warren Hammack as Lt. Robertson
- Johnathan Ledford as Corporal Culver
- Peter Graves as the Narrator
Notes
- The film was a color remake of the 1957 black and white American International Pictures film Invasion of the Saucer Men, part of a series of color remakes of old AIP films by Larry Buchanan intended for television broadcast.
- Originally titled The Eye Creatures, the studio decided to rename the film Attack of the Eye Creatures. However, when the title card was re-done to add "Attack of the" and then re-shot to edit it into the film, it was discovered that the word "the" had been repeated, and the title of the film was now Attack of the the Eye Creatures.
- Apart from the usual stock footage, director Larry Buchanan borrowed from The Hypnotic Eye (1960) an early scene in a bar featuring the same tune 'Yvette Vickers' (aqv) danced to in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958).
- The same "Eye Creature" costume later turned up in the AIP release The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966).
- Along with his other low-budget tricks, director Larry Buchanan also borrowed both background scoring and the theme song "Treat Him Nicely" directly from AIP's 1963 film Beach Party (which starred John Ashley alongside Frankie Avalon), peppering them throughout his film.
- A pair of shots depicting a spaceship landing were taken from Invaders from Mars (1953), which later became a RiffTrax production.
- The peeping Air Force man played by Jonathan Ledford is identified as "Corporal Culver", but the stripes on his sleeves indicate that he holds the rank of Airman First Class.
