EDITOR’S NOTE: The Terrornauts was on Chiller Theater on Saturday, October 11, 1969 at 1:00 a.m., Saturday, September 26, 1970 at 1:00 a.m., Saturday, May 1, 1971 at 1:00 a.m. and Saturday, April 8, 1972 at 1:00 a.m.
I’ll give The Terrornauts two things: a great poster with the tagline “The virgin sacrifice to the gods of a ghastly galaxy!” and a runtime of only 75 minutes. Based on the 1960 novel The Wailing Asteroid by Murray Leinster and adapted by sci-fi author John Brunner, this film was double-billed with They Came from Beyond Space. Both are widely considered among the worst feature films Amicus Productions ever released.
Project Star Talk has just ninety days to succeed in its mission to listen for radio signals from intelligent life in outer space. Led by Dr. Joe Burke (Simon Oates), the crew picks up a strange repeating signal coming from a dead asteroid. After blasting back a high-powered signal, an alien transport beam snatches their entire office building right off the ground and hauls it into space!
After landing on the asteroid base, the team—now including an accountant sent to pull their funding, Mr. Yellowlees (Charles Hawtrey from the Carry On films), and Mrs. Jones, the office tea lady (Patricia Hayes)—are put through IQ tests by a giant, clunky green robot. Soon, they discover they must defeat a planet of green-skinned, hairy savages who are the last survivors of an ancient galactic war. If they don’t stop the enemy fleet, the evil planet will make its way to destroy Earth.
Amicus spent almost no money on this picture. The studio recycled sets, props and miniature models left over from their two big-budget Doctor Who movies starring Peter Cushing (Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.).
Montgomery Tully directed this, and he also directed the Edgar Wallace story The Man Who Was Nobody twice—once for TV and again for theaters. He also made Battle Beneath the Earth.
