Svengoolie’s February Schedule Will Make Your Blood Run Cold (And You’re Probably Already Pretty Cold)

If freezing-cold February has you down, don’t worry — springtime may be far away, but Svengoolie’s February calendar for MeTV‘s Svengoolie Classic Horror & Sci-Fi Movie is here now! This month, Svengoolie will be bringing you aliens, werewolves, mad scientists, and giant fuzzy humanoid cannibals — a.k.a. exactly what you need to keep your spirits up until March.
Read on to find out what he’ll be scaring up on the show this month, every Saturday night at 8pm EST!
Feb. 1: 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

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Ray Harryhausen didn’t just create and design this film’s special effects and animation — its plot following an alien from Venus who begins growing rapidly once it crash-lands on earth was taken from a story idea he had called The Giant Ymir. Another part of the film we can credit to Harryhausen? Its Italian shooting location, selected because he wanted an excuse to go on vacation there.
Feb: 8 The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)

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This 18th-century set Hammer film was Oliver Reed’s first starring role — he plays Leon, a young man cursed to werewolfism by the heinous circumstances of his conception. Supposedly, the mischievous Reed liked to drive home in full werewolf makeup, so that he could freak out his fellow motorists. The film was not very financially successful upon release, which may be why Hammer never made another werewolf film.
Feb. 15: Double Feature! Sssssss (1973) and Teenagers from Outer Space (1959)

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First up: holy humanoid snake creatures, Batman! In Sssssss, an evil herpetologist torments his assistant with mysterious injections that turn him into … well, let’s just say he’ll have to put those plans for a modeling career on hold. Production involved five enormous King Cobras, recently caught in the wild, full of venom and not even slightly defanged. The film was produced by Richard Zanuck and David Brown, who a mere two years later would go on to produce a very different kind of creature feature: Jaws.

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Then, the Sven Squad brings you Teenagers from Outer Space, a film about a group of adolescent space invaders from a planet where love and friendship are forbidden, who want to take over Earth and use it as a place to farm the giant lobsters that they subsist on … and will vaporize anyone who stands in their way! Will Derek, a fellow alien who sees the error of their ways, be able to stop them?? The film was made on a near-microscopic $20,000 budget — a feat partially accomplished by having director Tom Graeff also write, produced, edit, handle the camera work, and appear in a small role as Joe, the local reporter. It also saved cash on props by using the same skeleton over and over for every dead body in the film.
Feb. 22: War of the Gargantuas (1966)

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This Toho-produced tale of hairy, rampaging giants who decide to settle their beef on the streets of Tokyo was supposed to star Tab Hunter as Dr. Paul Stewart, a scientist specializing in giant humanoid monsters (a popular scientific field, I’m sure), but was replaced by West Side Story and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers star Russ Tamblyn shortly before shooting began. Among the alternate titles considered for this one? Frankenstein vs. Frankenstein.

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