Monthly Archives: December 2023

Killers from Space (1954) – Friday Night At The Home Drive-In

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Poster for Killers from Space (1954) Killers from Space (1954) Strange creatures from another world attack planet earth! by #WLeeWilder
w/#PeterGraves #JamesSeay #BarbaraBestar

An atomic scientist claims he was abducted by aliens after being injured in a plane crash.

“Strange creatures from another world attack planet earth!”

“It’s a nuclear nightmare!”

#SciFi #Horror
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

Killers from Space (1954) was directed by W. Lee Wilder, who made another movie I featured on a Friday Night At The Home Drive-In – The Snow Creature (1954). I recall two things about that movie; 1) it wasn’t very good, and 2) it was made by the brother of Hollywood legend Billy Wilder. Yes, Billy Wilder, the brilliant film director who made such classics as The Apartment (1960), Some Like It Hot (1959) and Sunset Boulevard (1950). The Snow Creature, of course, paled in comparison to ANYTHING that Billy Wilder had made. So how does Killers from Space do by comparison…? Continue reading →

Stranger from Venus (1954) – Friday Night At The Home Drive-In

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Poster for Stranger from Venus (1954)Stranger from Venus (1954) by #BurtBalaban
w/#PatriciaNeal #HelmutDantine #DerekBond

A woman meets a man with no pulse who is here from Venus to warn Earth about the atom.

“When the Earth had Fourteen Seconds to Live!”

“There is no pulse. There are two possible explanations for this; I am drunk, or you are dead.”

#SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

Last week I wrote about a weird British science fiction movie that was actually based on a play (!) and as a result was actually much better than I expected. This week I’m writing about another weird (albeit less weird) British science fiction film that wasn’t based on a play – but feels very much like it could have been. I am talking about Stranger from Venus (1954), directed by Burt Balaban.  Continue reading →

Devil Girl from Mars (1954) – Friday Night At The Home Drive-In

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Poster for Devil Girl from Mars (1954)Devil Girl from Mars (1954) by #DavidMacDonald
w/#HughMcDermott #HazelCourt #AdrienneCorri

A leather-clad female alien, with a ray gun and a robot, comes to Earth to collect men for breeding.

“Invasion from Outer Space!…Sights too weird to imagine! Destruction too monstrous to escape!”

“Earth Menaced By Fantastic Powers”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

Prior to last Friday, I had never seen Devil Girl from Mars (1954), and that is an oversight that I am very pleased to have corrected. It’s not rated very well (4.9 on the IMDb, and 24% on Rotten Tomatoes), so I didn’t expect anything extraordinary. Oh, how wrong I was… Continue reading →

Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957) – Friday Night At The Home Drive-In

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Poster for Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957)Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957) by #EdwardLCahn
w/#StevenTerrell #GloriaCastillo #FrankGorshin

Diminutive alien invaders run into teenage opposition when they land in a rural lovers’ lane.

“CREEPING HORROR…from the depths of time and space!”

“SEE teenagers vs. the saucer men!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

Another in the long list of late 1950s sci-fi horror films that I may have seen as a kid on Not Quite Classic Theatre – but probably didn’t – is Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957). It would have fit in nicely with many of the other films, except for one thing: its tone is more deliberately comical. The basic joke at the heart of it seems to be that the alien invasion is foiled by unassuming teenagers – not the military, who are more or less fumbling around in the dark and unable to do anything. Continue reading →

20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) – Friday Night At The Home Drive-In

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Poster for 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) by #NathanJuran
w/#WilliamHopper #JoanTaylor
VFX by #RayHarryhausen

“A Satellite Soared Into Space – And Returned With a Cargo of Terror!”

“Space-Monster Runs Amok on Earth!”

“Thousands Flee in Terror Before the Death-Dealing Monster from Outer Space!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) is a movie I’ve known about for a long time. I’ve read about in books, seen mention of it in articles, perhaps even heard people talk about it from time to time. But until a week and two days ago, I had never actually seen it. A week and two days? What the…? Don’t I usually write about my experiences at the home drive-in exactly one week later?  Continue reading →