Tag Archives: Sci-Fi

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 Magnetic Monster (1953)

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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: The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959)

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Poster art for The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959) by #IrvinBerwick
w/#LesTremayne #ForrestLewis #JeanneCarmen

A doctor, a sheriff and a biologist pursue a creature hanging around a lighthouse.

“The fiend that walks Lovers’ Beach!”

“HE PREYS ON HUMAN FLESH!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

It’s pretty obvious that The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959) was influenced by Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), which I saw on TV when I was quite young. I also had a friend who was obsessed with it, and had a book filled with with pictures from the movie. I knew another guy who, I think, had built of model of The Creature, or Gill-man. I may have even had a picture from that movie in a Famous Monsters magazine. In other words, Creature from the Black Lagoon was a super famous and popular movie. The Monster of Piedras Blancas, however, I had never heard of… Continue reading →

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: Monster from Green Hell (1957)

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Poster for Monster from Green Hell (1957)Monster from Green Hell (1957) by #KennethGCrane

w/#JimDavis #RobertGriffin #JoelFluellen

“The mammoth monster that terrified the Earth! Too awesome to describe! Too terrifying to escape! Too powerful to stop!”

“Atomic mutations with an appetite for flesh!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

A lot of the running time of Monster from Green Hell (1957) is taken up by stock footage and scenes taken from Stanley and Livingstone (1939). Even so, Monster from Green Hell is a wonder, and a delight, and a must-see for fans of #NotQuiteClassicCinema – but perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself… Continue reading →

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: Kronos (1957)

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Poster for Kronos (1957)Kronos (1957) by #KurtNeumann
w/#JeffMorrow #BarbaraLawrence

An alien robot ravages the countryside intent on absorbing Earth’s energy.

“PLANET ROBBER TRAMPLES EARTH…STEALING ENERGY FOR OTHER WORLDS!”

“The Most Incredible MONSTER of All Time!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

I saw Kronos (1957) on late night TV when I was young – and it’s tempting to believe it was on my favourite weekly showcase of old black and white monster movies, Not Quite Classic Theatre. But by the time I stumbled onto Kronos, Not Quite Classic Theatre had already gone to that great TV show graveyard in the sky… or, rather, off the air. One of my local TV stations decided to try their hand at a similar format, and I believe they called it The Killer B. I don’t think The KIller B lasted more than a few weeks, which is too bad because with Not Quite Classic Theatre gone, I really could have used something to take its place.   Continue reading →

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: Terror from the Year 5000 (1958)

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Poster for Terror from the Year 5000 (1958)Terror from the Year 5000 (1958) by #RobertJGurneyJr
w/#WardCostello #JoyceHolden

A female from the future arrives seeking males to rejuvenate her doomed race.

“From Time Unborn … A Hideous She-Thing!”

”Hey, this thing’s radioactive. It’s hotter than a firecracker.”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema

Terror from the Year 5000 (1958) is one of the movies I referred to last week, when I noted that it was sometimes paired with The Brain Eaters (1958) as a double bill. I mentioned that I had never seen Terror from the Year 5000, and vowed that I would have to to track it down and watch it. Well… that’s exactly what happened. I should probably also note that I predicted that Terror from the Year 5000 would not be as good as The Brain Eaters. Was I right? Sort of… but it’s a little more complicated than that…  Continue reading →

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

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Poster for The Brain Eaters (1958)The Brain Eaters (1958) by #BrunoVeSota
w/#EdNelson #JodyFair #LeonardNimoy

Parasites from the centre of the earth take control of people’s minds.

“Crawling, slimy things terror-bent on destroying the world!”

“What are the parasites, where do they come from, what do they want from us?”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

It’s been a long week, and I’ve barely had enough sleep. I feel like the brain eaters have gotten to me. And what I mean by that, is that I feel like my brain is gone, or mostly gone, or not functioning properly. That’s what I would expect the brain eaters to do to a person; literally eat their brains. The brain eaters in The Brain Eaters (1958), however, don’t seem to do that. No, they seem to take control of the person’s brain, and by doing so, take control of their body. So, shouldn’t the movie be called The Brain Controllers, or The Body Controllers, or… something like that?  Continue reading →

Friday Night At The Home Drive-In: I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957)

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Poster for I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957)I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957) by #HerbertLStrock
w/#WhitBissell #PhyllisCoates

Professor Frankenstein creates a hulking teenager from the body of an accident victim – and it goes on a killing spree.

“Body of a boy! Mind of a monster! Soul of an unearthly thing!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

As I may have mentioned before, I’m a big fan of Blood of Dracula (1957). Not sure why it appeals to me so much, but it does. Nostalgia plays a big part, I’m sure. But there’s also something about it that just works for me. It was made very shortly after I Was A Teenage Werewolf (1957), and was meant to cash in on the former movies’s success. Well, guess what? I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957) was also rushed into production because of I Was A Teenage Werewolf, and both movies were produced by Herman Cohen. They were also sent out together as a double feature. So how is it that I never saw I Was a Teenage Frankenstein before last Friday? 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 Killer Shrews (1959)

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Poster for The Killer Shrews (1959)The Killer Shrews (1959) by #RayKellogg
w/#JamesBest #IngridGoude

A maniacal scientist transforms tiny shrews into giant, man-killing beasts.

“Ravaging beasts feed on human flesh!”

“They had to eat 3 times their body weight each day… OR STARVE!”

#Horror #SciFi
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn

When I was a kid, I watched The Dukes of Hazzard (1979-1985) every Friday night. I suppose it wasn’t far off from being an early version of a  Friday Night at the Home Drive-in. There’s something about that show that feels like each episode in a mini-drive-in movie. The kind about cool cars and moonshine and corrupt Southern sheriffs. I suppose Macon County Line (1974) and Jackson County Jail (1976) might be examples of a sort. In any case, I loved watching the Dukes outwit Boss Hogg and Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane week after week. I thought the two actors who portrayed those lovable villains – Sorrell Booke and James Best – were a brilliant comedy team, like Abbott and Constello or Bert and Ernie (I was a kid, remember). I enjoyed watching their comedic mishaps as much as Bo and Luke’s victories – maybe more. Continue reading →