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Article: 7
Date:
5/18/08
Year:
1970

Space Amoeba (1970)
 Company: Trans-Atlantic Video (1987)
 Country: United States
 Category: Slip Cover
Released under the confusing American title Yog, Monster from Space, this incredibly cheap video from Trans-Atlantic used some artwork that closely resembles (but isn't) the artwork from the American theatrical poster. The art makes the monsters look much scarier (and bigger) than they actually are, and adds in laughable spaceships to blast Gezora. Two shadowy Ganimes are shown emerging from the darkness of space behind, along with a vicious, feral Kamoebas, who looks rather different from the almost cute monster in the actual film. If you look carefully at the original poster, the slight differences become apparent. For example, the explosions are shaped differently in the original, and the colorization of the planet and the composition of the clouds are rendered differently. For some reason, Trans-Atlantic must have had the art redone rather than paying licensing fees. The text along the top comes from the poster as well, although with the words moved around a bit -- the word "Yog" originally rode on top of the word "monster."

Along with all of their public domain releases that I've seen, this video from Trans-Atlantic does not include any screenshots from the movie on the back, or anywhere else. The "synopsis," if it can be called that, is actually some more of the text from the poster, slightly altered. Here, it reads "Spewed from intergalactic space to clutch the planet earth in its tentacles of terror!" The original reads, "Spewed from intergalactic space to clutch the planet earth in its -- terror tentacles!" Either way, whoever wrote that tagline looks to have based it on the artwork itself rather than the actual movie. None of the cast or crew is given on the back; instead, most of the text is devoted to advertising Trans-Atlantic's other cheap releases. Furthermore, the box is too tight for the size of the tape, making it difficult to extract the video.


Space Amoeba (1970)
 Company: Amvest Video (1988)
 Country: United States
 Category: Slip Cover
This release from 1988 features a short intro by Al Lewis (Grandpa Munster, whom they refer to as "Grampa"). One wonders if this was an accidental misspelling, a playful interpretation, or done as a matter to try and avoid legal entanglements. There is an interesting rating system included, as this particular film is rated 1 1/2 "bats" by Grampa, although I have never seen another film released under Amvest... so I don't know if this is good, bad, or average.
Credit: Brandon Lusk