aka: La Morte Viene dal Pianeta Aytin
(lit. Death Comes From Planet Aytin)
I Diavoli dello Spazio (lit. The Space Devils)
company: Mercury Film International,
Southern Cross Films and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
year: 1967
runtime: 90′
director: Antonio Margheriti
cast: Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Ombretta Colli,
Enzo Fiermonte, Halina Zalewska,
Goffredo Unger, Renato Baldini,
Wilbert Bradley, Furio Meniconi,
writers: Renato Moretti and Ivan Reiner
cinematography: Riccardo Pallottini
music: Angelo Francesco Lavagnino
not available on home video
This concluding entry in the Gamma One franchise, a series of four low budget Italian / American co-productions that spawned the swinging cult masterpiece Wild, Wild Planet, is, in a word, forgettable. Whatever funding had existed for the earlier Wild, Wild Planet and War of the Planets had dried up by the time of The Snow Devils production, along with director Antonio Margheriti’s enthusiasm for the increasingly formulaic material. Though the credited director for the project, Margheriti was busy preparing another film when shooting for Devils was underway, leaving his assistant director Ruggero Deodato (Cannibal Holocaust, appearing just as disinterested in the material as Margheriti had become) to pick up the bulk of his directorial duties. There is a minimum of fun to be had with Devils, the lack of imagination and dearth of action leaving it feeling like a pile of second unit footage with no real movie to fall back on.
