Terror In The Midnight Sun/Invasion of the Animal People 1959 ★★½ Sci-Fi (AI-CC)

Invasion of the Animal People (Rymdinvasion i Lappland in Sweden and Terror in the Midnight Sun internationally) is a 1959 Swedish-American black-and-white science fiction-monster film released to Swedish cinemas on August 19, 1959. The film was produced by Bertil Jernberg and Gustaf Unger, directed by American Virgil W. Vogel, and stars Barbara Wilson, Robert Burton, and Stan Gester. Written by Arthur C. Pierce, the film had most of its dialogue in English. <br /><br />Plot: Sweden’s first sci-fi film, where a hairy monster from outer space wreaks havoc in Lapland. <br /><br />Outrageous Swedish-American science fiction about hairy monsters from outer space running amok among the Sami and scientists in Lapland, overseen by pale aliens in anoraks! A UFO crashes into a wintry Lapland and American and Swedish scientists are heading north to investigate. Dr. Wilson’s beautiful daughter Diane showers and skates, until she is kidnapped by a six-foot furry beast that annihilated the Sami reindeer. Meanwhile, aliens sit in their ship and watch the action on monitors. With torches, knives and spears, the Sami are fighting back. And in the ski hotel, Brita Borg sings the “Midnight Sun Lament” to the tune of “Ack, Värmeland you beautiful”. What is this monster, and can it be stopped? <br /><br />The film exists in three English-language versions: <br />(1) "Terror in the Midnight Sun" was the English-language international title of the original Swedish version of the film, which was shot in English and had a running time of 70 minutes. <br /><br />(2) "Invasion of the Animal People" was the title of the original U.S. theatrical version of it, in which director Jerry Warren cut about 24 minutes from the 70-minute original Swedish version. Scenes of John Carradine and others were then shot and added into the remaining footage. The remaining footage's original sequence was completely changed around, and both stock music cues and narration by Carradine were added as well. This version's running time was only 55 minutes. <br /><br />(3) The U.S. title "Invasion of the Animal People" was re-used for the version of it that was released directly to TV by Medallion. Some of the original Swedish footage that was cut from the film was restored to it and director Jerry Warren shot additional scenes for it in order to pad its running time up to 80 minutes, 10 minutes longer than the original Swedish version. <br /><br />Some prints of the original Swedish version of the film that was titled internationally in English "Terror in the Midnight Sun" are missing the sexy shower scene. This scene was completely removed from the heavily edited U.S. version of it that was titled "Invasion of the Animal People" and released in the U.S. by director Jerry Warren.