Horror from Hell Double Feature : Revenge of the Venus Fly Trap (1970) / In the Year 2889 (1967)

Revenge of the Venus Fly Trap (1970, Color, Contains Nudity): Cape Canaveral scientist Dr. Alex Bragan travels to Japan when he begins to show signs of a mental breakdown. Driven by inner demons, he experiments on an exotic carnivorous plant, the venus flytrap. As Bragan descends into madness, the ravenous vegetation evolves into a half-man monster that needs blood to survive!

The screenplay of Revenge of the Venus Flytrap was written by Edward D. Wood, Jr. (Plan 9 from Outer Space, Glen or Glenda) sometime in the 1950s. Director Norman Thomson had been a founding member of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre troupe, participating in the War of the Worlds broadcast of 1938. After World War II, the Department of Defense appointed Thomson entertainment supervisor for all U.S. army bases in Japan, a position he held for over 30 years. In the late 1960s, Thomson got ahold of Wood's unproduced script and decided to film it with a cast of servicemen and locals, as well as one established American actor. Star James Craig had a 35-year movie career that included classics like Kitty Foyle (1940) and The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) as well as 'B' pictures such as Last of the Desperados (1955) and The Cyclops (1957). By the time of Revenge of the Venus Flytrap, Craig's star had faded, and he retired from acting shortly afterwards to become a real estate agent.

In the Year 2889 (1967, Color): After a nuclear holocaust wipes out most of mankind, a handful of survivors converge on an isolated villa where Captain John Ramsey and his daughter Joanna are holed up. As supplies dwindle and violent pent-up passions flare, Ramsey and newcomer Steve discover that a new and greater danger threatens them -- radioactive mutant cannibals are lurking on the perimeter of the compound!

In the Year 2889 is a remake of the 1955 Roger Corman film The Day the World Ended. It is one of a series of Corman remakes that American International Pictures contracted Texas filmmaker Larry Buchanan to produce for television. AIP's instructions to Buchanan were to make the films in color, bring the budget in at $20,000, and use at least one name actor. In the Year 2889's leading man is former teen star Paul Petersen, best remembered for his role as Jeff on The Donna Reed Show and the 1962 hit single "My Dad." Buchanan borrowed the film's title from an unrelated 1889 short story by Jules Verne - despite the fact that the movie takes place in 1977, not 2889!

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