523. Village of the Giants (1965)

I doubt there were any teenagers. Many of them were beyond high school age.

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Weirdly enough, Kino Lorber Studio Classics digitally remasted Village of the Giants in 4K. The visual upgrade is incredible. Before you ask, yes, it’s part of my movie collection. Please don’t judge.

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Too late.

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Bang!

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When we heard they were releasing the film, we sent a request to see about maybe including our voice on an audio commentary.

…they never responded. Also, the guy who does give commentary, seems to not be a big fan of Tommy Kirk.

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Interesting.


So, thoughts on the movie: it’s a neat one, and one I might rewatch. The fact that the kid that plays Genius wound up being a rather iconic star amuses me.

You also have to give it up to a song that manages to work as a tribute to TV’s Frank and Frank Zappa solely on the basis that it doesn’t actually say anything about the person it’s about other than that the guy is named Frank.


It’s also fun that they got one of the actresses in as an interview. Unfortunately, it looks like age caught up with her.

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Not so much age, as it was her being really into tanning. I think sometime in the 60’s, she really went all-in, and I could see that for myself when I saw her in person.

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You need all the mirth you can muster trying to get through “Timelash.”

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Just think… one of the people in this movie is now considered a legitimate and serious (and award-winning) actor and another is one of the most acclaimed directors of our time.

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And hey Mickey, you’re so fine. You’re so fine you blow my mind.

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Oh right, Toni Basil too! So a hit singer as well.

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Aaaaaaaah, I see. Darn you, fashionable, yet poorly thought out trends!

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When I watched this episode for the first time, I thought that it teetered right on the edge of becoming a darker film. Something about those teens seemed sinister. They were drinking and driving right at the beginning of the movie, IIRC.

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Yeah, the film definitely feels like it could have gone darker. Even in reviewing the copies of the shooting script I perused, there were going to be a few scenes that showed the danger they posed.

Like this one, from the second night where they hold a giant dance party after taking over:

324. INT. HOUSE #2 - (NIGHT)
A woman and a child are seated round a table, just rising as the building shakes. The child is crying, reaching for its mother. She grabs it up, runs o.s. There is another crash of breaking glass. The ceiling fixture, plaster and part of the ceiling crashes down on the table where the two had been sitting moments before.

Or the results of Fred using a tree to “punish Mike” for trying to escape town, and this is what Mike does:

Torn, dishevelled and bleeding, he picks himself up, turns wearily away, begins to stagger back towards the town.

I felt with the proper technology, Bert could really have made them a menace. In fact, on my fanpage, I added in some fanfiction based around some darker ideas (including an ending that I felt would really have made the townspeople fear the giants).

https://www.angelfire.com/weird2/villageoftheg/fanfiction.html

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Well, at least the money shot on the poster is in the film.

It isn’t like Attack of the 50 Foot Woman where the poster is more exciting than the final product.

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We thought we’d share where our questioning minds led us over the last few weeks: to create a prop replica of the “goo in a jar” as seen in Village of the Giants. It’s as close as we can get, but we even went nuts finding the Ball “Perfect Mason” jar style as seen in the film too.

We may give our version of the goo a revamp in the future, but it turned out pretty convincing if you ask us.

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I immediately knew what it was even before I scrolled down to the reference shot, so yeah, I’d say it’s pretty convincing.

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Would it be wise to put a warning label on that?

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@DigThatNittyGritty I forgot all about the fact that I own this poster.

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I still want to know who did the art for this.

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