Green Slime, The (1968)

After a perilous but successful mission to destroy a huge Class II asteroid on a collision course with earth, a UNSC crew – including Commander Jack Rankin (Robert Horton) and Commander Vince Elliott (Richard Jaeckel) – returns to its space station, unaware a bit of ooze from the asteroid clings to a crewman’s uniform.

The innocent-looking piece of green goop grows into a kind of syrupy, hyperactive mint jelly when exposed to an electric current and multiples like crazy into murderous, hissing, red-eyed monsters with tentacles that light up like sparklers to electrocute the humans.

As station members fight to live, the gunk from the monsters’ wounds turns into more monsters!

Of course, it’s not enough that Rankin and Elliott have to cope with this menace from outer space, they naturally have to be rivals both professionally and personally, vying for the affections of curvy space doctor Lisa Benson (ex-Bond girl Luciana Paluzzi).

The very obvious miniature work is strictly of the erector set variety, the acting is dreadful and the dialogue is straight out of Flash Gordon but the film is lots of fun thanks to the no-holds-barred direction of Kinji Fukasaku, whose later work was championed by Quentin Tarantino.

The Los Angeles Times called The Green Slime “one of the funniest made-in-Japan sci-fi monster movies ever” when it was released.

Commander Jack Rankin
Robert Horton
Dr Lisa Benson
Luciana Paluzzi
Commander Vince Elliott
Richard Jaeckel
General Jonathan B. Thompson
Bud Widom
Dr Hans Halvorsen
Ted Gunther
Lt. Curtis
David Yorston
Captain Martin
Robert Dunham
Cordier
Gary Randolf
Lt. Morris
Jack Morris
Technicians
Eugene Vince
Don Plante
Nurse
Linda Hardisty
Michaels
Richard Hylland

Director
Kinji Fukasaku

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