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The Creeping Terror

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brianalbright	The Creeping Terror	Lead	[-]
Sep 28 06 10:44 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I looked around for this elsewhere on the board, but couldn't find anything. Anyone know anything about this low-budget atrocity with its notorious "carpet monster"? There is a lengthy entry on Wikipedia about it (and a fairly spirited discussion there about the reliability of the info included in the entry). Apparently director/star Art Nelson/Vic Savage was some kind of con man who absconded not long after filming was complete. Either Robert or Allan Silliphant wrote the story, and either or both of them may have been a brother or half-brother of Oscar-winning writer Stirling Silliphant (who I believe was responsible for the notorious bet that launched MANOS, THE HANDS OF FATE). There appear to be a lot of legends about this movie, but I've yet to find any documentation or original source for any of them. Even the filming location appears to be in dispute. Can the Weaver/Warren/Newsom/Lucas cabal shed any light?
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Bill Warren	Re: The Creeping Terror	#1	[-]
Sep 28 06 12:27 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* Can the Weaver/Warren/Newsom/Lucas cabal shed any light? Sorry, but the Wikipedia article has more information than I've seen about this movie anywhere else. The only error I'm sure of is that they misspell Jon Lackey's name as John Lacky. I wasn't able to fix that. When Joe Dante shot the porno shots for THE HOWLING, the guy who ran the small Santa Monica Blvd. studio he used proudly told him that it's where the studio shots for THE CREEPING TERROR were filmed.
rvoyttbots	Re: The Creeping Terror	#2	[-]
Sep 28 06 9:41 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Isn`t there a story thst the soundtrack for the film was lost in the lake? Some such nonsense.
TServo4	Re: The Creeping Terror	#3	[-]
Sep 29 06 1:58 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Allan Silliphant (aka Al Silliman Jr.) of course later went onto better things, such as THE STEWARDESSES.... ...okay, maybe not better, but certainly more prestigious. I think he's still alive. I know someone who would know, so if I find out he is, I'm sure you could track him down and ask him straight out. ---- -J. Theakston
brianalbright	The Creeping Terror	#4	[-]
Sep 29 06 6:06 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* I think he's still alive. I know someone who would know, so if I find out he is, I'm sure you could track him down and ask him straight out. Well, if he is that would certainly settle it, although I'm still not sure if it was Allan or Robert, or if they were one and the same person. Robert wrote Steckler's INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES. I don't have a copy of CREEPING TERROR, so I can't check the credits to see which name is used. I'll have to check the Steckler commentary on CREATURES to see if he mentions the guy. As for the story about the sound equipment in the lake, that's one of the common ones. Thes soundtrack was screwed up, so that's why they wound up with narration over much of the dialogue. The other common story is that Jon Lackey (mentioned in Bill Warren's post) built a much better monster suit that was stolen before shooting began, and Art Nelson had to concoct the monster in the film on short notice. Nelson also apparently got locals to invest in the film for shares (plus they got to appear), but essentially rooked them out of their money. According to the stories, he vanished after being threatened with prosecution. However, I haven't been able to find any documentation of this other than what's on wikipedia and the IMDB. I can't find any mention of the film or the principles in the L.A. Times archive. I need to check the interview with Byrd Holland that was in Fangoria 231 a couple of years back and see if it's mentioned there.
Rick	Re: The Creeping Terror	#5	[-]
Sep 29 06 11:14 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	That's incredible! It's almost impossible to believe!! You mean somebody actually wrote INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES???
blackbiped	Re: The Creeping Terror	#6	[-]
Sep 30 06 8:24 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Brendon Boone, the guy who played "Barney the deputy", actually went on to join the cast of the 1967 TV series "Garrison's Gorillas", a DIRTY DOZEN clone starring Ron Harper. I loved this show as a kid but all I remember about it is that it had a cool main titles sequence and a great theme by Leonard Rosenman. Legend, oh legend, the third wheel legend...always in the way.
brianalbright	The Creeping Terror	#7	[-]
Sep 30 06 2:53 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* That's incredible! It's almost impossible to believe!! You mean somebody actually wrote INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES??? According to the AFI database, both Robert AND Alan Silliphant are listed as screenwriters on CREEPING TERROR, so Stirling apparently got all the talent in that family. As for INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES, it took three different writers to come up with something just as incomprehensible.
brianalbright	The Creeping Terror	#8	[-]
Nov 30 06 10:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Okay, I finally got a copy of the William Thourlby interview that was in FilmFax. Bear in mind this was one of Paul Parla's interviews, but Thourlby said he invested in the film originally. Shooting was halted for some length of time after Art Nelson/Vic Savage had shot some initial footage. Nelson then disappeared, and Thourlby claims he went to his house only to find Nelson gone and his belongings being reposessed. Thourlby was able to snag the film, then had to finish it himself. He said that Andy Janczak helping with the camerwork, and Robert Silliphant pitching in. The Fangoria interview with Byrd Holland only had a passing reference to the film, so my search continues. I think I located the correct Allan Silliphant, so if I hear anything from him, I'll post an update.
Cadaverino	Re: The Creeping Terror	#9	[-]
Dec 4 06 12:30 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Screenwriter Stirling Silliphant (In the Heat of the Night) was born in Detroit in 1918 and had only one sibling, a younger brother Leigh. Allan Francis Silliphant (a.k.a. Alf Silliman Jr., Frank Sillman), 65, lives in Glendale, California. His brother Robert Lee Silliphant died in Glendale in 1999, at 62 years. Both were born in Los Angeles.
Tonyspiders	Re: The Creeping Terror	#10	[-]
Dec 5 06 9:36 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	This sounds like an amazing mess. Is it available on DVD?
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oldmanster	Re: The Creeping Terror	#11	[-]
Dec 5 06 9:41 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Probably, since I found one gray market source for it (edit: kimsdvdclassics.com). ... Reed
JPChe	Re: The Creeping Terror	#12	[-]
Dec 5 06 9:54 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	THE CREEPING TERROR has not been released on DVD. Actually, it wasn't widely available on VHS either. A decent grey market DVD copy can be obtained from CryptFlicks.
Plastic Sam	Re: The Creeping Terror	#13	[-]
Dec 5 06 4:02 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	CREEPING TERROR is available on the MST3K Volume 1 boxed set, both in the MST3K version and without Mike and the Bots. Rhino has lost the rights to all 4 films in Volume 1, so you may want to grab one now if you really want the film.
Tonyspiders	Re: The Creeping Terror	#14	[-]
Dec 7 06 10:35 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I've never explored the MST DVDs. Can you turn off the "commentary" and simply watch the film in question?
Plastic Sam	Re: The Creeping Terror	#15	[-]
Dec 7 06 10:37 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	In some cases, one side of the disc is the MST3K version and the other side is the straight version of the film, so there's no need to turn off commentary. CREEPING TERROR is one of those titles.
JPChe	Re: The Creeping Terror	#16	[-]
Dec 7 06 11:56 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Sam, thanks for that correction--I'd been searching for the film and had no idea it was available. I wish I could purchase it as a seperate disc, however.
Plastic Sam	Re: The Creeping Terror	#17	[-]
Dec 7 06 12:38 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	You're very welcome, JP. It is unfortunate that Rhino wasn't in the habit of offering all their MST3K titles separately. Having to pay around $40 just to get CREEPING TERROR is a bit much!
JPChe	Re: The Creeping Terror	#18	[-]
Dec 7 06 12:56 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* Having to pay around $40 just to get CREEPING TERROR is a bit much! In the words of Ed Wood: "That's the understatement of the year!"
Paul Haight	Re: The Creeping Terror	#19	[-]
Dec 8 06 12:23 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Although the MST300 collection does offer an unaltered version of 'Creeping Terror', the print quality is terrible. Not only are the film elements in poor condition, big chunks of hair and debris sometimes appear at the top and/or bottom of the frame for several seconds at a time. There's a thread over at The Home Theater Forum devoted to DVD releases of titles from the Crown International library, which has been acquired by BCI. A spokesman for BCI mentioned in that thread that they've recently located the original negative for 'Creeping Terror', though he also said they didn't know yet what kind of condition it was in. With any luck, maybe we'll see a decent presentation of this in 2007.
brianalbright	The Creeping Terror	#20	[-]
Jan 3 07 12:00 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	It appears that most of the info on CREEPING TERROR posted at IMDB and Wikipedia stems from Michael and Harry Medved's write up on the film in "Son of the Golden Turkey Awards." Looks like the Medveds spoke to Thourlby, Allan Silliphant, Jon Lackey, actor Ken Savage, and composer Frederick Kopp, and consulted documents from the Los Angeles Superior Court indicating several participants had sued Art Nelson/Vic Savage. They didn't list a date on those documents, or if the cases were ever settled. I've since spoken to Allan Silliphant, who confirmed many of the details and cleared a few others up. Allan wrote the original story for Art Nelson, and managed the notorious Film Center Studios, located in the old Masonic temple at 234 South Brand in Glendale. This was the location with the single elevator where Steckler made INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES. According to Silliphant, the building was used as a tax write-off by Rock Hudson (!). Anyway, Robert Silliphant helped Thourlby finish the film after Allan had distanced himself from the production because Nelson seemed so shady. And BCI/Deimos is supposed to be releasing the film at some point next year, although it's unclear exactly when that will happen.
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