Friday, September 12, 2008

THE CREEPING TERROR - Frederic Kopp - "Don't Be A Weiner" (1964)

Anywhere, The All-American City, U.S.A. circa 1964!!!

Arthur Nelson White or as he would prefer to be called, Vic Savage, was the brains behind this whole mess, I mean spectacle, as he starred in, directed, and produced "The Creeping Terror"!!!

Vic's wife Brett was played by the stunning Shannon O'Neil. This movie must have effectively ended her career, because she never made another film appearance!

They claim Vic disappeared after this movie, basically never to be heard from again! Not hard to imagine! Here the movie is just getting started and he's already drinking!

There's lots of makin' out in this movie, and with a distraction like that, it makes it a whole lot easier for the monster to sneak up and eat you!!!!

This is what a helpless victim looks like to the monster!!

And this is what a monster looks like to you as you're about to be eaten!!

Uuummm!! Tastes like chicken!!

Still neckin', even at the Hootenanny!!

I have come to the conclusion that the singer here is Buddy Mize, songwriting brother of the Bakersfield sound's, world famous singer and steel guitar player on the "Cousin Herb Henson" TV show, Billy Mize!!!

Fans of the genre are familiar with this funzoid Hootenanny scene, and this song, "She Left Me Lonely"! Here's like a studio version, and the version plucked right outta the film along with some other assorted maiming!

"She Left Me Lonely & more"

The Creeping Terror is without a dang doubt, one of the worst movies ever made, but somehow, it manages to keep your interest despite everything it has going against it. Yeah, sure, all the monster scenes are way too long and lame, but the crazy music and the sheer lunacy of the fact that this monster moves slower that a plate of escargot being delivered by a turtle, and yet it still is able to catch and eat all kinds of people without a problem, is stupefying at best. I guess if everybody just got up and slowly walked away, the movie would be even stupider, no, wait, that's not possible!! But you know what, the music is Great, and that's what we're here for!!!

The "Dance Hall Twist" we featured here before, but this dance goes on and on, and on, because once again, this is a another film about party monsters! They've got nothing else to do til The End!

The 'cougars' are out on the prowl tonight!!

Check out those cool shoes!!! Here's the music from the rest of this swingin' party!! The "Dance Hall Twist Part 2"!!! I love the recurring "Yows!" throughout the whole soundtrack!

Everybody's just having the time of their life until the real monster crashes the party! Once again, crashes isn't quite the right term, it's more like it slowly drags itself to the party!!

Now it's time tho throw this party mayhem into high gear, one girl at a time!!

Here the monster gobbles up a cheeseburger!!!

"This story has a real problem"!!! Did you have to come right out and say it Vic??

Wow, maybe we shouldn't have been laughing so much, this looks pretty serious after all!

13 comments:

Greg Goodsell said...

While shot in California, one of the few recorded lines of dialogue -- "Ho my God what izzit?" -- is rendered in a distinctive Jersey accent.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the fun article. I'm a family member of Shannon O'Neil and wanted to note that her sister was an extra in the movie and the screaming baby in the crib was played by her niece. And even over 40 years later I think Shannon O'Neil is still beautiful. Unfortunately, Vic Savage passed away in the 80's.

Eegah!! and Tabonga! said...

Thanx for the fun family inside info, and tell Shannon we love her next time you see her!!

Anonymous said...

Will do! Thanks again for the fun blog. Take care.

Anonymous said...

I have read that Vic Savage died in 1975, you said maybe the 80's. Was Shannon O'Neil his girlfriend? Did she ever tell where the movie was shot? What was Vic savage like to work with? How did they met? Any background information not previously known about the movie from Shannon O'Neil would be appreciated.

Eegah!! and Tabonga! said...

To the person that left an anonymous comment:

Not a problem, sorry to hear about that kind of crap, thanx for the interesting bio info anyway!

DogsLickedMyHeart said...

Love this movie! My nomination for the Worst Monster Flick Ever. Deliciously bad, but made with serious sweat and much earnest dedication. The movie's covered in the Medved's The Golden Turkeys (which see), where they claim that Savage lost the entire soundtrack and couldn't get the cast back together to dub in new dialogue, so most of the movie (~80-85%) is just narrated while the characters act out the missing dialog.

According to the Medved's Vic Savage was either an Ed Wood-style driven amateur or an outright conman, but he managed to get the residents of Lake Tahoe (where it was filmed), to pay him to be in the movie. Even Frederick Kopp, who did the amazing and exhaustive music, paid for the priviledge.

I tend to think Savage meant well. After all, he did produce a picture, and if he'd just been a scammer he wouldn't have bothered. No one else would believe you could put together a pic out of the scenes he shot.

An amazing move, A must-see!

Unknown said...

Check out more about The Creeping Terror at www.creepfilm.com!

Eegah!! and Tabonga! said...

Even more fascinating, since we made our own "The Creep" movie back in 2001!

trevtrevrip@yahoo.com said...

Shannon is my mother and in rapidly failing health. I will see her in a day or so and anything you would like to say to her regarding the movies failed success is really nice and will be shared with her. Trevor.

Eegah!! and Tabonga! said...

Trevor,
So sad to hear of your Mother's declining health! To people in the know, she is, was, and will always be a star! She might have only been in one movie, but what a memorable classic! Good luck to you, and give her all our best!

Anonymous said...

Saw "Terror" back in the '70s. The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the "monster" was that it looked like a carpet with a bunch of people crawling under it. Sonofagun, years later I read that the director had hired some college kids to do just that.

That, and the fact the the people made hardly any attempt to escape, left me rooting for the creature, as those people were too dumb to live.

The concept of digesting the locals and sending the info back home was a precursor to one of the Martian landers scooping up some soil, digesting it, and sending the results back to Earth. Life imitating "art".

Sorry to hear about Mrs. O'Neil. Funny thing, she was one, if not the only one, who struck me as giving a decent performance. Pass on mt tip 'o the derby to her.

-Al K aka Oatka

Dr. Theda said...

I enjoyed this film as a small child... Very low budget movie... I like the "carpet monster"
the Doctor

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