418-Attack of the The Eye Creatures

Film Year:  1965
Genre:  Horror, Comedy
Director:  Larry Buchanan
Starring:  John Ashley, Cynthia Hull, Warren Hammack
MST Season:  4

The Movie

Note the extra “the” in the title.  Originally entitled “The Eye Creatures” someone along the line thought the title needed to be punchier, so they slapped “Attack of the” onto it, oblivious that it already had the word “The” on it.  Further proof that “They just didn’t care.”

Television remake of Invasion of the Saucer Men is played mostly for laughs, as teenage smoochers are terrorized by invading creatures made entirely out of eyes.  Despite the military having the ability to spy on random people kissing throughout the film, they don’t seem to have much power to do anything else.

This incompetent production has a slight bit of charm in how lame it is.  There’s something about a 1960’s movie made with a 1950’s script that just kind of has a cute little old-fashionedness to it.  Is it a bad movie?  Sure.  The comedy, while it might have played out better in Invasion of the Saucer Men (haven’t seen it), is more grating than it is funny.  The special effects also aren’t that special and the cinematography is an eyesore (no pun intended, but if you laughed then enjoy that).

All that taken into consideration, I did enjoy our two leads in this movie.  It doesn’t hurt that Cynthia Hull is as cute as a button, but these characters of Stan and Susan have a plucky spirit that make them easy to root for.  I enjoyed the movie when it focused on them, possibly because they were the only actors who weren’t trying to be funny so they didn’t have a chance to annoy me, but I did find myself invested in the little adventure they were having.  I’m tempted to seek out Invasion of the Saucer Men to see if the storyline of this film plays out better in a proper decade context.

Missed opportunity to conquer the invasion:  Call the Three Stooges.  I guarantee they’d have every eye on every creature poked within the hour.

The Episode

Catalina Caper is a testament that when a film goes for the laughs, Joel and the bots can drown.  They struggle at making Attack of the The Eye Creatures a more humorous enterprise.  When the movie goes for a corny laugh, sometimes the best they can do is go for the “Bum-bah-buh-bah-buh-BOING” noises, and other times they get downright angry and yell at the movie.  Their efforts are mixed, but at least they don’t crash and burn.  They get funnier when the movie takes itself seriously enough for some solid riffing to take off, but those moments become few and far between.

The host segments give the same vibe.  The only one I’d say goes the full mile is the “They just didn’t care segment!” that closes out the episode, with a montage of visible flaws in the movie (“Take a look at this guy!  Take a good long look!”).  I mostly enjoyed the prop comedy of the third segment, however the Rip Taylor impressions make it feel loud and overly long.  I also kind of enjoy Tom’s desire to make out, even if I felt it kind of dwindled.  The rest of the host segments flounder.  The Earl Holliman segment just doesn’t do it for me, and while Joel’s funny gag fax machine ends with a cute Three Stooges style gag, the Invention Exchange is a bit of a loser (though I do like the creativity of the Router Ouija Board).

Attack of the The Eye Creatures is good enough for some jollies.  The question I find myself asking is that even though it’s not a complete waste of time, is it good enough to recommend as something that must be seen before certain other episodes?  While the episode hits some delightful highs, I’m afraid the answer is no.  The movie can hurt if one watches it in the wrong mood and there is fairly little about things on the SOL end that scream to be seen.  It’s one that can be safely put to the side while making your way to the series, even if when you finally watch it you might say “Oh that wasn’t that bad!”

Average

The DVD

Attack of the The Eye Creatures is one of the few episodes of the series that never made it into DVD.  However Shout Factory did include the host segments for the episode on their "Satellite Dishes" disc on their Volume XXXIX set.