Cry of Silence
The Outer Limits (1963)
Cry of Silence, directed by Charles Haas.
Driving into a desolate area to look at a property, a couple find themselves on foot and menaced by hostile tumbleweeds. The same unseen intelligence commands frogs (!) and large rolling boulders.
I love a good creature feature and when you make it a First Contact story there is much to admire. The alien mind is particularly frustrated this time: it senses consciousness on Earth but can't hear it. At most it can move things around, including reanimating a dead body.
Yes, this is also a zombie episode.
The micro-budget doesn't hurt so much this time. We have only three characters and how much did they have to spend for tumbleweeds on strings, paper boulders and a bucket of frogs?
This brings to mind many other stories, including:
HP Lovecraft's The Colour Out of Space. At one point I thought they would quote the old text: "...it come from beyond, whar things ain’t like they be here.. now it’s goin’ home..."
Some damned thing on the porch, slowing turning the doorknob, is used in Dean Koontz's Winter Moon, his most Lovecraftian story.
Didn't Tom Baker's Doctor Who fight "Wolfweeds" in The Creature from the Pit? The one where the Creature is giant green male genitalia.
Eddie Albert and his blonde wife looking to buy a farm: the Green Acres jokes write themselves.
The cast:
Eddie Albert -- Roman Holiday (1953), Attack (1956) -- is a somewhat oblivious rationalist.
June Havoc -- Gentleman's Agreement (1947) -- seems both psychic and easily spooked. Her helpless shrieking hysterics bring the show down.
Arthur Hunnicutt -- The Red Badge of Courage (1951), El Dorado (1966) -- had a career as a backwoodsman. This is one of his odder roles.
Richard Farnsworth -- Comes a Horseman (1978), The Grey Fox (1982), The Straight Story (1999) -- is said to be an uncredited stunt double. He is too far away to see clearly.
Two commentary tracks on the Blu-ray: Gary Gerani and Reba Wissner.
