The Cape Canaveral Monsters is a 1960 sci-fi film about two aliens attempting to sabotage the U.S. space program.
Written and directed by Phil Tucker (Orca – post-production supervisor; King Kong 1976 – post-production supervisor; Robot Monster), the CCM Productions movie stars Scott Peters (They Saved Hitler’s Brain), Linda Connell, Jason Johnson (Invasion of the Saucer Men) and Katherine Victor (Frankenstein Island; House of the Black Death; Curse of the Stone Hand; Teenage Zombies). Produced and edited by Richard Greer ((production coordinator on The Addams Family TV series, 1964 – 1966).
The frenetic soundtrack score was composed by Gene Kauer aka Guenther Kauer (Faces of Death and sequels; Monstroid; Claws; Monstrosity; The Beast of Yucca Flats; The Astounding She-Monster).
Plot:
Two mysterious white circles move about on a solid black background. As they move, a woman’s voice says they must obtain human bodies to carry out their mission.
Meanwhile, a man and woman leave a beach near Cape Canaveral, Florida. The circles descend on them, causing their car to crash. Both are killed. However, their bodies jerk back to life as they are taken over by the white circles, which are actually extraterrestrials. The woman’s face is badly cut from smashing into the windshield and the man’s left arm has been torn off. When they exit the wrecked car, the male alien, Hauron, leaves his severed arm behind. The woman alien, Nadja, retrieves it and tells him that she will sew it back on at the laboratory, in an artificial cave they have built as their headquarters.
When Hauron reconnoiters Cape Canaveral one night, an MP’s guard dogs attack him and tear off his recently reattached arm. Nonetheless, he uses his “disruptor ray” to shoot down the rockets as soon as they are launched. The rocket scientists, who do not know about the extraterrestrials, work diligently to try to understand why their rockets are exploding…
Choice dialogue:
Nadja: “Hurry, Hauron. Your arm. Take it and I’ll sew it back on at the laboratory,”
Hauron: “We can make do until after the launching to find more earthlings. I can do with one arm until then.”
Sally Markham: “You may be bright at math but you certainly don’t know much about women.”
Filming locations:
Bronson Caves, Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park – 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California
Malibu, California (beach scenes)
Technical specs:
1 hour 9 minutes
Black and white
Aspect Ratio: 1.37: 1
Audio: Mono (RCA Sound Recording)
Production:
The movie was apparently to be filmed in colour on a two-week shooting schedule, with time for multiple takes, and with financing provided by “group of dentists or doctors,” according to actress Katherine Victor in an interview she gave to film critic/historian Tom Weaver. She was paid, she says, about $420 or $450 for her role. However, the movie ended up being shot in black-and-white and in single takes due to budget cuts.
Release:
Although intended for theatrical release, there is seemingly no record of the movie being shown even at drive-ins. The Cape Canaveral Monsters was sold to television in early 1964 by the distribution company M and A Alexander. It was part of the “Chiller Science Fiction Package” of four movies. The other three were Flight of the Lost Balloon (1961), The Hideous Sun Demon (1959) and The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1961).
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