Teenagers from Outer Space (1959) by #TomGraeff
w/#DavidLove #DawnBender
A sensitive young alien and a teenage girl try to prevent an alien invasion.
“Teenage hoodlums from another world on a horrendous rampage!”
#SciFi #Horror
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn
I always wanted to see Teenagers from Outer Space (1959), but it had somehow slipped past me until last Friday. Would it live up to my expectations? Not likely, but as always, I was hopeful…
Teenagers from Outer Space opens with a couple of boring scientists in an observatory talking about something that they may or may not have seen. Then, somewhere else, a dog howls at a flying saucer landing on earth. Cue the credits…
After the credit sequence, the dog approaches the flying saucer and barks. An alien emerges from the saucer and kills the dog, disintegrating him with a futuristic weapon. All that is left on the ground is a skeleton. It’s a cool special effect – especially considering the year and the obvious budgetary constraints of this movie – but I couldn’t help but think that the filmmakers wouldn’t get away with it today. Audiences don’t mind watching human beings get blown to pieces, but they don’t like it when a dog gets killed.
Controversies aside, what is Teenagers from Outer Space about?
Several aliens emerge from the saucer, looking like human teenagers. They have a long, long conversation as they perform tests and take measurements. They use a lot of technospeak jargon and are, quite frankly, stilted and boring.
Did I mention we spend a long, long time with them?
When they speak, it’s with voices that sound almost like modern AI – or sort of like robots. We learn that they are looking for a grazing planet for their Gargons (?). These Gargons look a lot like lobsters, and the one they have with them is about the size of a lobster. However, they will apparently grow to become huge monsters and destroy everything on the planet.
Sounds like a bad deal for Earth
It’s also a bad deal for the audience. Why are we spending so much time with these aliens with whom we don’t sympathize at all? If they were at least interesting, or entertaining, that might help, but…
Wait. One of the aliens, named Derek, has been reading a book and he believes that they are doing things that are wrong – like killing an innocent dog. The others scoff at him and accuse him of treason. They tell him he will be reported and put on trial when they return to their home planet.
I suppose this young alien named Derek is now our most sympathetic character. But he is still far from an exciting hero…
Does Teenagers from Outer Space get any better?
Derek, the young alien, decides to find the owners of the dead dog and tell them what happened. He runs off, taking the dog’s I.D. tag with him. The dog’s owner turns out to be a teenage girl, living with her grandfather, and she mistakenly believes that Derek is there to rent their spare room. She invites him in, and yada yada yada, he moves into the house with the girl and her grandfather.
The movie really improves once the fish-out-of-water alien, Derek, starts trying to make his way through regular Earth society. The first chunk of the movie, focussing solely on the aliens, is pretty tough going. But once you get past that, Teenagers from Outer Space is pretty charming – and even suspenseful at times.
What about sci-fi monster action?
The bad alien searching for Derek is pretty quick to let his ray gun do the talking – and it turns whatever living creature it’s pointed at into a skeleton. It’s pretty damn awesome. He leaves skeletons everywhere; first the dog, then a man driving a car, and eventually a beautiful teenage girl in a swimming pool – and much much more. It’s a simple special effect, but it actually works really well, and is worth the price of admission.
So what’s the verdict for Teenagers from Outer Space?
Teenagers from Outer Space (1959) is the kind of #NotQuiteClassicCinema that you might have be patient with, but if you get past the first 15 minutes or so, it delivers enough of the good stuff to be worth the wait. While it may never be in the top tier of 1950s B-movies, you could do a lot worse than give it a try on some #FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn.
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn
Teenagers from Outer Space (1959) by #TomGraeff
w/#DavidLove #DawnBender
A sensitive young alien and a teenage girl try to prevent an alien invasion.
“Teenage hoodlums from another world on a horrendous rampage!”#SciFi #Horror#NotQuiteClassicCinema pic.twitter.com/7JoHRSHNqC— Angus Kohm (@AngusKohm) September 7, 2024
