Monthly Archives: November 2023

Cosmic Monsters (1958) – Friday Night At The Home Drive-In

Posted on by

Poster for Cosmic Monsters (1958)The Strange World of Planet X /
Cosmic Monsters (1958) by #GilbertGunn
w/#ForrestTucker #GabyAndré

A friendly visitor from outer space warns against conducting experiments with the Earth’s magnetic field, that could mutate insects into giant monsters.

“Shock by incredible shock this ravaging death overruns the earth…menacing mankind with overwhelming chaos!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

What can I say about Cosmic Monsters (1958) AKA The Strange World of Planet X? I had never heard of it before last week, and probably for good reason. It strikes me as an attempt to recapture the magic of The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) Both movies have (basically) the same premise: an alien comes to Earth to warn us to stop doing something stupid that will lead to our destruction. However, The Day the Earth Stood Still is a stone cold classic directed by Robert Wise, who made fan favourites like The Haunting (1963), Born to Kill (1947) and The Body Snatcher (1945).

Cosmic Monsters, on the other hand, is a mostly forgettable film directed by Gilbert Gunn, who also made, uh… Tyneside Story (1943)… Girls at Sea (1958)… and What a Whopper (1961)..?  Hmmm… not even another SciFi Horror film, I don’t think. Continue reading →

The Astounding She-Monster (1957) – Friday Night At The Home Drive-In

Posted on by

Poster for The Astounding She-Monster (1957)The Astounding She-Monster (1957)
AKA Naked Invader
0r The Astounding She Creature
by #RonaldVAshcroft
w/#RobertClarke #KenneDuncan

An alien terrorizes the of kidnappers of a rich heiress.

“A creature from beyond the stars. EVIL… BEAUTIFUL… DEADLY…!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

I had heard of The Astounding She-Monster (1957), but somehow I had never seen it. I think maybe the title was too similar to (or at least reminiscent in some way of) other movies,  like She Demons (1958) and She Freak (1967) and maybe The She-Creature (1956) – all of which I’ve written about on the blog. But of course, The Astounding She-Monster is none of those movies…  Continue reading →

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: The Magnetic Monster (1953)

Posted on by

Poster for The Magnetic Monster (1953)The Magnetic Monster (1953) by #CurtSiodmak
w/#RichardCarlson #KingDonovan #JeanByron

A new radioactive element begins to absorb all of the Earth’s energy.

“The astounding story of the “thing” that came alive!”

“It’s hungry! It has to be fed constantly – or it will reach out its magnetic arm and grab at anything within its reach and kill it. It’s monstrous, Stewart, monstrous. It grows bigger and bigger!”

#Horror #SciFi #NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

The Magnetic Monster (1953) is the first movie in a trilogy produced by Ivan Tors; the so called “Office of Scientific Investigation” (OSI) trilogy. The other two films in the series are Riders to the Stars (1954) – which I’ve never heard of – and Gog (1954), which I have in my collection (my 3D blu-ray collection!). Continue reading →

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: Pharaoh’s Curse (1957)

Posted on by

Poster art for Pharaoh's Curse (1957)Pharaoh’s Curse (1957) by #LeeSholem
w/#MarkDana #ZivaRodann #DianeBrewster

Archaeologists open a tomb in the Valley of the Kings and feel a mummy’s wrath.

“STRANGEST OF ALL HORROR STORIES!

“A blood-lusting mummy that kills for a cat goddess!

“Unleashing 4,000 years of horror upon this century!”

#Horror
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

When I was a kid, I loved movies about mummies, and curses, and mummy’s curses. There was something I found really scary about the idea of being “cursed” if you made the mistake of opening a mummy’s tomb. I saw several movies about this kind of thing. I’m not even sure what they were now (I suspect that one of them might have been The Awakening (1980), and I’m pretty sure I saw The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb (1980), which was made for TV, but other than that, it’s a bit of blur to me) – but one thing I am sure of is that none of them was Pharaoh’s Curse (1957).  Continue reading →