Target Earth

Description

A large city has been completely evacuated. An alien force of robots has invaded the city and is destroying all mankind! Frank (Richard Denning) and a handful of strangers wake up to the empty city and band together. Not only must they escape the robot patrols, but also they must contend with a psychotic killer amongst them. All the while scientists are racing against the clock to save earth from annihilation. Based on the short novel, The Deadly City by Paul W. Fairman. Bonus Features: Commentary by Herman Cohen| Video Tribute to Producer Herman Cohen| Original theatrical trailer| Digitally Re-mastered| Anamorphic Widescreen - Enhanced for 16x9 monitors| Actor Bios| 3-D Motion Menus| Scene Selection| Booklet Insert| Trailers. Specs: DVD9; Dolby Digital Mono; 75 minutes; B&W; 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA - NR; Year - 1954; SRP - $9.99.

Customer Reviews:

What can I say?.......2007-05-30

This movie scared the hell out of me when I was a little kid. Is there any other service for a B movie like this? The dark elements of the woman being suicidal, etc. made it even creepier, for a 50's horror movie. I can see it being re-made, sort of Independence Day mixed with Night of the Living Dead, only the zombies would be robots. I think I'm having an Ed Wood moment...

A little below the usual B-movie standard.......2007-02-16

I hate to come down on B-movies. Even though a lot of people think they're cheesy and cheap, I feel they project a certain creativity. "It! The Terror from Beyond Space" (1958), "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla" (1974)--but not "Target Earth" (1954) as much.
The plot and concept were perfect, in theory. A city has been evacuated due to the invasion of robots, most likely from Venus. A few stragglers must battle their way to freedom and safety.
However, the only sci-fi element used in the film was a robot--who represented a whole army of them. No spaceships--blurry laser beams and hollow acting.
"Target Earth" (1954) isn't that bad. If my copy didn't work any more, then I'd still buy another.

Old Fashion Sci Fi.......2006-11-04

I enjoyed this movie years ago when I was younger. Believe it or not it is still as good as I remember. Suspense, bad acting, crummy special effects. This is how movies were made back then without all the flash and gore this is still a good movie.

Target Earth - Not a Classic, but deserves a chance........2006-09-01

While Target Earth may not be a well known, classic Sci-Fi movie, it certainly gives a decent swing at the genre. Being Herman Cohen's first solo-produced film, Target Earth most definately IS science fiction. The plot of the film is one of the most frightening and classic ideas in the anals of sci-fi - that of the Earth being invaded by beings from another world. The threat in Target Earth, however, is an encroaching vanguard of robots which precede the actual alien invasion. A novel idea indeed. The acting in TE is good, with Richard Denning (Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Day the World Ended, The Black Scorpion) cast as the hero.
If you enjoy watching and collecting classic sci-fi from the 1950s, then Target Earth will make an excellent addition to your DVD library.

"Denning...Crowley...Grey...Reeves ~ Target Earth (1954)...Herman Cohen".......2006-09-01

VCI Home Video and Allied Artists presents "TARGET EARTH: (1954) (75 mins B&W) . . . under Sherman A. Rose (Director / Editor), Herman Cohen (Producer), Kay Rose (Producer), Paul Fairman (Book Author - based upon the story "Deadly City"), Bill Raynor (Screenwriter), James Nicholson and Wyott Ordung (original screenplay), Guy Roe (Cinematographer), Paul Dunlap (Composer (Music Score), David Koehler (Special Effects), Stanley Orr (makeup), Morris Hoffman (set decorator), James Sullivan (art director) --- cast includes Richard Denning (Frank), Kathleen Crowley (Nora), Virginia Grey (Vicki), Richard Reeves (Jim), Robert Roark (Wilson), Mort Marshall (Charles Otis), Arthur Space (General), Whit Bissell (Scientist), House Peters, Jr. (Technician), Jim Drake (Lieutenant), Gaylord "Steve" Pendleton (Colonel) . . . . . . our story thus follows raw panic, an astounding science fiction drama of a deserted metropolis and the frenzied few who were left behind...our cast of survivors living day and night in incredible terror, mixed with uncivilized violence in the savage battle for survival against the horror of the fantastic unknown... this very early film in the genre of science fiction uncovers our silent thoughts, is it possible for aliens from another world to invade our planet...much to ponder as this wonderful script with top notch performances by Richard Denning, Kathleen Crowley, Virginia Grey and Richard Reeves pull us into the story and give us a thriller to remember for days...remember this is a '50s sci-fi when we were still young and innocent, films of this nature was thought provoking and entertaining.

SCENE SELECTIONS:
1. Awake
2. Ghost Town
3. Unexplained Death
4. Abandoned
5. Finding Friends
6. The Shadow
7. Seeking Shelton
8. A Suite
9. Military Defense
10.Captured Enemy
11.The Robot
12.Domestic Dispute
13.Tests
14.Dangerous Stranger
15.Villainous Plan
16.Out of Time
17.Trapped
18.Rescued

Specal footnote, producer Herman Cohen (August 27, 1925 - June 2, 2002) was a producer of B-movies during the 1950s, who helped to popularize the teen horror movie genre with films like the cult classic "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" (1957)...his motion picture career began at his local cinema, the Dexter Theater in Detroit, during his preteen years; he worked there as a "gofer" and later as an usher...his next stop was assistant manager of Detroit's Fox Theater. After a Marine Corps hitch, Cohen worked as sales manager for the Detroit branch of Columbia Pictures, then relocated to Hollywood and worked in the publicity department of Columbia there. He produced his first movies for Jack Broder's Realart Pictures in the early 1950s and made several subsequent pictures for Allied Artists and United Artists. Cohen made exploitation history in the mid-1950s when he began producing some of American International's earliest hits, among them the cult favorite "I Was a Teenage Werewolf." (1957) featuring unknown horror actor Michael Landon as a troubled teenager and Whit Bissell as the primary adult. It was written and produced by cult film producer Herman Cohen, it was made on a very low budget but grossed as much as US$2,000,000 per week in its early weeks of release,and was one of the most successful films released by AIP (American International Pictures)..Herman Cohen's filmography, The Bushwhackers (1952), Kid Monk Baroni (1952), Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952), Battles of Chief Pontiac (1952), River Beat (1954), Target Earth (1954), Magnificent Roughnecks (1956), Dance with Me Henry (1956), The Brass Legend (1956), Crime of Passion (1957), I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957), I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957), Blood of Dracula (1957), How to Make a Monster (1958), Horrors of the Black Museum (1959), The Headless Ghost (1959), Konga (1961), Black Zoo (1963), A Study in Terror (1965), Berserk! (1968), Django il bastardo (1969), Crooks and Coronets (1969), Trog (1970), Craze (1973), Gatto dagli occhi di giada, Il (1977)...In the 1960s and 1970s, he began producing horror films in the United Kingdom, working with such stars as Joan Crawford in "Berserk"! and "Trog" and Jack Palance in Craze. In 1961, he returned to his roots in Detroit purchasing the Fox Theater he had worked for in his youth. By the late 1970s, Cohen was working more in writing and distribution than in film production. He founded Cobra Media, a domestic distribution company, in 1981. Cohen died of throat cancer June 2, 2002.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
1. Commentary by Producer Herman Cohen
2. Video Tribute on Producer Herman Cohen
3. Original Theatrical Trailers
4. Previews

BIOS:
1. Richard Denning (aka: Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr.)
Date of birth: 27 March 1914 - Poughkeepsie, New York
Date of death: 11 October 1998 - Escondido, California
2. Kathleen Crowley (aka: Betty Jane Kathleen Crowley)
Date of birth: 26 December 1931 - Green Bank, New Jersey
Date of death: Still Living
3. Virginia Grey
Date of birth: 22 March 1917 - Los Angeles, California, USA
Date of death: 31 July 2004 - Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California
4. Richard Reeves
Date of birth: 10 August 1912 - New York, New York
Date of death: 17 March 1967 - Northridge, California
5. Sherman A. Rose (Director)
Date of birth: 27 May 1915
Date of death: 22 September 1986
6. Herman Cohen (Producer)
Date of birth: 27 August 1925 - Detroit, Michigan
Date of death: 2 June 2002 - Los Angeles, California

Want to thank VCI Home Video for releasing "Target Earth" (1954) - Director Sherman A. Rose , the digital transfere with a clean, clear and crisp print...looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '40s & '50s...order your copy now from Amazon or VCI Entertainment where there are plenty of copies available, stay tuned once again for top notch wonderful character actors of the cinema brought back so many wonderful memories of the times when film makers cared about you who purchased a ticket and came back for more...just the way we like 'em.

Total Time: 75 mins on DVD ~ VCI Home Video 8305 ~ (2/25/2003)

Average customer rating:

Strange, 1970's UFO/Drive In memories....

UFO: Target Earth
Starring: Cynthia Cline , Phil Erickson , and Nick Plakias
Director: Michael de Gaetano
Manufacturer: Televista
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Horror | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

Science Fiction | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000R349EI
Release Date: 2007-07-03

Description

Residents of a small community remember strange and bright lights that appeared in the night sky. An electronics expert searching for evidence of aliens picks up signals that he believes are from an alien spacecraft--and they are coming from a lake near town. Could it be that the aliens within are still alive? Starring Nick Plakias, Cynthia Cline and LaVerne Light.

Customer Reviews:

Strange, 1970's UFO/Drive In memories...........2007-06-25

A really odd, low-budget film. Starts off with real interviews of UFO encounters and segways into a theme that is a catchy little title sequence number called "Between The Attic and The Moon" that's a smooth 70's sounding piece of electronic easy rock. The story-An electronics expert accidently hears a telephone conversation he shouldn't have, and this leads him to discover odd signals that may lead to an alien spacecraft at the bottom of a lake in a rural area, that may have been there for a generation or two. Using a plethoria of high tech instruments(circa 1974) he attempts to make contact. The whole thing has a poor-man's 2001 feel to it toward the end. The acting, set ups and everything are pretty low-budget, and have all the look of a student film. Back in the day(1974) this was released as a double feature, the 2nd half of a bill that had THE DEVIL'S TRIANGLE which was a documentary cashing in on all the hype of that during the mid-70's. I remember seeing this film under the impression it was to be a documentary. There are few "special effects" to speak of-only some video effects which get pretty boring fast and a piece of slapdash animation of a space ship and starfield. This was a product of it's time, when even small film companies and indie filmmakers could easily get their cheaply made films onto the market via drive-ins and 2nd run theaters(both mostly gone). Drips everything 1970's....

Average customer rating:

Sci Fi Trash-O-Rama (Full Dol)
Starring: Creature of Destruction , UFO Target Earth , and Flying Sa
Manufacturer: Retromedia
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Horror | Genres | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000V6LSMC
Release Date: 2007-10-02

DVD:

DVD

DVD