The Creep Behind the Camera / The Creeping Terror

[bigshot]

I received this yesterday and screened it last night. I'm a little underwhelmed to be honest. I've always loved Creeping Terror since I saw it as a kid on TV, and I grew up in Glendale where it was made. The print used here is in good shape. a few scratches here and there and a bit of dirt. Not too bad considering. The sound quality is a lot better than I remember though. When it would air on TV, they applied an audio limiter that would drag up the quiet parts and turn them into a loud bed of hiss. That didn't happen on the blu-ray. I think it was a little longer than the TV print I had seen. A few scenes were new to me. But unfortunately, the film isn't presented in the correct aspect ratio. It's full aperture, not cropped to widescreen. My Oppo player allows me to blow the image up 1.3%, which fixed that. A little fuzzier, but that doesn't really matter because this film is pretty crummy looking anyway.

The Creep Behind the Camera was a little disappointing too. It was competently shot and the surround sound was nice. And I can see what they were trying to do- their version of Ed Wood- but there was very little charm in any of it, the actors didn't have any charisma, and it was a bit sordid and ugly. No fun. It had a little bit of documentary style stuff, but it was mostly a bio drama and it just didn't work for me.

There are lots of extras that I haven't had time to go through yet. You certainly get your money's worth with this disc. Just not as much fun as I was expecting.

[20th Century Boy]

I legit thought this thread was a doc exposing that jerk director of those Jeepers Creepers films. As you were.

[bigshot]

It's a docudrama about the jerk director of "The Creeping Terror" (1964).

[Jobla]

I enjoyed this set. It's a pretty good print of CREEPING TERROR, given that film's zero budget origins.

CREEP BEHIND THE CAMERA was quite interesting, although performed by little-known actors. It's primarily based on the book by Nelson's first wife, Lois Wiseman. It does a credible job of recreating the early 1960's.

[The Great Owl]

My Blu-ray arrived in the mail today.

I've seen The Creeping Terror before, and it's a pretty godawful film, but there's just...there's just...there's just something about it.

When I revisit The Creeping Terror by way of this Blu-ray and review it here and on my new Letterboxd account, I figure that I'll end up giving it a half-star rating just because of the upskirt shots when women are being eaten by the monster.

I've never seen The Creep Behind the Camera, but I take these types of "documentaries" with a million grains of salt. I'll watch it, of course, but I have a feeling that this documentary is the actual supplementary feature in my eyes, while The Creeping Terror is the main attraction of the disc.

[bigshot]

The people producing this disc feel the other way around about it. I seriously doubt I'll ever watch Creep Behind the Camera again, but every five or ten years, I get the urge to see Creeping Terror for perverse reasons. But compared to films of similar origin on blu-ray like The Sadist, Brain that Wouldn't Die and others of this ilk, the print of Creeping Terror really isn't great. It honestly doesn't look much better than the DVD. The sound is a lot better though.

[ParkerAL]

Hey, I remember when this came out digitally. I never thought it would actually get a Blu-ray release. And with a copy of the original "classic" Creeping Terror movie too? Neat. I could already tell from the trailer that the docu-drama itself would be an acquired taste, but I think the story of A. J. Nelson aka Vic Savage is crazy enough to make it a worthwhile watch, even if you don't agree with how they went about telling it. I've got to give the people behind the movie props for documenting a forgotten, but fascinating part of seedy Hollywood history. I remember reading that one of the people who had worked on "The Creeping Terror" passed away some time after being interviewed for the documentary part of this project. It's great that they were able to record his memories for prosperity before they were lost forever.

Considering what movie we're talking about here, I'm not expecting a revelation in terms of picture quality. Not every one of these grade-Z pictures can receive special treatment like Manos: The Hands of Fate. As long as the carpet monster looks extra fake in HD, I'll be happy. Apparently, this was given a 2K transfer, so I'm liable to believe the film would look rough no matter how much spit and polish it was given.

How are the special features on the disc? Based on the Synapse listing , they sound like they're more about the newer movie, correct? IMDB says Byrd Holland and Allan Silliphant worked on the The Creeping Terror, so I assume that feature is more about them reminiscing?

All-New 2K Scan of the Original Horror Classic, THE CREEPING TERROR (Blu-ray Exclusive)
Audio Commentary with Director Pete Schuermann, Producer Nancy Theken and Stars Josh Phillips & Jodi Lynn Thomas
The Making of THE CREEP BEHIND THE CAMERA
How to Build a Carpet Monster
Breaking Down Art’s Death Scene
Monster Movie Homages
“One Mick to Another” with Byrd Holland & Allan Silliphant
Deleted Scenes
Alternate Ending
Screamfest Black Carpet Q&A with Frank Conniff
The Creep Behind the Camera – Original Theatrical Trailer
The Creeping Terror – Screamfest Promotional Trailer
Newly Translated Removable SDH English Subtitles

[Jobla]

Correct, the supplements are about THE CREEP BEHIND THE CAMERA. Holland and Silliphant converse with one another for a little more than 4 minutes.

[bigshot]

There doesn't appear to be restoration on Creeping Terror It has negative speckles and scratches throughout. It may be HD, but it doesn't look much more sharp than the DVD

[babybreese]

This is why is on the Blu as an extra.
Not sure if original elements exist for this one.

[The Great Owl]

The 1964 film, The Creeping Terror, tells the story of a small California community that is besieged by two alien creatures after a spacecraft crashes next to a lake on the outskirts of the town. The creatures, which resemble tentacled Chinese puppet dragon parade floats and move like giant slugs, immediately go about the business of devouring every human in sight, expressing an uncanny preference for women with nice legs. It's up to a young newlywed sheriff and some military officials to stop these huge monsters and their war against teenage couples and local dance halls.

The Creeping Terror, which has become a stalwart of Mystery Science Theater 3000, is generally acknowledged as one of the worst movies of all time. The monster effects are laughable, the voiceover narration is hilarious in its earnest seriousness, and the human characters, who are inexplicably unable to run away from what are basically slow-moving shag carpets, do not arouse the audience's empathy in the slightest. If there is a moral to this movie, it is that cardio fitness is crucially important, and that, if you can take the initiative to run away from a giant foam carpet creation that takes two hours to move 10 feet, then you can probably handle anything else that life throws at you.

I have seen The Creeping Terror a handful of times over the decades, and, while I would never recommend it to normal people as a good movie or even as a remotely watchable movie, I have to admit that it has an offbeat lure, and that watching it is sort of like watching a terrible car wreck from which it is impossible to avert your gaze.

The 2014 film, The Creep Behind the Camera, is a docudrama of sorts about the lurid and icky real life story behind the making of The Creeping Terror. According to this film and to interviews with several of the associated figures, the director, Art "A.J." Nelson (Vic Savage) was a remorseless con-artist who routinely brutalized his wife and kept her in his possessive clutches while scamming investors to pay for this monster movie project, taking sexual advantage of wannabe actresses so that they could have the “privilege” of appearing in his movie as monster food, and even using funds for his movie for his drug habits and for the alleged filming of child pornography. When Savage disappeared from the production altogether, it was up to the main investor, William Thourlby, to scramble to assemble something in the realm of a coherent movie.

I'm a little irritated now after watching The Creep Behind the Camera, and, frankly, I wish that I could erase this docudrama from my memory.

As anyone who reads my reviews here knows, I have an unabashed affinity for old drive-in flicks, and I am willing to forgive a lot of cinematic shortcomings simply because I have a soft spot for “bad” movies that were created earnestly out of a genuine love for sci-fi and horror stories, even if the filmmakers did not have the budget to pull off these endeavors with any real degree of competence. Even if a movie is scrappy and low-budget, I can usually feed off of the love of the genre that I sense from the filmmakers, and that's the whole fun of watching these films over and over again.

Now that I know that The Creeping Terror was not necessarily created out of a love for the genre, however, it's a tougher pill to swallow, and I'll probably have trouble watching it in the future even from an ironic amusement standpoint. Other inept directors, like Ed Wood, at least showed a passion for the subject matter of their horrid movies, but, if the recounts of the 2014 docudrama are true, then there was no such passion involved in the making of this movie.

I mean, The Creeping Terror is a movie that would normally earn just one star on a scale of five from me, but I now have reservations even about giving it a one-star rating after having learned more about its creation by watching The Creep Behind the Camera.

At any rate, The Creeping Terror is oddly fascinating, because of its ineptitude on its own terms and because of its backstory.

I have no complaints about the Blu-ray presentation of either feature on this disc. I'd like to see a more thorough restoration of The Creeping Terror, but there are countless movies out there that are more deserving of such efforts. The supplements are all pretty entertaining and informative.

I would rather have seen The Creeping Terror featured as the main title, while having The Creep Behind the Camera included as a supplement, but that's just me.

[DaveyJoe]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I'm a little irritated now after watching The Creep Behind the Camera, and, frankly, I wish that I could erase this docudrama from my memory.

In light of some of the Hollywood scandals that have been breaking lately, it seems to me like this is a story that needs to be told. If an abuser's crimes are brought to light, that's a good thing. It's certainly better than ignorance, even if it ruins the enjoyment of a bad monster movie. The Creeping Terror was never a movie made by an auteur with passion for the genre, and now we know.

[bigshot]

The Creep Behind the Camera turned fun drive in movie candy into bitter tasting medicine. No fun at all. I don't need to know any of the stuff in it. The Creeping Terror is all I need.

[iamnoone]

I grew up watching THE CREEPING TERROR on tv as well and have always enjoyed it, as inept as it is.

After watching THE CREEP BEHIND THE CAMERA, regardless of what a real creep the director was, I also learned a lot about why the film turned out the way it did (mostly narrated instead of dialog), why it was so poorly edited, and other interesting trivia. Plus, I never knew the director was also the star, which I can understand that now sucking some of the joy out of watching TCT.

But there are a lot of creeps in Hollywood as we've seen recently, some more well-known and some not outed yet, so I won't let this particular creep ruin TCT for me.

[Jobla]

The story persists that the "director's cut" of CREEPING TERROR was in color and had dialog, not just voice-over narration. Supposedly, that cut was either seized by law enforcement from Nelson's apartment, or was taken by Nelson himself as he was fleeing the jurisdiction. What probably happened was that the director's cut was seized by the authorities, kept around awhile as evidence, and finally junked when Nelson didn't surface.

What Thourlby salvaged was probably outtakes and trims, without proper sound.

[bipbop13]

Originally Posted by bigshot

I received this yesterday and watched it last night.

Fixed that for you. It was pretentious. Now it's correct. It's a pet peeve of mine (and others....it's true, go to the pet peeves thread!).

[sa5150]

Has the Creeping Terror been released by itself on any bluray in any other country ?

[Jobla]

Not to my knowledge.