I long wanted to see this film because it was so important in the history of one of my favourite movie studios, AIP, and part of it was directed by one of my favourite filmmakers, Roger Corman. It's also got one of the all time great movie titles (an idea of James H. Nicholson). But it's a bad movie, poorly made and dull.
The spirit of Tennessee Williams/Arthur Miller seems to have infected the screenwriter so there is a lot of family angst and squabbling out on a farm - an unhappily married couple, mom is jealous of her daughter. This dull drama is interrupted when an alien ship crashes and begins messing with people's minds. There's a mentally slow local handyman, dogs barking, a swim, some voice over from the alien at the beginning that sounds pretentious (which at least has some campy fun), a possessed cow. The monster is unseen but apparently distributors complained so they cut in a really awkward looking monster.
The music score was culled from pre existing public domain music and it feels like it. The acting is bad. The ending is really unconvincing with the alien being defeated by "love" (it feeds on hate and anger) and an eagle that represents good attacking it. I was really disappointed by this; I'd been hanging to see it.
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