Horror History: Bill Thurman

March 21, 2018 by Jon Kitley in Horror History and tagged Bill Thurman, Horror History, Larry Buchanan, Mars Needs Women, The Eye Creatures, Zontar The Thing from Venus | Leave a comment

billthurman Bill Thurman
Born Nov. 4th, 1920 – Died Apr. 13th, 1995

While Thurman had appearances in notable films like Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) or Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show (1971), as well as Hollywood films like Places in the Heart (1984) and Silverado (1985), he really is more known to cult fans that love films that are more off the beaten path. Thurman appeared in films like Creature from Black Lake (1976), The Evictors (1979) and the cult title Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1986). But digging even deeper into the cult history, Thurman also appeared in over a dozen films of Texas filmmaker Larry Buchanan, most notably in titles as The Eye Creatures (1965), Curse of the Swamp Creature (1965), Zontar: The Thing from Venus (1966), Mars Needs Women (1967), and It’s Alive (1969).

Now the thing about Thurman that is memorable were his performances. Was he Oscar winning caliber? Not even close. But more importantly, he was always enjoyable to watch on screen. When I see his name in the title, I know that he is going to try his best and presenting a interesting character on screen, and usually does. Thurman is one of these actors that truly deserves to be remembered since most people are not even familiar with the movies that he’s in, let alone the actor himself. So the next time you’re watching a low budget film that might have been made in Texas, keep an eye out for this large man, most likely with southern drawl to his speech. Most likely, that will be Bill Thurman.

It Came from Hunger – A Must Autobiography

April 2, 2017 by Jon Kitley in Book News and tagged It Came from Hunger, Larry Buchanan, Mars Needs Women, The Eye Creatures, Zontar | Leave a comment

T It Came from Hunger exas filmmaker Larry Buchanan has always had a special place in my film fan’s heart. Making titles with very little money, he still managed to create something that I’ve always found entertainment in, even if for the wrong reasons. He gave us titles like The Eye Creatures, In the Year 2889, Zontar: The Thing from Venus, The Naked Witch, The Loch Ness Horror, and of course, Mars Needs Women, along with so many others. His budgets tended to be so low, a mere fraction of what Roger Corman was getting to make his low budget features. But Buchanan still go them made, and usually turned a pretty decent profit. Granted, most of them won’t be remembered for being anything but a turkey, but hey…at least they are being remembered, right?

Years ago, I was lucky enough to score a hardcover copy of his autobiography It Came From Hunger: Tales of a Cinema Schlockmeister, originally published by McFarland in 1996. If I didn’t love his work then, I surely did after reading this wonderful and insightful book. It does give a lot of information on how he got started in the business and how he managed to continue it in throughout his career, even when he had little or no money to make a picture. The stories within these pages, such as what happened to his very first feature film, are so compelling and fantastic, really giving an insight to this man who just loved making movies.

This book has been long out-of-print and tends to go for big bucks on the secondary market. But now, you can get your own paperback edition of this book for only $9.99! Even at triple the price, this book is a must for independent filmmakers, as well as anybody who loves these kind of films.

You can read my review of this book by clicking HERE.

So do yourself a favor and head over to Amazon to order your copy today. I promise you that you will just love this one. And if not, then you’re only out $10!

Turkey Day 2008

May 12, 2015 by Jon Kitley in Turkey Day Marathon and tagged Alien Factor, Bill Rebane, Blood Harvest, Larry Buchanan, Lurking Terror, Moon Zero Two, The Eye Creatures, Turkey Day Marathon | Leave a comment

Now in the 6^th year of holding my annual Turkey Day marathon, AC and I took another fistful of films considered to be turkeys, B-movies, MST-fodder, or just a waste of time. But not for us. As crazy as we might be, we find quite a bit of enjoyment out of watching these films, where the filmmakers were really trying to their best to make a good film. Granted, most of them missed the mark when it comes to being good. But is it entertaining? That is the true test of a film, turkey or not. So let’s venture forth and see what fun we got ourselves into this year. From a couple of alien invasion films, Tiny Tim as a clown, Hammer’s sci-fi epic, or a low budget film from good old Michigan, we had our work cut out for us this year. Let’s begin.

The Eye Creatures (1965) – Larry Buchanan was a filmmaker that makes Roger Corman look like he had bigger budgets than James Cameron. He was making his little films in his home state of Texas, and usually turning a profit. Sure, he may not have made high quality films, but the ones that he made, made money. And in the film business, that is the only way to continue to making films. He had made a deal with American International Pictures to remake their film Invasion of the Saucer Men. Of course, with a much lower budget, and in color. But it didn’t stop him from giving them, and us, The Eye Creatures. This was so successful, that he went on to remake 3 more titles from the AIP catalog.

Starring John Ashley, the film pretty much follows the original, except the creatures themselves. Where in the original, the creature designs were well-crafted and thought out by Paul Blaisdell. But here, we have guys in suits that look like the Michelin Man’s 2^nd cousin. There are a couple of scenes where there are several of the alien creatures attacking, moving very slowing and waving their arms. But if you look closely, you will see that only a couple of the closer aliens had full body suits on, while some others just have their head and shoulders covered, the rest of their bodies covered in black. Pretty damn funny that nobody caught that.

But none the less, Ashley gives it his all, like he always did. And it’s a fun movie with the definite feel of the ‘50s movies that it was based on. There is a lot of the silly humor in here, with both some main characters, and the whole subplot of a couple of military guards that like to use the radars to spy on the kids making out in lovers lane. Lucky for us, the film did get an actual DVD release, so many can enjoy it for years to come.

Continue reading →