EDITOR’S NOTE: The Haunted Strangler was on Chiller Theater on Saturday, February 19, 1966 at 11:20 p.m., Saturday, May 20, 1967 at 11:20 p.m., Saturday, November 16, 1968 at 11:20 p.m. and Saturday, January 2, 1971 at 11:30 p.m.

Released as a double feature with AIP’s Assignment Outer Space, The Phantom Planet finds the U.S. Air Force having bases on the moon and getting ready to fly to Mars. It’s 1980.

Captain Frank Chapman (Dean Fredericks) and Lt. Ray Makonnen (Richard Weber) are investigating why astronauts bound for Mars keep disappearing. Is it a phantom planet taking them? Well, Makonnen dies in a few seconds, so don’t get used to him, as meteor storm destroys their ship and Chapman ends up on an asteroid where he’s suddenly all of six inches tall.

Welcome to Rheton, Chapman, a planet that has a tractor beam and is ruled by Sesom (1910s and 20s matinee idol Francis X. Bushman), who has a mean blonde daughter Liara (Coleen Gray, Nightmare Alley). She’s interested in this human who is allowed to stay on the planet, as is the mute Zetha (Dolores Faith, who is in House of the Black Death, V.D. and The Human Duplicators; she left acting to marry Maxwell House heir James Robert Neal). Once he’s used to his new home, he’ll get to marry whoever he wants. Liara declares her love for him and he turns her down; Heron (Anthony Dexter) who has been in love with her tries to set up Chapman and they duel to the death. At the last moment, the Earthling saves Heron and finally falls for Zetha.

The reasons why this planet flies through space the way it does is to stay away from the evil Solarites but now that Chapman and Heron are friends, they rid the planet of them and then our hero is able to leave this planet behind, including the women who love him. The Solarite who captures Zetha, who gets her voice back before she is rescued, is played by Richard Kiel in his first film.

The costumes, sets and special effects in this all come from the TV series Men Into Space. Some people believe that parts of this movie’s sets were recycled for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

Director William Marshall also acted in the movie State Fair. Writer Fred Gebhard also wrote 12 to the Moon while co-writer Fred De Gorter mostly worked in TV.

You can watch this on Tubi.