TerrorintheMidnightSun

Terror in the Midnight Sun (1959)

When a meteor crashes in Sweden a group of scientists are dispatched to take a look at the site. Almost from the beginning there are strange occurrences and odd aspects to the so-called meteor. For example it appears that instead of crashing the meteor made a controlled landing and skidded to a stop. Also in the area around the site animals start turning up horribly mutilated. The scientists and their military escorts are soon faced with a giant creature from space, as well as the other aliens that are either trying to hunt it or controlling it. I was never quite sure of that.

This is an interesting old school creature feature that is even more interesting to me because of it’s origins in Sweden. I watched Terror in the Midnight Sun, which is the English dubbed Swedish version of the movie, as opposed to the cut US version Invasion of the Animal People that adds extra footage and inserts John Carradine into the movie. Neither are particularly good, but the Swedish version does give us some late 50s almost nudity that never would have been allowed in the US (got to love those Europeans). Terror in the Midnight Sun starts off good enough with some foreboding. But while it starts off well enough and even has a decent looking creature, the story runs out of steam pretty fast. You have a cool looking monster that grabs the girl and takes her back to the crash site, which if fun. But then suddenly the villagers show up with torches and kill the monster and the spaceship flies off. So the movie has a good setup, but no payoff in the end. The cast is better than expected for a movie like this. All of the actors do a decent job and no one trips over their lines. I’m not sure if the movie was dubbed in English or shot in English, which if it is dubbed ought to tell you how well they did. Either way this doesn’t affect the performances.

I’m a big fan of monster movies, especially those that feature a guy in a monster suit. One of the best things about this movie is the design of the featured creature. Sure it is a cheesy looking take on a gorilla or bigfoot suit with large tusks, but as a fan of such things I loved it. Throw in some excellent work with perspective and models to give the monster it’s appearance of size and you have the makings for a pretty good time. This said the other aliens, the space ship (exterior and interior), and the crash site aren’t nearly as good. A couple of other technical notes I wanted to mention. I was impressed at the locations and how nicely the camera captured them, the bleak surroundings go a long way to setting the mood for the movie. Also there is quite a bit of aerial photography that is pulled off nicely and not something I expected in a creature feature like this.

Really it is a shame that the story runs out of steam. I think that if the movie had a stronger narrative it would have been remembered favorably along side other European imports like The Crawling Eye. As it is I still think it is worth checking out, especially if you love the Sci-fi films of the 50s and early 60s like I do.

2 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer