The Eye Creatures (1967)

Interesting facts

The Eye Creatures is a 1967 American made-for-television comedy horror science fiction film about an invasion by a flying saucer and its silent, shambling alien occupants.

Production

Buchanan had made Free, White and 21 (1963), which was distributed by AIP. They hired the director to make a series of low-budget color remakes of 1950s AIP films, of which this was the first. Buchanan later called them "my wretched remakes".

The film was shot in 16 mm over several weeks in Dallas, Texas on a budget of $40,000 (some sources say less than $25,000). John Ashley was imported from Hollywood, but the rest of the cast were locals. Ashley has stated that his salary took up more than half the budget.

Most of the film was shot just outside Dallas at Cielo, a ranch owned by wealthy businessman Gordon McLendon. Ashley was the only professional actor, with the rest of the cast coming from local Dallas theaters. Ashley claimed that the film ranks "with some of the worst all-time horror films ever made... the monster looked like something out of the Michelin tire ad", but said it was a professional operation and that Buchanan treated him very well.

We got John Ashley on the weekend that his wife Deborah Walley said goodbye to him. And here I am with him on the set the next morning; he was in bad shape. Deborah had gone over to Arkansas on an AIP publicity junket for one of those "Beach Party" things, and John asked me if he could fly up and see her. I said, "John, we just started!" I sat down with him and worked it out, I shot around him for two days while he tried to reconcile with her.

went off to Manila and began making those Bamboo-girl pictures and made a fortune.

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