The Beast with a Million eyes | |
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Theatrical release poster
by Albert Kallis |
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Directed by |
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Produced by | David Kramarsky |
Written by | Tom Filer |
Starring |
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Music by | John Bickford |
Cinematography | Everett Baker |
Edited by | Jack Killiferart |
Production
company |
San Mateo Productions
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Distributed by | American International Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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75 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $33,000 |
The Beast with a Million Eyes (a.k.a. The Unseen) is a 1955 independently made science fiction film produced and directed by David Kramarsky that stars Paul Birch, Lorna Thayer, and Dona Cole. Some film sources have said that the film was co-directed by Lou Place. The film was co-produced by Roger Corman and Samuel Z. Arkoff. and was released by American Releasing Corporation, which later became American International Pictures.
The film's storyline concerns a space alien that is able to see through the eyes of a large array of Earth life that it can also mentally control, part of its plan to conquer the Earth.
The isolated Kelley family struggle with their small "date ranch" located in an isolated, bleak desert landscape well away from civilization. After a mysterious object crashes nearby, both wild and domesticated animals, and finally the farm's handyman, turn on the family, attacking them. It turns out that a space alien ("the beast" of the title) has taken over the minds of the area's lesser animals and is working its way up to controlling humans as part of a plan to conquer the Earth. In the end the family bond together and unite, fighting against the alien menace to thwart its plan of conquest.
The Beast with a Million Eyes was the third of a three-picture deal Roger Corman had with the American Releasing Company following The Fast and the Furious (1955) and Five Guns West (1955). Only $29,000 remained to make the film for Pacemaker Productions. The tiny budget meant music in The Beast with a Million Eyes, credited to "John Bickford", is actually a collection of public-domain record library cues by classical composers Richard Wagner, Dimitri Shostakovich, Giuseppe Verdi, Sergei Prokofiev, and others, used to defray the cost of an original score or copyrighted cues.