One of my more memorable experiences involving science fiction movies came about when I was around 10. I was able to spend a month all alone with my grandmother and grandfather in the small village like town of Troutman, NC.  They must have sensed my boredom on at least two occasions as they drove to the closest large town, Statesville, and dropped me off at the downtown movie theater.

And what a treat it was at that time! From what I remember, I was able to see the exciting sci-fi movies “The Angry Red Planet” and later “Journey to the Seventh Planet”. They seemed so realistic, frightening, and a little cool…well, at least to a kid my age.

Naturally I couldn’t resist revisiting the films out of curiosity when both were released on DVD decades later. I wanted to know what had held my fascination and seemed so realistic and scary at that time.  Plus, I had to check out the “CineMagic” process I recalled being used with “Angry Red Planet”.

Well what an interesting experience. Though “Red Planet” was somewhat charming, its effects and acting were just slightly better than the infamous “Plan 9 from Outer Space”.  The CineMagic process wasn’t much more than a red filter used for scenes (including hand drawings) when the crew was outside their craft exploring Mars.

While “Red Planet” was somewhat entertaining in its own right, “Journey to the Seventh Planet” was simply painful to watch. In addition to being badly acted and featuring marginal special effects, it was incredibly slow moving. (I must have been a very patient kid to sit though that).

I learned from the DVD jackets that both of these were churned out by the infamous writer/director Sid Pink. “Red planet” was filmed with a modest budget of $200,000. However the director was given only 10 days to film the entire movie.

“Journey” was filmed in Denmark with the huge budget of $75,000! Mr. Pink was also responsible for bringing us the even worse Danish film “Reptilicus” where a puppet (yes a puppet) was used for filming the giant destructive dinosaur like creature.

Still as bad these movies were; in the end I had to admit both left an impact on me and imprint in my memory for many decades afterwards.