Inseminoid

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Inseminoid
In the foreground of the underlit image, a prostrate female in labour screams as the head of an alien infant emerges from between her legs. In the background, two men in atmospheric suits shine helmet flashlights onto the newborn, aghast at the unnatural childbirth that is unfolding in front of them. Text at the top of the image reads "Somewhere in the Depths of Space ... A Horrific Nightmare is About to Become a Reality". Underneath the bold, red title of "Inseminoid", the smaller text concludes "... A Far from Human Birth!" and leads into the production credits which line the bottom of the image.

Film poster
Directed by Norman J. Warren
Produced by Richard Gordon
David Speechley
Written by Nick Maley
Gloria Maley
Starring Judy Geeson
Robin Clarke
Jennifer Ashley
Stephanie Beacham
Music by John Scott
Cinematography John Metcalfe
Editing by Peter Boyle
Studio Jupiter Film Productions
Distributed by Butcher's Film Service
Release dates
  • 22 March 1981 (1981-03-22)
Running time 93 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Budget £1 million

Inseminoid (titled Horror Planet in the United States) is a British science-fiction horror film released in 1981. Director Norman J. Warren's eighth film, the plot of Inseminoid concerns a group of future scientists excavating the ruins of an ancient civilisation on a distant planet. When a monstrous alien creature attacks and inseminates one of the women in the team, chaos ensues as the unbalanced victim, possessing unnatural strength, murders her colleagues one after another in a psychotic bid to protect her unborn twin hybrid offspring. It stars Judy Geeson, Robin Clarke, and Stephanie Beacham. Victoria Tennant makes an early film appearance.

Filmed between May and June 1980, Inseminoid is based on a script written by Nick and Gloria Maley, a couple who had contributed to the special effects of Warren's films starting with Satan's Slave (1976). A low budget of £1 million, half of which was contributed by the Hong Kong Shaw Brothers, funded location filming in both the Chislehurst Caves in Kent and on the island of Gozo in Malta. Composer John Scott perfected the electronic score of Inseminoid in multiple hours-long studio sessions following the completion of shooting.

Although initial box office reception was positive both in the United Kingdom and overseas, Inseminoid has since failed to impress a majority of critics, who have faulted Warren's film for perceived poor acting, special effects and set design. Despite praise for actress Judy Geeson's depiction of the lead character, Sandy, approval of the film in general has been tarnished due to its concept of an extraterrestrial insemination, which has been viewed negatively in comparison to the premise of Alien (1979). Both Warren and Alien distributors 20th Century Fox have rejected claims that the script of Inseminoid was influenced by that of the earlier film.

Academic criticism of Inseminoid has concentrated on the film's treatment of the female sex and female sexualities in the context of corruption by an alien source. In addition to its depiction of the abject Sandy, who is rendered a distorted Other in the aftermath of her unnatural impregnation, the film has been seen to incorporate a clash between the patriarchal and the maternal towards its climax, as the would-be-mother eliminates her former friends one by one. Complementing the film's successful VHS run, a novelisation of Inseminoid has been written by author Larry Miller.

Plot

On a desolate planet, a team of 12 Xeno project scientists are conducting an archaeological excavation of the ruins of an ancient civilisation. Shortly after an underground tomb network is found to contain crystals and wall inscriptions, photographer Dean White (Dominic Jephcott) is engulfed in a rock blast and left incapacitated. Deciphering the alien language in the caves, xenolinguist Mitch (Trevor Thomas) theorises that the civilisation was built on the concept of dualism: the planet orbits a binary star, and a pair of twins seems to have ruled the race that once inhabited it. Medical assistant Sharon (Heather Wright) finds that an energy field surrounds the crystals, leading her to believe that a "chemical intelligence" ordered life on the planet.

A deranged Ricky Williams (David Baxt) is impelled to re-enter the caves when a sample of crystals starts to pulsate and the chemical intelligence exerts its influence through a mark on his arm. Thrown into a grille in a compromised environmental suit, a panicked Gail (Rosalind Lloyd) commits suicide, removing her helmet and freezing to death in the toxic atmosphere while trying to amputate her trapped foot with a chainsaw. Documentation officer Kate Frost (Stephanie Beacham) shoots Ricky with a harpoon gun before he opens both the inner and outer airlock doors and renders the air inside the base unbreathable.

Following the burial of Ricky and Gail, Mitch and Sandy (Judy Geeson) return to the caves to collect more crystals. A monstrous creature appears and dismembers Mitch before proceeding to rape Sandy. Found distraught, Sandy receives treatment from Sharon and chief medical officer Karl (Barry Houghton), who discovers that the assault has initiated an accelerated pregnancy despite the regular intravenous injections of contraceptives given to the women in the team. When further explosions within the catacombs scupper chances of deeper investigation, the surviving members of the team are left with nothing to do except await the arrival of a Xeno rescue shuttle.

The intelligence assumes control of Sandy, who has been marked in the same way as Ricky. Mentally unbalanced, Sandy demonstrates superhuman strength while stabbing Barbra (Victoria Tennant) to death with scissors. She then mutilates Dean and the remains of Mitch, drinking their blood. The rest of the team seek refuge in the Operations Room as Sandy destroys important hardware—including the base transmitter—with explosives. When the imbalance in Sandy's mind appears to correct itself, Karl, Sharon and Commander Holly McKay (Jennifer Ashley) attempt sedation to spare her unborn offspring. Sandy's madness returns and Holly and Karl are killed in an accident with heat-sealing apparatus, whereupon Sandy disembowels the corpses.

The photograph depicts a rock-filled shoreline, with breaking waves striking at the cliffs.
Gozo island doubles as the planet's surface.[1]

Senior officer Mark (Robin Clarke) radios Sandy, his lover, from the Operations Room to stall for time as Kate and operations chief Gary (Stephen Grives) leave to commandeer chainsaws. The ruse is uncovered and Sandy harpoons Gary outside the airlock, breathing the atmosphere to no ill effect as she mauls his flesh. Preparing for a final confrontation, Mark stumbles across Sandy's newborn mutant twins. He entrusts them to Sharon as their mother blasts through the Operations Room door and destroys all the equipment inside, although it is evident that she has lost her unnatural strength. Crippled from the blast of an explosive charge, Kate is gored to death. In a last stand, Mark strangles and kills Sandy with a ripped-out cable. He returns to Sharon to find one of the twins biting at her gashed neck, before its sibling launches itself at him.

Twenty-eight days later, Xeno Auxiliary Module 047 lands on the planet to investigate the loss of contact with the team. With the base in ruins, the mission records destroyed and the complement of scientists either murdered or missing, combat marksmen Corin (Kevin O'Shea) and Roy (Robert Pugh) abandon the search for survivors and pilot Jeff (John Segal) contacts Xeno control to request clearance to return. The final shots reveal that Sandy's children have stowed themselves away inside a storage compartment on board the shuttle.

Production

There is a sequence in the film when Rick goes on a rampage through the caves. Well at the time of shooting this, we were running a little behind on the schedule, so I had to put the "blue pencil" through part of the scene, which involved a chase through various tunnels. Three pages of script, which I had to condense into one shot. Having to make such an enormous compromise was not a happy choice for me, but it was the only way of getting us back on schedule.

Norman J. Warren[2]

Following the releases of Satan's Slave (1976), Prey (1978) and Terror (1979), Norman J. Warren had at first been attached to direct a film titled Gargoyles.[2] When this production collapsed at the scripting stage, Warren and his producer, Richard Gordon, accepted a plot proposal from the husband-and-wife team of Nick and Gloria Maley, who had worked on Satan's Slave as members of the special effects department besides Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) and Superman (1978).[3] The Maleys drafted their concept as a composite of their favourite science-fiction ideas[3] and a chance to exhibit the best of their effects work,[4] although the suggested title, Doomseeds, had to be changed to avoid confusion with the 1977 film Demon Seed.[2] The script for the new Inseminoid, which indicates that the film is set two decades in the future in a militaristic universe,[5] required a number of amendments prior to filming, although the premise gained the approval of Warren and Gordon.[2]

Agreeing to fund half of the proposed £1 million budget, the Hong Kong Shaw Brothers became partners in the film's production.[4] Elder brother Sir Run Run Shaw is credited as the presenter of Inseminoid in the opening titles. With a production staff of 75, principal photography commenced on 12 May 1980.[2] John Metcalfe, camera operator for Satan's Slave and Terror, assumed the role of cinematographer.[2] His former role fell to the less experienced Dick Pope.[2] Three weeks of location filming at the Chislehurst Caves in Kent preceded a one-week indoor session at Lee International Studios at Wembley Park in London.[2] The second unit completed special effects and linking shots in a fifth week, based at Film House in Wardour Street. To simulate the desolate landscape of the alien planet in long shots, the production team departed for the island of Gozo off Malta for a final recording session of two days, capitalising on the strong Mediterranean sun to produce good lighting.[2]

In this image, a hideous alien creature with a mouth dripping blood stares in the rough direction of the camera, having pounced on a woman and bit through her throat, murdering her.
Nick Maley's special effects work included the alien twin props.[1] In this screenshot, one of the infants is found to have murdered Sharon (Heather Wright).

Opting to record using Mitchell cameras incorporating 35 mm Eastman Kodak film and anamorphic lenses, Warren recalls that the produced footage boasted "an incredibly sharp image and what I would term as the 'American' look."[2] He remembers that the setting of the Chislehurst Caves rendered the subterranean complex more realistic than a potential in-studio alternative given the modest budget of Inseminoid.[2] However, the cold, damp, airless conditions, combined with the uneven surface of the cave floors, complicated the filming sessions and necessitated frequent repairs of equipment.[4] Shooting often ran for 12 hours at a time and led to frequent minor injuries among the cast and production staff,[4] while some developed intense feelings of claustrophobia in the confined space.[4] Gordon suggests that the uncomfortable working conditions made the performances of the cast more realistic, but concedes that although, "I think all this paid off in terms of what we got on the screen for the budget, but the circumstances were very difficult."[4] In the absence of suitable facilities inside the caves, the personnel established administrative, dressing and make-up rooms in a car park some distance from the recording area.[2] Co-writer Nick Maley reprised his role as a special effects technician to produce the infant twin props that appear in the climax of the film.[3] Shooting on Inseminoid wrapped 48 hours behind schedule.[2]

Music

On his contribution to Inseminoid, Warren stated that Peter Boyle proved to be "a pleasure to work with, because he had a natural feel for the material and managed to create just the right pace and rhythm throughout the film."[2] During the post-production process, the editing staff increased the brightness of the original print, concerned that a dim appearance would damage the chances of sales to television broadcasters,[2] and removed the most graphic shots of the birth of the mutant children for the purposes of classification.[6] The opening title visuals, consisting of vibrant oil frames, are a contribution of Oxford Scientific Films.[1] Determining that the low budget precluded an orchestral soundtrack, Warren and his long-standing composer, John Scott, agreed that all the music should be electronic.[2] Produced after hours of studio multi-tracking and overdubbing, Warren considers the final score an "amazing achievement"[2] and praises Scott's realisation of a soundtrack incorporating the "experimental"[2] electronic brand of music. The score received an LP release in 1982.[7]

Inseminoid
Soundtrack album by John Scott
Released 1982
Genre Electronic
Length 34:50
Label Citadel[7]
Track list[7]
No. Title Length
1. "Main Title"   2:35
2. "The Chrysalis"   3:34
3. "Virus"   2:22
4. "Death in Space"   4:01
5. "The Creature Strikes"   3:20
6. "The Insemination"   2:10
7. "Sandy's Metamorphosis"   4:02
8. "Sandy's Warning"   1:21
9. "Sandy Kills"   2:25
10. "Birth of the Twins"   2:42
11. "Death of Sandy"   2:27
12. "Inseminoid"   3:51

Casting

We were working on a scene, in which [Clarke] had to fight with Judy Geeson, and he just kept on about how he would do it, and how effective it would be if he did this or that ... Robin kept on ranting and raving about his ideas to the point where I couldn't take it anymore. So I screamed at him to shut up and keep quiet. I told him I was the director and we would do the scene the way I said. He was shocked, he just stopped dead, and from that point on he hardly said a word.

Norman J. Warren[2]

Producer Richard Gordon cast American actors Clarke and Ashley while on business in Hollywood.[4] Prior to Inseminoid, Ashley had starred in minor films of such independent studios as Crown International Pictures, while Clarke had just completed filming on the 1980 film The Formula.[2] Warren recalls that although Ashley "was not the greatest actress, she was very enthusiastic and very easy to work with."[2] The professional relationship between Warren and Clarke broke down during the filming of sequences such as Dean's incapacitation inside the caves, when the director and actor disagreed about the extent to which Clarke needed to respond to the script when his character raises his voice to a shout.[2] Warren asserts that Clarke's "high opinion of himself"[2] made the actor "a nightmare to work with",[2] and adds that he "could be extremely difficult, making every scene with him an uphill struggle."[2]

Rapports between the director and other cast members proved to be positive: in particular, Geeson is credited as "an absolute dream to work with"[2] and praised for her acting of the maddened expectant mother, which Warren argues avoids descending into unintentional humour.[2] Gordon also offers a positive assessment, stating that Geeson accepted the demands of her part with enthusiasm and did not complain that it demeaned her as an actress.[4]

Warren retains fond memories of Beacham's "very professional"[8] performance, and remarks that, "with tongue firmly in cheek, she would often wind me up by asking what her motivation was for a particular action, just as I about to call 'Action!', knowing full well that my answer would be, 'Because it's in the script'."[8] Beacham, a mother of two infant children, agreed to appear in the film to support her family: "I had to choose between a play that I really, really wanted to do, which would have paid me £65 a week, and this script for a film called Inseminoid. Hey! No choice. Two pink babies asleep upstairs! No choice!"[9]

Distribution

In the United Kingdom, Inseminoid premiered on 22 March 1981 in the Midlands.[2] It later opened at 65 cinemas in the region, and reached London in October.[2] Overseas, German cinemas had begun to exhibit the film in January under the title Samen des Bösen (English: Seeds of Evil).[2] To the dislike of Warren,[6] distributors Almi released the film under the title Horror Planet in the United States and Canada,[4] but later restored the name to the original Inseminoid.[6]

Original pre-release advertising included a regional "mail drop" of circulars presenting screenshots of a screaming Geeson and the tagline "Warning! An Horrific Alien Birth! A Violent Nightmare in Blood! Inseminoid at a Cinema Near You Soon!"[2] Warren, who regrets the decision to publicise the film in such a graphic manner, comments, "The problem with mail-drops is that you have no way of knowing who lives in the house, or who will see it first. It could be a pregnant woman, and old lady, or even worse, a young child. So it was not such a good idea."[2]

Rated "X" in the United Kingdom,[3] in the United States Inseminoid screened under the "R" certificate for its "profanity, nudity, violence, rape and gore".[10] In 2005, the British Board of Film Classification revised its certification of Inseminoid, re-rating the film "15" from "18" for its "strong, bloody violence".[11] Inseminoid became one of the first films to be released on VHS soon after its appearance in cinemas, and reached seventh position in British video sales charts in November 1981.[2] Renewed editions became available in 1992 and 1998.[2]

Reception

Inseminoid attracted positive critical reception on its original release.[2][6] In terms of box office performance, it reached a high of fifth position in the 1981 British charts.[2][6] At one point it ranked seventh at the box office in France, while in the United States it proceeded to enter the Los Angeles Times list of top ten films.[2] American director Roger Corman congratulated Warren on the film and considered commissioning him for further productions.[3] However, a private screening had failed to impress members of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, who dismissed Inseminoid as "'Commercial rubbish! ... Not the sort of thing the Academy should be showing ... And certainly not the kind of film the British film industry should be making!'"[2] In 1982, Inseminoid received a minor accolade at the Italian Fantafestival (winning the Best Special Effects prize) and a nomination at the Fantasporto convention in Portugal (for the Best Film award).[12] Recalling how the depiction the female sex in Inseminoid displeased women's circles, Warren states, "It seems it is quite common for pregnant women to have nightmares about giving birth to some kind of monster. Of course, all their complaints and their letters which were printed in the local papers only helped to increase the queue at the box office."[2]

Examining the acting in a review published in Starlog magazine, Alan Jones expressed a preference for the British members of the cast, crediting Geeson as "absolutely first-rate"[3] and criticising "the weak performances from the token Americans, Robin Clarke and Jennifer Ashley".[3] Praising the production values for cost-effectiveness, he discerned signs of Warren's "particular trademark"[3] in such murder scenes as that of Barbra (through repeated scissor-stabbing) and Holly (through heat-searing). He professed his opinion that Inseminoid "is not faultless by any means",[3] citing a predictable and often "ridiculous"[3] plot as factors detracting from his pleasure in viewing the film. Nevertheless, he asserted that Inseminoid meets audience demands for a B film of its genre, progressing "at such a pace that you nearly almost forget that you've seen it all before",[3] and declared it to be "far less routine and far more enjoyable than I had expected."[3]

Critical response in the United States proved to be less favourable. In a review published in Virginia in January 1983, Edward Jones of The Free-Lance Star offered praise for the "novel touch"[13] of casting a would-be-mother as the principal villain, commenting, "In what has to be a new low, even for extraterrestrial-horror films, all the men end up punching this pregnant woman in the stomach. What a time to have twins!"[13] Nevertheless, Inseminoid is discarded as "no more than a mix of everything-you've-ever-seen-in-a-horror-movie-and-didn't-particularly-want-to-see-again."[13] In a November 1983 edition of the Floridian newspaper Boca Raton News, Skip Sheffield branded the film "horrible"[10] and "cheapo",[10] suggesting that his readers "Imagine Alien without the fantastic sets, convincing special effects and literate dialogue, and you have a picture of Horror Planet."[10] He added his opinion that brutal violence does not guarantee narrative suspense, punning on the name Run Run Shaw in his downbeat conclusion that "Horror Planet is a film to run, run away from—fast."[10]

This is one knock-off that doesn't take its time with anything—at just 12 minutes in, there's action in those outer space mine shafts, with the first victim in this sci-fi horror tale kick-starting every cliché and already-stolen Alien plot point in the book ... What follows is simply a stage for gloriously awful dialogue spouted out of amateur actors, whose deaths are more a result of pure idiocy in their dumb-as-nails characters than any kind of suspenseful horror plotting.

Jeremy Wheeler, AllRovi[14]

In 2004, Douglas Pratt argued that Inseminoid consists of "some gooey gore shots but few other thrills"[15] and denounced the quality of the acting and props used. He still conceded that Inseminoid "goes through the motions properly, however, so fans will probably find it worth passing the time."[15] The film is award one star out of five on the AllRovi website, where reviewer Cavett Binion rules that it is a "fairly standard rip-off"[16] of Alien in spite of the originality of its core premise, with a "rabid, eye-popping performance"[16] from Geeson that is "more than a bit uncomfortable to watch."[16] The rape sequence is seen as a "surreal and truly disgusting flashback"[16] and the title of the film itself deemed "sleazy".[16]

Warren rejects the label "video nasty", which has been applied to Inseminoid on the incorrect assumption that its violent content made it impossible to release uncut on home video formats in the United Kingdom.[6] In response to the idea that the film has attained cult status, he remarks, "if Inseminoid has become some form of cult movie, then I am very pleased and, indeed, very flattered."[2] On his private response to his work, he answers that "I don't think you could ever be one hundred percent satisfied with any film you make",[2] and that, in the scenario of remaking Inseminoid, he would darken the lighting of certain scenes to heighten the tension and demand a longer filming schedule.[2]

Interpretation

In both [Alien and Inseminoid], conventional sexuality is restored. In Alien, Ripley undresses at the end and displays herself as pleasurable to the audience; similarly, Inseminoid asserts the durability of established gender roles, despite the survival of the twins. However, unlike Alien, Inseminoid retains its power to disturb, as Sandy's words to Mark resound long after the final frame ... The generative mother has spoken, reinforced her eternal presence, and departed to haunt the dreams of men.

Peter Wright[1]

Inseminoid has been criticised as a perceived imitation,[14][17] "knock-off"[18] or "rip-off"[10][15][16] of the 1979 science-fiction horror film Alien. Peter Wright, a film historian, interprets both the "atmospheric"[1] scenes set in the underground tomb network, and the mess hall sequence preceding Rick's madness, as potential derivations from Ridley Scott's film: while the first recalls the setting of the remote planetoid, LV-426, the second resonates with the "Chest Burster" horror scene.[1] Wright asserts that the connection of Inseminoid to Alien could appear to be "exploitative",[19] while Barry Langford of the University of London sees Inseminoid as representative of the dependence of British cinema on its American counterpart.[20]

Alan Jones suggests that "any similarity between Inseminoid and Alien is totally intentional. Except here is the basic idea contained in Alien taken to its sleaziest extreme."[3] He interprets one such parallel in the character of Kate who, it is argued, emulates the appearance of Sigourney Weaver in the role of Ellen Ripley. However, he cites Contamination (1980) and Scared to Death (1981) as less effective imitations of Scott.[3] Besides Alien, Edward Jones discerns elements of the novel Dracula (1897), the television series The Bionic Woman (1976–8), and the films Night of the Living Dead (1968) and The Thing (1982) in the plot of Inseminoid.[13]

However, Warren denies claims of an imitation, citing the discrepancies between the production schedules: when Inseminoid entered the shooting stage, Alien, which had been filmed in closed studios, had been released in the United Kingdom months before.[2] Although the director accepts the often "uncanny"[2] similarities between the films, Alien distributors 20th Century Fox discounted the threat of derivation after watching final cut of Inseminoid: "They agreed it was not an Alien rip-off, and in fact, the head of Fox sent us a very nice letter saying how much he enjoyed the film and wished us luck with the release ... I find it flattering that anyone can compare Alien, which cost in the region of $30 million, with Inseminoid which cost less than £1 million. We must have done something right."[2]

Wright construes the transformation of Sandy from innocent female to a murderous mother-to-be of human-alien crossbred twins as a "direct manifestation of masculine anxiety regarding female reproductive capacity". He notes that the origin of the horror that powers Inseminoid is internalised as the seed of a violent alien life form, which renders Sandy "woman-as-other", or "abject Other". This opposes transferring "fear of woman onto the alien other" as demonstrated through the extraterrestrial villain of Alien. However, it is reminiscent of the 1977 film Demon Seed, which casts an advanced computer as the source of a defiling rape that leads to insemination: "in both films, women are framed as 'Other' by their sexual congress with more conventional iconic others: the machine and the alien." Pregnancies are depicted as sources of horror, an attitude apparent in the "uterine and cervical" opening credits of Inseminoid, which indicate that "the viewer is entering the realm of the monstrous womb ... the titling reveals a microscopic insect resident in the body of a larger organism."[1]

In the upper image, a naked woman who lies on a flat surface lined with strip lighting stares upwards in the direction of the camera with a horrified expression on her face. A hypodermic syringe injects fluid into her left arm. In the lower image, a giant (and transparent) alien phallus is seen in side shot, pumping out the equivalent of seminal fluid and impregnating the woman through sexual intercourse.
Sandy (Judy Geeson) is impregnated with the seed of a hideous alien creature. Peter Wright argues that the rape sequence is reflective of conflicting attitudes towards childbirth: while the transparent alien phallus (bottom) promotes reproduction, Karl's intravenous injection (top) serves to suppress it.[1]

Wright argues that Warren's inspiration of terror through a distorted representation of the uterus strikes a chord with the 1979 film The Brood, in which a woman produces deformed children through asexual reproduction. Commenting further, he examines the rape sequence itself, in which Sandy witnesses Karl injecting her with an unknown substance prior to the alien insemination, and forms a connection to dialogue in other scenes which indicates that the female Xeno scientists are administered regular intravenous injections for the purposes of contraception. The impregnation of Sandy through perverted intercourse, conflicting with the suppression of childbirth that is manifested through Karl's use of a hypodermic and (phallic) needle, reveals "coherent sexism" insofar as Inseminoid "attacks the very notion of female sexual freedom, while suggesting, paradoxically, that contraception is the responsibility of women." That Sandy reproduces at an accelerated pace and regresses into an animalistic state form factors adding to her depiction as an abject Other and an object for "male paranoia".[1]

In the final struggle, which pits the patriarchal social structure of the Xeno team against the maternal element embodied through the pregnant female, it is not until Gary has half-suffocated in the toxic atmosphere that he is murdered. Wright argues that the sequence reassures a male in spite of its graphic content, suggesting that no female, including one with superhuman strength, can possess the power to deprive a man of life in cold blood. A murderer of colleagues of both sexes, that Sandy dies at the hands of Mark ultimately renders her an aid to the re-empowerment of the male sex, although the twin offspring are quick to avenge their departed mother.[1] Comparing the plot of Inseminoid to Biblical scriptures, Christopher Partridge of Lancaster University turns his attention to the nature of the twins, referring to them as "essentially space Nephilim, technological demons with appetites and habits reminiscent of the mythic forebears."[21]

Maternal images endure into the epilogue documenting the arrival of Jeff, Corin and Roy at the Xeno base. In an allusion to the human menstrual cycle, it is said that 28 days have elapsed since the communications break-down. The destruction of the installation and the deaths of its occupants are attributed to an "internal disturbance of some kind", forming "an ironic phrase which encapsulates the film's vision of pregnancy as an irruption of Otherness from within." Focusing on Larry Miller's 1981 novelisation of Inseminoid, described as "imaginative and misogynistic", Wright refers to sequences in the narrative, some absent in the original film, that inspire repulsion in the mind of the reader at the distortion of the female form. New transformations that afflict Sandy include oozing sores (which Wright construes as an aberration of natal oil secretion) and pus emanating from the nipples (argued to mirror colostrum, or pre-milk). Sandy accepts such unnatural metamorphoses, which culminate in the onset of labour, with fascination.[1]

Cultural references

A punk rock band from Long Island, New York named themselves after the film. Their theme song, "Horror Planet", contained lyrical references to horrific aspects of the plot. The song was not released as a record but was circulated on cassette demonstration tapes prior to the only official release by the band. In 1985, Horror Planet released a professionally-produced recording on an EP record with hand-painted fabric sleeves. The songs from the Horror Planet record were subsequently re-released in their entirety on the anthology CD compilation, Something in the Water: the Secret History of Long Island Punk, by Winged Disk Records.[22]

A brief clip of Inseminoid is featured in the South Park episode "Helen Keller! The Musical", seen during character Eric Cartman's disturbing vision while he uses sensory deprivation to penetrate the mind of Helen Keller.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Wright, Peter (2002) [1999]. "The British Post-Alien Intrusion Film". In Hunter, I. Q. British Science Fiction Cinema. British Popular Cinema (2 ed.). London: Routledge. pp. 138–42. ISBN 978-0-203-00977-2. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 2.28 2.29 2.30 2.31 2.32 2.33 2.34 2.35 2.36 2.37 2.38 2.39 2.40 2.41 2.42 2.43 2.44 Meadows, Tony (21 November 2009). "The Making of Inseminoid: Interview with Norman J. Warren". widescreenmovies.org. Archived from the original on 2 August 2007. Retrieved 15 August 2010. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 Jones, Alan. "Inseminoid Review". Starlog (New York City: Starlog Communications International) 3 (10). ISSN 0191-4626. OCLC 44807314. Archived from the original on 10 November 2007. Retrieved 16 August 2010. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 Weaver, Tom (2006) [1988]. Interviews with B Science Fiction and Horror Movie Makers: Writers, Producers, Directors, Actors, Moguls and Makeup. Brunas, John; Brunas, Michael (2 ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. pp. 193–94. ISBN 978-0-7864-2858-8. 
  5. ↑ Thompson, Ruth (4 January 1981). "TV Star Scene: Discovery Just Like a Movie Script". The Modesto Bee (Modesto, California: The McClatchy Company). p. 66. OCLC 28464207. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Sipos, Thomas M. (13 November 2004). "British Horror Director Norman J. Warren Returns on DVD". hollywoodinvestigator.com. Archived from the original on 21 February 2008. Retrieved 16 August 2010. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Inseminoid Soundtrack Listing". soundtrackcollector.com. Archived from the original on 16 August 2010. Retrieved 16 August 2010. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Genier, Steve (April 2005). "Satan's Terror: An Exclusive Interview with Norman J. Warren". cinema-nocturna.com. Archived from the original on 21 April 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2010. 
  9. ↑ Gareth McLean (18 June 2003). "Living in the Pink". The Guardian (London: Guardian Media Group). ISSN 0261-3077. OCLC 60623878. Archived from the original on 16 August 2010. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 Sheffield, Skip (17 November 1983). "Inseminoid Review". Boca Raton News (Boca Raton, Florida: South Florida Media Company). p. 15. OCLC 232117398. 
  11. ↑ "BBFC Certifications". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 18 August 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2010. 
  12. ↑ Presenter: Paul McCarthy. Director, Producer, Cinematographer, Editor: Darren Perry (1999). Evil Heritage: Independent Film-Making & the Films of Norman J. Warren (DVD). Distributor: Starlite Video. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Jones, Edward (18 January 1983). "For a New Low in Terror, Horror Planet Delivers". The Free-Lance Star (Fredericksburg, Virginia: The Free-Lance Star Publishing Company). p. 10. OCLC 232119194. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Wheeler, Jeremy. "AllRovi Review". AllRovi. Archived from the original on 16 August 2010. Retrieved 16 August 2010. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Pratt, Douglas (2004). Doug Pratt's DVD: Movies, Television, Music, Art, Adult and More 1. UNET 2 Corporation. p. 607. ISBN 978-1-932916-00-3. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 Binion, Cavett. "AllRovi Review". AllRovi. Archived from the original on 16 August 2010. Retrieved 16 August 2010. 
  17. ↑ Tudor, Andrew (1989). Monsters and Mad Scientists: A Cultural History of the Horror Movie. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-631-16992-5. 
  18. ↑ Marriott, James; Newman, Kim (2008) [2006]. Russell, Lorna, ed. Horror: The Definitive Guide to the Cinema of Fear (2 ed.). London: André Deutsch. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-233-00201-9. 
  19. ↑ Wright, Peter (2009). "Film and Television, 1960–1980". In Bould, Mark. The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction. Butler, Andrew M.; Roberts, Adam; Vint, Sheryl. Oxford: Routledge. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-415-45378-3. 
  20. ↑ Langford, Barry (2006) [2005]. Film Genre: Hollywood and Beyond (2 ed.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-7486-1903-0. 
  21. ↑ Partridge, Christopher (July 2004). "Alien Demonology: The Christian roots of the Malevolent Extraterrestrial in UFO Religions and Abduction Spiritualities" (PDF). Religion (Elsevier) 34 (3): 163–89. doi:10.1016/j.religion.2004.04.014. Archived from the original on 16 August 2010. Retrieved 16 August 2010. 
  22. ↑ "Horror Planet – Cow Pies From Hell 7" EP (self-produced, USA, 1985)". goodbadmusic.com. 11 January 2007. Retrieved 10 August 2012. 

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.