Particular things tend to stick in my mind when I watch movies. Some scenes remind me of things I've seen in other films. One such thread is the use of footprints being made by invisible monsters. Quirky I know but its stuck in my mind!
The film which really uses this feature to the fore is the classic Night of the Demon from 1957, which as you know is a Halloween fave of mine. As Dana Andrews, the hero of the film, is running through the forest at night we see invisible monster's smoking footprints appearing behind him. It emerges as the film's iconic Fire Demon. You can watch it yourself on You Tube here at Night of the Demon. Would you agree that its very effective?
A similar technique was used by the makers of the equally classic Forbidden Planet a year earlier in 1965, where we see the invisible Id Monster leaving its distinctive one-toed footprints on the planet's surface. Again, have a look yourself courtesy of the Tube at Forbidden Planet. Do you think it works as well? Oddly enough, I've just noticed that the word id is actually in the word Forbidden! Creepy!
I love the sound effects that these film makers used to suggest invisibility. Can you think of any more invisible monsters and or footprints?
Forbidden Planet's Robbie the Robot got a second brush with invisibility in, yep, Invisible Boy, 1957, which you can watch in full on YT:
Watching Invisible Boy, which is crammed with Nineteen Fifties technology, I noticed these missile launchers. Now I know I've seen a toy based on these but can't recall where. Have you any idea readers?
An invisible monster which left those same sort of footprints was in "Captain Sindbad"(1963)...
ReplyDeleteThe "Invisible Invaders"(1959)sorta shuffled - by an even simpler special effect.
Another rather interesting invisible monster appeared in "Sound of Horror"(1966), which featured an invisible dinosaur of approximately human dimensions. Cheap to produce; invisible dinosaurs... I seem to recall it's footprints appeared in spilled flour, giving away its position.
As a kid the Captain Sindbad one was a favorite. Love that movie, cheesy as it is.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Michael Bentine's Potty Time on the TV too with the invisible potty footprints!
ReplyDeleteMarx Toys did a spring-launched missile toy based on those Nike interceptor missiles!
ReplyDeleteGrif
Don't forget the horrifying invisible monsters from Fiend Without a Face. Later the monsters become visible, and you really wish they'd stayed hidden.
ReplyDeleteMPC had their rubber-band powered version as well
ReplyDeleteRoskopf did a 1:100 scale Nike Ajax launcher assembly, I think Busch have the moulds now, but it's not been in production since the early 70's.
ReplyDeleteHugh