OK, what's so bad about this film, then?

SPOILER WARNING

"Zontar: The Thing from Venus" is a remake of "It Conquered the World". I know that "Zontar" is an extreme low-budget production with turkey status, but I admit I somehow liked this story! With the exception of the embarrassing monster and its "injectors", of course. They give a new meaning to the expression "bats in the belfry". Otherwise, I think director Larry Buchanan solved the budget problems relatively well, by making the film look like a theatre play.

The plot revolves around a mad scientist, one Tom Anderson, who is a kind of misunderstood genius. Anderson manages to contact an alien intelligence through a radio device in his own house. Of course, nobody believes him. Then, funny things start to happen: communications satellites disappear, cars and trains stop going, martial law is declared...

It turns out that Anderson has struck a deal with one of the aliens, named Zontar. The alien, who has managed to reach Earth and lives in a cave, promises to solve all the world's problems. The catch: all of humanity must be "controlled" or brain-washed by the alien. By loosing all their emotions, humans will finally manage to overcome war, conflict and petty strife. The aliens are really a kind of parasites, forced to leave Venus when their former host creatures died. Humans will presumably be their new hosts, but in return, we'll get Paradise. That's very hard to believe, and it's pretty obvious that Zontar contacted Anderson in order to use his latent megalomania and misanthropy against the rest of the human race.

Unfortunately for Anderson, neither his wife nor his best friend wants to accept the Neuordnung. The new utopia quickly turns into a nightmare. Eventually, Anderson realizes his mistake as Zontar (who looks like a monster bat) kills the scientist's wife in a stand off. In the finale, a somewhat wiser Anderson takes on the alien with a sophisticated laser device, killing both Zontar and himself. The narrator then recites a new agey message about change being a thing that must come from within...

An interesting story! It could have been a great movie (or a theatre play) with somewhat better actors, a larger budget and a more convincing alien. I admit I resonated with the philosophical message, but I also felt a certain amount of sympathy for poor Mr. Anderson, even during his crazy phase. As a teenager, I actually wrote an (unpublished) short story on a similar theme - aliens "help" a humanity that can't improve itself - and I even considered writing a story about a bizarre political movement that wants to save the world by abolishing emotions... Old concepts within scyfy, it seems. I admit that I felt, in a somewhat megalomaniac manner, that "Zontar" was in some sense "my" story. So hey, cut the crap about this being a turkey, will ya!

Obviously, I have to give "Zontar: The Thing from Venus" five stars.