amoebas from Spppppaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace...

I remember seeing the trailer for Yog, Monster from Space (1970) in the theater, and thinking it was quite scary.  the poster also made Gezora look huge enough to destroy the world.  hey, it would have about 1971 and I was only 6 or so.

there were some older kids talking about it as well, about how big the squid would be.

the poster of course is one of AIP's best, as it bears precious little resemblance to the actual film itself.  one would think the Enterprise was actually in the movie.  and the name!  there's not a monster or alien called "Yog" in the entire film.

my pal Chris over at Owari has a theory on the name of the movie and why AIP released it.  perhaps he will post it one day (do it!).

anyway, I didn't see the movie in the theater.  probably my mother decided it might be a little too much for my young brain.  but in about 1972 or early '73 it appeared on TV in it's fullscreen pan and scanned glory, and I had a front row seat for that show!  I am not sure if this was before I saw Godzilla vs the Smog Monster (1971) or after, but both were within weeks of each other.

when this title appeared on the screen- just like this, mind you, I was hooked.  due to the sides being cut off, I had no idea I was actually looking at the three main monsters, it was spooky and scary and the music was awesome.  there were tentacles and claws and teeth being shown and that was cool.

as the movie unfolded and the various monsters and the aliens ("Astro-Quasars") show up the goings on are explained. 

this is an "island adventure" and the last of the AIP dubbed and released non-Godzilla Toho movies.  there are no military weapons being used to fight these monsters, just man vs aliens.  we've got reporters, natives and a scientist battling to save our world.  it's a cool premise, and at least a little different than having the monsters run around in a city.

Media Blasters released a DVD of the movie in the near past.  it's a gorgeous widescreen print of the movie with original Japanese language and English subs, plus a fascinating subbed commentary track.  they were forced to use the Toho approved "International" English dub, and this one is not too awful, though not nearly as nice as AIP's version.

I'm glad to have this print, as the movie looks great in it's proper scope, but I'll never get rid of my DVDr version of the one I saw as a kid on Channel 7.