An Exercise in Poor Taste - Terror in the Midnight

[Guest TSMAdmin]

For those select few who don’t read my Velocity recaps, I’m sorry for not replying to your e-mails; I’m not being inconsiderate, I just can’t load them up due to a quirk in the Squirrel Mail system utilized at TheSmartMarks that gives me a syntax error for any e-mail with an attachment or in HTML. This is also going to be my last column for about two weeks, as I’m going on vacation to the Mid-West, and then when I get back I have freshman orientation at UC Santa Cruz. I know, how will you know which b-movie DVD to buy without me? Don’t fret; I’ll be back before you know it!

 

Terror in the Midnight Sun (1958) / Invasion of the Animal People (1962)

Something Weird Video

 

Film (complete with minor plot spoilers!):

When thinking of Sweden, one usually thinks of hot Northern European girls and a Muppet chef that couldn’t cook a lobster or speak a discernible word to save his life. One generally doesn’t think of ‘50s sci-fi giant monster movies, as one shouldn’t, because there was only one: 1958’s Rymd Invasion i Lappland, known to us as Terror in the Midnight Sun.

 

Somewhere in the frozen tundra of Northern Sweden exists Lapland, which is met by a giant meteor that happens to resemble an interstellar space-craft. The best reason for this is because it IS an interstellar space-craft. Unlike any other sci-fi movie ever made, the incident is NOT covered up by the government, who elects to bring in international experts Erik Engstrom (Sten Gester) and Dr. Frederick Wilson (Robert Burton). They run into Wilson’s niece Diane (Barbara Wilson), an ice skater who happens to be in the area and also happens to fall in love with Erik. Being that she’s a mischievous lover/niece, she sneaks aboard their expedition to the meteor, only to find that it’s a spacecraft, complete with aliens and a giant monster!

 

Terror in the Midnight Sun uses every cliché in the ‘50s giant-monster book, and uses them well. There is the lifeless but hunky hero (Gester), the damsel in distress who gets romantic with him (Wilson), a flashy interstellar space-craft, criminally few scenes of the focal giant-monster, and just enough plot to hold it all together. Though for the most part it sticks to this formula, there are also several original elements that push it outside of a by-the-numbers film. First off, its setting in the northern "Midnight Sun" territory of Sweden (it was filmed on location) is breathtaking. Producer Bertil Jernberg joked that the film was as much to advertise the beauty of his country as it was to make money. A far cry from the bland deserts and cities of American ‘50s sci-fi monster films, it makes the whole movie seem more lush and interesting, not only because it’s a beautiful change of scenery, but also simply because it IS a change of scenery. Also, given that the film was produced in Sweden instead of the U.S., the lack of any metaphors for those evil Soviets is refreshing as well. Here was a film that was meant solely to be fun, and, though it won’t win any points for originality, it is.

 

Any analysis of a giant monster movie of any era would be incomplete without an analysis of the giant monster. Terror in the Midnight Sun’s monster (which is never given a proper name or title) is supposed to be a misunderstood friendly guy (Jernberg constantly defends the monster in his commentary and describes him as an extra-terrestrial scout dog that is a "kind monster"), which is great because it would be impossible to hate this guy. He’s 20 feet tall with a thick, fuzzy layer of fur, and is quite simply the cutest giant monster I’ve ever seen. I just want to give him a big hug. As for his alien compatriots, they leave the ship for one scene, during which they look like the Grim Reaper from the Swedish classic The Seventh Seal. Their actions in that scene or presence on earth are never fully explained, but it seems that, like the monster, they are just curious and misunderstood. As mentioned above, this is a far cry from the battle against evil invaders from Mars that turned enjoyable films into thinly veiled anti-Soviet propaganda pieces.

 

Whereas Terror in the Midnight Sun breaks no new ground and is simply good, clean fun, the "American version" of the film that most are familiar with, Invasion of the Animal People, is depressing garbage. The story goes that co-producer Gustaf Unger took the film overseas, told Jernberg that he was selling it to Paramount, and instead sold it to Jerry Warren and pocketed the money. Say what you want about Vince McMahon, but Jerry Warren is the devil. He had sick fetishes involving the total destruction of foreign horror/sci-fi movies. He would purchase them, cut out the majority of the footage, including as much dialogue as possible, redub narration OVER the existing dialogue, and re-edit it with newly shot footage that not only has little or no relation to the original plot at all, but is simply a chore to sit through. To top it all off, Warren has the chutzpah to give himself a co-directing credit!

 

Invasion of the Animal People’s major changes include: re-arranging some events of the film (though this is inexcusable and rather pointless, the events changed are fairly minor so this is the most bearable of Warren’s changes), changing the location from Sweden to Switzerland (that’s just plain ignorance), dissociating the monster from the aliens (making it seem like pure coincidence that the two are wandering around at the same time), adding a useless intro from narrator John Carradine about science and perception, and adding irrelevant new scenes that are supposed to explain Diane’s presence in Switzerland, but instead just drag for what seems like an eternity. In the original film, Diane simply rendezvoused with her uncle when he traveled to Sweden to investigate the meteor. In Warren’s version, Diane is harassed by UFO’s, driven insane, and ordered by a psychologist to take a trip to visit her uncle in Switzerland. Huh? While this in and of itself doesn’t even begin to make sense, when factored into the rest of the movie, especially the fact that Diane encounters the aliens and the monster later on, it makes even less sense. Then again, it could just all be some grand coincidence, right Warren?

 

Terror in the Midnight Sun is a fun little curio and film, but sadly, its first uncut appearance in America is on this disc. Everyone else who has ever claimed to see this movie has in fact seen Invasion of the Animal, which is quite simply pure trash, and not even entertaining trash. Given the circumstances of its creation and the fact that its re-editing made it worse by removing any sense of flow or plot, not even I can defend this one. Do the cute giant monster right and watch the real movie.

 

Body Count (because every good movie has at least one death in it):

One cute giant monster... sniff sniff...

 

Wrestling Moves/References (because in the end, this IS a wrestling site!):

When the monster is carrying Diane around, he technically has her in the position for a fallaway slam, but since he’s a kind monster he’d never do it.

 

Redeeming Aspects:

Some beautiful exterior shots of northern Sweden used in transition shots and the cutest monster I’ve ever seen are two memorable visuals from the film. There are also two variations of an old Swedish melody, "The Midnight Sun", that appear in the film (a Swedish version, and an English a capella version over the credits), and are actually pretty decent. Of course, for those interested in "more traditional" redeeming aspects, there’s a nude scene of Diane in the shower, and a silhouette of her naked upper torso in a scene where she’s changing in a cabin. So much for this being a kid’s movie...

 

Presentation:

Both films are in 4:3 full-frame. Though the print for Terror in the Midnight Sun was remastered and has fewer film specks and archival problems (though there are still a few, most notably in the nude scene), it’s a lot darker in many scenes. Invasion of the Animal People is lighter but has many more film specks. The sound on both is average, and probably mono. Although there is occasionally some noticeable buzzing that garbles some dialogue, the lines can still be easily made out, and this mastering phenomenon is just a little annoying.

 

Special Features:

To go with the fact that the film itself is a curio, Something Weird also found the film’s original producer Bertil Jernberg, for an audio commentary. Though at times the commentary can get slow, and he requires a prompter (making it resemble more of an interview than a straight commentary track), much of what he has to say Swedish filmmaking in general as well as the film is interesting (for example, Barbara Wilson required three stand-ins: one for an ice-skating scene, one for the skiing scenes, and one for the nude scene [!]). He should also be commended for being able to talk briefly about how he was screwed without sounding bitter or overly pitiful (something Bret Hart could never accomplish). The only other special feature that directly relates to the film is a gallery of still photos (a couple of which are even in color) and promo posters of the film, set to the "Midnight Sun" songs from the film.

 

Another curio included on this disc is an episode of the never-aired Swedish TV show "13 Demon Street". Like Terror in the Midnight Sun, though these were filmed and produced in Sweden they were shot in English (although Something Weird’s print has irremovable Swedish subtitles), eliminating any goofy dub problems right there. Unfortunately, the print is rather shaky, and the show itself, "The Girl in the Glacier", isn’t really worth watching. The plot, concerning a man who falls in love with an excavated frozen girl who would kill to "protect her", is barely held together by very loose dialogue that tries to have too much happen quickly, with terrible results. The pace is very sloppy, and the ending makes absolutely no sense. Perhaps the only thing really interesting about the show is the intro and outro by Lon Chaney Jr., though given even they seem rather pathetic and obviously done after his career had gone to waste.

 

There are other special features, but their connection isn’t necessarily to the film as much as to Sweden in general. There are two excerpts from "Ecco" (a shockumentary that Something Weird has released on VHS) about Sweden. One, “Swedish Teens Run Wild”, is a generic juvenile delinquency public service thing, with those darn rebellious whipper-snappers drinking and driving, then parking, and making out atop their car in front of a huge crowd. The second, "Lapland Reindeer Ritual", tells how the native Laps gather the reindeer each year. This in and of itself is interesting and has a very "Wild Kingdom" feel to it, until it shows a Lap woman going down on a reindeer for ritual castration with her teeth (wait... WHAT?!) and charming single Lap men lassoing their future wives to drag off and make out with in the woods. Those Swedes sure are interesting people! Both clips are presented in 2.35:1 widescreen, and since they’re not remastered, the color tends to get a bit washed out mid-clip.

 

Finally, there’s that one Swedish stereotype every red-blooded American male loves: the loose, hot Swedish chicks! Though they really have no business with the disc, it just wouldn’t be a Something Weird disc without XXX/sexploitation trailers! This disc, being of a Swedish movie, obviously has trailers that focus on stereotypically loose, hot Swedish chicks! The trailers included are: The Cats, Love Swedish Style, Maid in Sweden, Sappho Darling, Sweden: Heaven and Hell, and To Ingrid, My Love, Lisa. With the exception of a laughably bizarre "gang bang" scene in Sappho Darling, the trailers show nothing out of the ordinary for a XXX/sexploitation trailer. They might still be fun to watch for some, but there’s nothing really bizarre to make them stand out like the sexploitation trailers on the Confessions of a Psycho Cat disc I reviewed in one of my early columns.

 

Overall:

Frank Henenlotter’s liner notes (which are a real treat to read, as he goes into detail about Jerry Warren’s changes, with ensuing hilarity) put it best, "While it’s no classic, the original Swedish version of Terror in the Midnight Sun isn’t bad either." The film is hardly ground-breaking, but still enjoyable. Plus, I can’t reiterate how much I personally liked the monster in this one. As usual, I’m probably the only one to think this way, but check out the back cover if you run into this one and judge for yourself.

 

As mentioned above, this will be my last column for two weeks. I’ll surely be bored as hell in the Midwest, but maybe I’ll pick up something really cool at the Mall of America for when I get back. If not, a 10-DVD set of Full Moon Pictures discs I ordered just arrived... I will make you love Full Moon by the end of the summer! Oh, and it’s never too late to buy me a graduation present, even though it’d ship while I’m gone, hopefully my neighbor watching the pets will watch over it. Remember, if you don’t want to buy me anything (which is somewhat understandable, given the valuable nature of money and "throwing it away" on a poor, jobless internet columnist), you can always check my DVD Aficionado list and request a review from something I already own.

 

Until next time...

Edward Robins

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"To me, bad taste is what entertainment is all about... [just] remember there is such a thing as good bad taste and bad bad taste." – John Waters