Zontar: The Thing from Venus is a 1967 sci-fi film about a young scientist who helps a lone alien until he discovers it wants to destroy man. The movie is a loose remake of Roger Corman’s It Conquered the World (1956) which was scripted by Lou Rusoff. Also known as Zontar: Invader from Venus
Produced and directed by Larry Buchanan (The Loch Ness Horror; Mistress of the Apes; It’s Alive; In the Year 2889; Creature of Destruction; Mars Needs Women; Curse of the Swamp Creature; The Eye Creatures; The Naked Witch) based on a teleplay co-written with Hillman Taylor.
The movie stars John Agar, Susan Bjurman, Tony Huston, Pat Delaney, Neil Fletcher, Warren Hammack, Colleen Carr, Jeff Alexander, Bill Thurman, Andrew Traister, Jonathan Ledford, George Edgley, Carol Gilley and Bertha Holmes.
Plot:
Doctor Curt Taylor (John Agar) meets an alien from Venus, who claims to have come to the Earth to solve its problems. But Zontar has different ideas. He begins causing worldwide blackouts and controlling people’s minds. Taylor now knows that Zontar is seeking world domination. The power failures Zontar causes make cars stall.
Review:
What is Zontar, The Thing From Venus? It tells the story of what happens when a creepy scientist named Keith (Tony Huston) manages to contact a big, three-eyed bat named Zontar. Zontar’s from Venus and it wants to rule the world. Keith thinks that humanity could benefit from being conquered by a ruthless alien warlord. So, Kieth arranges for Zontar to come to the Earth. While Zontar hides out in a cave, it manages to shut down everyone’s electricity and, using a bunch of smaller, flying bats, it also possesses almost an entire town. Keith thinks it’s great but that’s because Keith is an idiot with fascist tendencies.
Do you know who isn’t impressed by Zontar and all of his high-and-mighty rhetoric? Another scientist named Doctor Curt Taylor (John Agar). Doctor Taylor knows that Zontar is up to no good but how can he stop him? Well, he’s not going to do it by driving a car because Zontar’s knocked out America’s electrical systems. So, instead, he rides a bike from location to location. Seeing John Agar awkwardly trying to balance himself on a bike is more than worth the price of admission.
Of course, since this is on YouTube, the price of admission is only your immortal soul and your internet privacy.
Anyway, if all of this sounds familiar, that’s because Zontar is a remake of an earlier Roger Corman film called It Conquered the World. For some reason, in the ’60s, American International Pictures gave Larry Buchanan a handful of money and told him, “Go direct some crappy remakes of some of our best films.” Zontar is probably the best known of Buchanan’s remakes and it’s also probably the most fun.
I mean, don’t get me wrong. It’s nowhere near as good as It Conquered The World but, at the same time, it doesn’t have the slow spots that show up in most of Buchanan’s other films. The story moves fairly briskly and Buchanan keeps the picture in focus and, considering some of Buchanan’s other movies, that’s a bit of a minor triumph. Zontar is an impressive monster. I’d say that batty Zontar is probably a more effective creation 
than the smiling crab that showed up in It Conquered The World. Finally, you get to see John Agar trying to ride a bicycle and that’s always an entertaining sight.
Zontar is enjoyably dumb. If you want to kill 80 minutes but don’t want to have to do any thinking, watching Zontar is a recommended way to do it.
Lisa Marie Bowman – Check out more of Lisa’s reviews at Through the Shattered Lens
YouTube reviews:
All the Zontar scenes from Zontar, the Thing from Venus:
Full film – free to watch online on YouTube [1080p HD]:
Full film – free to watch online [720p]:
More trustworthy recommended reviews:
AllMovie
The Bloody Pit of Horror
The Bad Movie Report
DVD Drive-in
DVD Talk
Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings
Related:
IT CONQUERED THE WORLD (1956) Reviews of Roger Corman cheese
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