Attack of the Puppet People/VI

This 2-fer is worth it, if not only for Village of the Giants. You get a front seat to the mid-60s Sunset Strip teenage scene, replete with a wild club performance by the Beau Brummels (and as they play, you get Toni Basil doing the monkey and the frug from inside a cage). This movie is about teenagers versus adults, teenagers from an upscale neighborhood versus teenagers from working class families, teenager versus the law . . . And you get a young Ron Howard playing a geeky whiz kid who accidentally creates "goo," a concoction which, when ingested, turns you into a giant. Whacky 60s movie fans will love this one. Attack of the Puppet People is a worthwhile film in its own right - a tale of a creepy and desperate dollmaker who turns anyone who crosses him into one of his dolls.

When you think of the great directors of American cinema, the name Bert I. Gordon does not come to mind. A creator of cheesy science fiction B-movies, many of his films dealt with giant animals (grasshoppers in The Beginning of the End, ants in Empire of the Ants, etc.) or people (like with War of the Colossal Beast). With Village of the Giants, he revisits this theme with a twist; Attack of the Puppet People, however, depicts the reverse idea.

In Attack of the Puppet People, June Kenny plays a new secretary for a kindly old dollmaker who somehow has created a shrinking machine. He is sort of like a psychotically delusional Mr. Rogers who seems really nice but hates having people leave him, to the point where he shrinks them to doll-size and puts them into suspended animation. Despite the title, the "puppet people" don't do any real attacking; instead, they are merely intent on getting restored to their proper sizes. With low budget actors and effects, this film is far from great but does have its moments.

Village of the Giants, however, features some big name actors in early roles, most notably Ronny (Ron) Howard and Beau Bridges. Veering away from the more "serious" films, this movie is more comedy that horror. Howard is a preadolescent genius who accidentally creates a growth formula, which is stolen and ingested by Bridges and his friends. After becoming giants, they become the ultimate teen rebels and try to enforce laws against adults. The effects may be poor, but the movie itself is an amiable bit of a fluff, more interested in showing teenage girls jiggle to nice but forgettable tunes than with any sort of coherent plot.

I've always had an affection for Village of the Giants since seeing it as a small kid (and not since). Like some of the sillier Disney films (particularly the early Kurt Russell sci-fi comedies), they don't get better as you get older. They may be deeply flawed movies, but I still enjoyed them for what they were, so I am giving them a low four stars; it may be more than they truly merit, but with these sorts of movies, fun always trumps quality.

Two great scifi films that you love to watch, and at the same time make fun of. Watched these often on Creature Double Features, and now you can own them the same way.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 6 reviews  3.8 out of 5 stars