The Time Travelers

Poster tagline: STEP THROUGH THE “TIME PORTAL” BEYOND THE CRACK OF SPACE AND TIME WHERE THE FANTASTIC WORLD OF THE FUTURE WILL FREEZE YOUR BLOOD WITH ITS WEIRD HORRORS!!! One thing can't be denied about Ibo Melchior's directorial feats: despite their low budgets, they were beautiful to look at, The Angry Red Planet was interesting for its garish red stylisation of Mars, and here again you’re attracted by the interestingly designed sets and surprisingly solid effects. And somehow I suspect that Melchior wrote and directed the whole thing just to be able to pull off the effects with the joy of a child. Whether it's the time portal, through which the actors seamlessly transition from the lab directly into the barren landscape of the future (using a clever crawlspace), or the visit to the humanoid robot factory, where one really nice effect caught my eye: a lying robot having its head replaced and then getting up and walking away without a single cut. The demonstration of the "vibration transporter", by means of which particles of matter are transported through the air, is reminiscent of a magic trick from a David Copperfield's performance. The use of a colourful luminous synthesiser with a hallucinogenic projection on a large monitor also looks interesting, I would even dare to say that it was one of the first cinematic representations of the synthesiser as a technical achievement that came into the world in the 1960s and Melchior did not hesitate to use it in his film. The humanoids have a microphone instead of a mouth, the evil mutants wear brown linen clothes with one leather sleeve, and every single one of them is bald and has brown skin. The leader of the people of the future has an epic comb-over and the women of the future have retro hairstyles that were worn in the 60s :o) In short, visually it's all fine, it's just a pity that the plankish actors spoil it for Melchior, but I guess that's too much to ask. And for the final funny time loop that irrevocably traps the main characters, I give a thumbs up. (23.07.2016)