Red Planet Mars (1952) – Friday Night At The Home Drive-In

Poster. for Red Planet Mars (1952)Red Planet Mars (1952) by #HarryHorner
w/
#PeterGraves #AndreaKing

Scientists make contact with Mars and cause unforeseen political, economic, and spiritual problems.

“SEE! The first contact between Earth and Mars!”

“The World Torn Asunder By A Threat From Outer Space!”

#SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

Where do I begin with this one? Red Planet Mars starts off like an interesting sci-fi story. Husband and wife scientists are on the verge of making contact with Mars. Or rather, they have been in contact with Mars, but they just haven’t been able to decipher the messages that they’re getting back. It’s intriguing, and you want to know more. And eventually the scientists DO figure out how to communicate with the Martians, but it leads to all kinds of unexpected difficulties on Earth… and this is where the movie starts to get a little weird… Continue reading

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

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

Friday night at the home drive-in: It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958)

It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) by #EdwardLCahn

w/#MarshallThompson #ShirleyPatterson

In the distant future – 1973 – a rescue team is sent to find out what happened to the first manned flight to Mars.

“It has to kill us or starve and we’ve got to kill it or die.”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) must surely have been an influence on the makers of Alien (1979). There were others, of course. Planet of the Vampires (1965) is often talked about – and deservedly so. Shivers (1975) may have been another, less talked about inspiration. But watching It! The Terror from Beyond Space last week, all I could think about were the similarities to Dan O’Bannon’s (and Ridley Scott’s) masterpiece.  Continue reading