kevin olzak "Invasion of the Animal People," though carrying a 1961 copyright, is actually a 1958 production originally titled "Rymdinvasion i Lappland" (Space Invasion of Lappland), made in Sweden by Hollywood director Virgil Vogel, coming off a pair of marginal Universal entries, "The Mole People" and "The Land Unknown." The arctic setting certainly provides a more interesting backdrop than anything that happens on film, as a trio of aliens burrow into the snow and ice, allowing a solitary creature to escape, approximately 20 feet tall and covered in fur. We only get to see the 'animal person' during the final two reels of an 80 minute feature, actually 9 minutes longer than the original, despite several scenes of exposition shortened and streamlined. The perpetrator of this 'new' movie was our old friend Jerry Warren, a hustler adept at taking other people's films and making a fast buck out of them, adding newly shot footage of his own that adds nothing but running time. Such was the case here, as John Carradine supplies three minutes of on screen narration to open the film, after which we only occasionally hear his sterling voice propping up the deadly dull proceedings. Warren needlessly begins his version with an abominable 17 straight minutes of new dialogue heavy scenes, utilizing actress Barbara Wilson for proper continuity, so by the time we reach the original footage it's a painless rendition of the unreleased "Terror in the Midnight Sun" (interrupted by only two additional Warren-shot scenes). Gorgeous brunette Barbara Wilson did a fairly daring nude scene in the Swedish version, also a veteran of pulsating pulchritude in "Teenage Doll," "Blood of Dracula," and "The Flesh Eaters." Screenwriter Arthur C. Pierce continued in the genre vein with "The Cosmic Man," "Beyond the Time Barrier," "The Human Duplicators," "Mutiny in Outer Space," "Women of the Prehistoric Planet," "Dimension 5," "Cyborg 2087," "The Destructors," and "The Astral Factor." Jerry Warren deserves some small credit for hardly tampering with what he had, but not for the two additional reels of nonsensical claptrap. Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater aired this Carradine title on four occasions: Mar 2 1968 (followed by "Journey to the Seventh Planet"), July 26 1969 (preceded by "Godzilla vs. the Thing"), May 30 1970 (followed by "The Black Doll"), and July 24 1971 (followed by "Space Monster").

MartinHafer For background information, try reading Michael Elliot's review--it's pretty helpful. He explains how this original film was chopped to pieces and new scenes in English were added. You wonder if what the original film actually is about--perhaps it's a very different story!! I've seen a few other films that were pieced together like this--American-International did this a lot in the 1960s.This is really a single film marketed by Something Weird Video. Despite saying on the box that it's a "Swedish Double Feature", the two titles on the cover are the same film that has been chopped up two different ways--one with John Carradine narrating. Perhaps they didn't intend to fool the viewer, but there is only one full-length film and a few tiny special features. If you do watch it, try "Invasion of the Animal People"--it's unintentionally funnier--though the print is poorer. Also, this version lacks the nudity of the other one--making it more family-friendly.As I watched this film, I was amazed how incredibly slow this movie was. So much of the film seems to have NOTHING to do with monsters or anything remotely scary. Instead, you see people skiing and a gratuitous nude scene that has absolutely nothing scary about it! In fact, after the initial scene of a crappy looking ship crashing in the snow, NOTHING seems to happen related to this until about 27 minutes in the film when you see a bunch of carcasses of reindeer. This made the film very slow and a bit dull...no...a LOT dull--even with the nude scene. In fact, this lady sure seemed to like to take off her clothes!! However, you don't get to really see the extremely silly monster until about 55 minutes into the movie--by which time you are dying for it all to end! Up until then, you only catch bits and pieces--a hairy arm her, the back of the head there and the like. Coming from Something Weird, I was amazed how non-weird and listless the film was--usually the films they carry are laughably bad--not dull! Or, they are chock full of sex--which this one isn't, either.A dull flute sound track, a confusing and dull story, a monster who is silly looking but not worth the interminable wait, aliens that look like the Angel of Death from "The Seventh Sign" and an amateurish look to the entire production, this one isn't of interest to bad movie buffs like myself who enjoy films like "Plan 9" or "Eeegah!"--it's just boring and not worth bothering to see. If you do see it, skip to the last 12 minutes--at least this part is enjoyable for it's kitsch value!

Enchorde ** HERE BE SPOILERS ** Recap: An apparent meteor lands in the snow cowered wilderness in northern Sweden. Strangely enough it seems like it did a horizontal landing instead of a vertical strike with crater and all. A team of scientists are flown in from Stockholm and travels out to the site. There it is apparent that it is no meteor but an alien spacecraft. At the same time there are reports of a huge monster running about.Comment: This is a typical B-movie scifi horror kind of thing that were not uncommon in the fifties. What I didn't know that there was one produced and filmed in Sweden. Unfortunately the story could have been better, it contains far to little action, far too little events. The ending is open, no questions answered, and in all honesty, pretty lame. Otherwise, I got what I expected. Some shots of the monster, a little love story and a bunch of minor goofs (such as the usage of a plane that has already been destroyed, but I guess the producers had only one available (they could have changed registration numbers though), and that skiers seem to go downhill almost always.) I think the cast did good with the material at hand, and there are no major errors in the directing either. The story is too thin, that's all. But they got to show some of Swedens landmarks... And it was fun as I have been in the region where the film was shot.

Chuck Straub On the DVD I rented there were two versions of the same movie, Horror in the Midnight Sun, and Invasion of the Animal People. Although these are quite different, IMDb has these listed together as Rymdinvasion i Lappland. Horror in the Midnight Sun was a fairly decent movie. It's another low budget B movie from the late 50s. A lot of these have their problems and Horror in the Midnight Sun is no exception but it is an entertaining movie. It was also interesting to watch a movie of this genre that is Swedish/American made. It's a Swedish version of a B Sci/Fi monster movie. I'm glad I watched it. It was nothing special but still decent. Invasion of the Animal People was not as good and by itself would be a mess. When seen after watching Horror in the Midnight Sun, it does show how a movie can be cut up, pieces spliced in and the movie changed. Watching to see what and how the film was changed was the only thing I found interesting with Invasion of the Animal People. If you're really into 50s Sci/Fi B monster movies, you should take a look at Horror In The Midnight Sun but if you only have a chance to see Invasion of the Animal People, don't bother.