Tag Archives: 1958

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

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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 →

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: The Hideous Sun Demon (1958)

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Poster art for The Hideous Sun Demon (1958)The Hideous Sun Demon (1958) by #RobertClarke
w/#PatriciaManning #NanPeterson

Due to radiation, a scientist becomes a murderous lizard when he’s exposed to sunlight.

“The Blaze Of The Sun Made Him A Monster!”

“Thermodynamic horror from outer space!”

“Whiskey and soda mix, not whiskey and science.”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

The Hideous Sun Demon (1958) was produced, directed, and cowritten by its star, Robert Clarke. Technically, he co-directed (according to the IMDb) with a guy named Tom Boutross, but it looks like Boutross didn’t ever direct much else (just some TV episodes many years later), so I will assume that Robert Clarke was pretty much in charge on the set. Most of Boutross’ credits were as an editor, and he edited The Hideous Sun Demon, in fact. So perhaps he influenced the finished product so much that Clarke credited him as a co-director. Who knows? Continue reading →

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: The Bride and the Beast (1958)

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Poster for The Bride and the Beast (1958)The Bride and the Beast (1958) by #AdrianWeiss
Co-written by #EdwardDWoodJr
w/#CharlotteAustin #LanceFuller

A newlywed in Africa reveals, through hypnosis, a previous link to her husband’s pet gorilla.

“Human prey of a giant gorilla on her wedding night!”

“Please Don’t Tell What Happens To The Bride!”

#Horror #EdWood
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

I would have liked to work at a video store. I mean back when I was a teenager, or young adult. I got my first job (not counting a paper route) when I was 16, and it was in a restaurant. At first, I mainly washed dishes, cleaned tables, and swept and mopped the floors. Eventually, I worked my way up to operating the cash register and cooking. After two or three years I switched restaurants, and continued cooking. It was while I was working at a third restaurant, that I finally hit the wall. I was tired of getting cut and burned and going home smelling like grease and smoke. I was also tired of the abusive behaviour of my bosses. Nowadays, they would call that third restaurant a “toxic work environment” – and it really was.

By chance, that horrible place was right across the parking lot from a Jumbo Video store. I used to rent movies there all the time. It was great because it was open 24 hours. No matter what time of night you had the urge to watch an obscure slasher film, or cheap action movie, you could be sure to find one there. I may have talked about this place before…

Store front of Jumbo Video at night.

 

One day after work, I was waking home past Jumbo Video when I noticed a sign in the window: Help Wanted. It was like a bolt of lightning hit me. I hated my current job. Why not work at a video store? Continue reading →

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: Return of the Fly (1958)

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Return of the Fly (1958) by #EdwardBernds
w/#VincentPrice #BrettHalsey #DanielleDeMetz

Philippe Delambre, the now-adult son of “The Fly”, does some transportation experimentation of his own.

“The horror is back!”

“Out of the World of Atomic Mutation It Rises
– With the Dread Curse of the Father Upon It!”

#Horror #SciFi
#TheFly
#NotQuiteClassicCinema

I wrote about The Fly (1958) a while back, and I admitted that I was somewhat unsure if I should be calling it #NotQuiteClassicCinema. I know I’ve struggled with that before. I hate for people to think I’m calling a movie “bad” or implying that I don’t like it. Nothing could be further from the case (in most situations). I’m basically paying homage to the old TV show that introduced me to these old monster movies, Not Quite Classic Theatre. Still, many oil the movies I write about would never get confused for actual classics (The Beast of Yucca Flats, anyone?). The Fly (1958), however, would and should. I think I said something like this: Continue reading →

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: Night of the Blood Beast (1958)

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Poster for Night of the Blood Beast (1958)Night of the Blood Beast (1958) by #BernardLKowalski
produced by #GeneCorman
executive producer: #RogerCorman
w/#MichaelEmmet #AngelaGreene

An astronaut is killed on reentry to Earth, but his body is seeded with rapidly gestating aliens. 

“No girl was safe as long as this head-hunting thing roamed the land!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

As anyone who knows me can attest, I am a fan of Roger Corman. He was the executive producer of Night of the Blood Beast (1958), but it was his brother, Gene Corman, who wore the main producer’s hat. They made a number of films together. If memory serves me correctly, Roger brought his brother Gene into the business. Roger, of course, would go on to produce more than 500 films. Gene only did about 36, but that’s still more than most of us will ever do. Continue reading →

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: Giant from the Unknown (1958)

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Poster for Giant from the Unknown (1958)

Giant from the Unknown (1958) by #RichardECunha
w/#EdKemmer #SallyFraser #BobSteele #BuddyBaer

A very large, degenerate, Spanish conqueror is freed from suspended animation by lightning and goes on a killing spree in a small town.

“It Came From Another World to Terrorize the Lives of Hundreds”

“A Hideous Monster from Beyond the Grave!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

What can I say about Giant from the Unknown (1958)? It’s a step up from the last couple of movies I wrote about, but not a huge one. I had seen it once before, but had no memory of it. This may be a reflection of how unmemorable it is. When someone shared the poster for it on Twitter a while back, I got excited and thought “There’s a cool looking movie from 1958 that I’ve never seen!” And then I looked in my collection and discovered that it was there, in the definitely-watched-before-pile. This may be a reflection of how overly large my collection of movies is… Continue reading →

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: The Fly (1958)

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Poster for The Fly (1958)The Fly (1958) by #KurtNeumann
w/#DavidHedison #PatriciaOwens #VincentPrice

When a scientist tests his matter transporter on himself, things go horribly wrong.

“Once it was human… even as you and I!”

“If she looked upon the horror her husband had become… she would scream for the rest of her life!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

I did not see The Fly (1958) when I was a kid. It was not featured on Not Quite Classic Theatre (at least not to my knowledge). I do remember seeing pictures from it in magazines and books. And I also remember it being aired on TV one night… a night that I could not watch it. I’m not sure where I was, or what I was doing, but I was not at home. Later, when I got back, my dad told me that he and my brother had watched it (which was a bit unusual, as my dad was not in the habit of watching horror films). They both loved it, of course, and told me that I had really missed out. They also told me quite a few details about the story – perhaps even some spoilers, years before anyone had ever used the word spoliers. It sounded great, and I couldn’t believe that my dad and my brother has seen it and I hadn’t. I was angry and bitter and jealous – and there was no way for me to see the film retroactively, as VCRs were still a ways off. When you missed a TV broadcast in those days, you really missed it. Continue reading →

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: War of the Satellites (1958)

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Poster for War of the Satellites (1958)War of the Satellites (1958) by #RogerCorman

w/#DickMiller #SusanCabot #RichardDevon

An `unknown force’ declares war on Earth when the UN ignores warnings to stop attempting to send a satellite into deep space.

”We’re up against a race of beings whose intelligence is as ours to ants and bacteria.”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

War of the Satellites (1958) was apparently made in response to the media frenzy that was created by the launch of the U.S.S.R.’s Sputnik satellite – which was, in fact, the first satellite sent into outer space. The movie was made very quickly. It reportedly only took eight weeks to go from first thinking up the idea to screening the finished movie in theatres. This seems a little hard to believe, until you remember that War of the Satellites was produced and directed by Roger Corman. Not only did the man make great movies, he made them cheap and fast.  Continue reading →

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: Frankenstein’s Daughter (1958)

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Frankenstein’s Daughter (1958) by #RichardECunha
w/#JohnAshley #SandraKnight #DonaldMurphy #SallyTodd

Frankenstein’s grandson creates a female monster in modern day L.A.

“IT reaches from the grave to re-live the horror… the terror…
“MORE Terrifying! MORE Destructive!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

Frankenstein’s Daughter (1958) is, as of this blog post, my least popular Friday Night At The Home Drive-In tweet in a long time. Perhaps that says something about the movie, or its reputation. Or perhaps it’s just one of those Twitter anomalies. In any case, this is a movie that I first saw when I was fairly young – and then again several times over the years – so I’ve always quite liked it. But maybe it’s just another case of nostalgia working its magic on me…

Continue reading →

Friday night at the home drive-in: War of the Colossal Beast (1958)

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War of the Colossal Beast (1958) by #BertIGordon

w/#SallyFraser #RogerPace #DuncanDeanParkin

Believed dead after falling from the Hoover Dam, the Amazing Colossal Man reemerges in rural Mexico, brain damaged, disfigured, and very hungry – where he steals food delivery trucks to survive.

“The towering terror from Hell”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

I’m pretty sure that I saw The Amazing Colossal Man (1957) at some point. In fact, I think I watched it on TV many years ago – perhaps on Not Quite Classic Theatre. For some reason, I have not seen it in recent years. I’m surprised to learn that I don’t have a copy lurking somewhere in my collection. 

I do, however, have a copy of its sequel, War of the Colossal Beast (1958). It’s part of a Samuel Z. Arkoff Collection double feature DVD that I picked up a few years ago. I love those double feature DVDs. One does have to wonder, however, why they didn’t put these two movies together?! It seems like a no-brainer idea to me. What a perfect, ready-made double feature. As far as I can tell, they never even released The Amazing Colossal Man in any of their sets. Maybe there was a rights issue, or something, Who knows? Continue reading →