The Blob (1958)

Although not a masterpiece, this film is a cultural gem

Practically nothing is known about an incident that occurred in a small rural town in Pennsylvania in July 1957. It involved a mysterious extra-terrestrial blob-like entity that crashed to Earth inside a meteorite. Not only that, but the alien entity turned out to be both aggressive and destructive as it set about devouring and dissolving the citizens of this small rural community.

Almost nothing is also known about the then teenage pair, Steve Andrews and his girlfriend, Jane Martin who witnessed the crash of the meteorite and who set about investigating it. As the teenage pair witnessed the alien creature’s destructive power, they faced the problem of being confronted by a wall of adult skepticism and anger. Meanwhile, the blob continued to engulf more and more people, while growing bigger and bigger……

Directed by Irvin Yeaworth
Produced by Jack H. Harris
Written by Kay Linaker, Theodore Simonson
Story by Irving H. Millgate
Music by Ralph Carmichael, Burt Bacharach
Cinematography Thomas E. Spalding
Edited by Alfred Hillmann
Production company: Fairview Productions, Tonylyn Productions, Valley Forge Films
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Running time: 86 minutes
Budget: $110,000
Box office: $4 million

Cast

Steve McQueen as Steve Andrews
Aneta Corsaut as Jane Martin
Earl Rowe as Lieutenant Dave
Olin Howland as Old Man
Stephen Chase as Dr. Hallen
John Benson as Sergeant Jim Bert
George Karas as Officer Ritchie
Lee Payton as Kate
Elbert Smith as Mr. Martin
Hugh Graham as Mr. Andrews
Keith Almoney as Danny Martin

Trailer

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Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)

A sci-fi film so terrible yet so much fun to watch!

Directed by Nathan H. Juran
Produced by Bernard Woolner
Written by Mark Hanna
Music by Ronald Stein
Cinematography: Jacques R. Marquette
Edited by Edward Mann
Distributed by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation
Running time: 66 minutes
Budget: $89,000
Box office: $480,000 (USA)

Cast

Allison Hayes as Nancy Fowler Archer
William Hudson as Harry Archer
Yvette Vickers as Honey Parker
Roy Gordon as Dr. Isaac Cushing
George Douglas as Sheriff Dubbitt
Ken Terrell as Jess Stout
Otto Waldis as Dr. Heinrich Von Loeb
Eileen Stevens as Nurse
Michael Ross as Tony the Bartender/Giant
Frank Chase as Deputy Charlie

Trailer

The husband of an unhappily married rich socialite returns to her after having left her only because he now needs money. Meanwhile, philandering hubby, Harry happily continues his affair with another woman aptly maned, Honey Parker. After an explosive confrontation at a bar, his wife, Nancy drives off until she encounters a large spherical object on the road. The object’s sole occupant is an enormous alien……

Despite rumours of UFOs in the area, will anyone believe Nancy?

What effect will Nancy’s close encounter have on her?

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Terror from the Year 5000 (1958)

A low budget lacklustre sci-fi with uneven performances, sloppy direction, uneven editing and a multitude of plot holes. So bad, it’s oddly good!

The 1958 independently made American black-and-white science fiction film, Terror from the Year 5000 (a.k.a. Cage of Doom in the UK) was produced by Robert J. Gurney Jr., Samuel Z. Arkoff, James H. Nicholson, and Gene Searchinger. It was directed by Robert J. Gurney Jr., and starred Ward Costello, Joyce Holden, John Stratton, Salome Jens, and Fred Herrick. The screenplay was based on the short story Bottle Baby by Henry Slesar, that was published in the science fiction magazine Fantastic (April 1957). American International Pictures released the film on a double bill with The Screaming Skull.

The story involves Prof. Erling and his financial backer, Victor who have constructed a prototype time machine which they use to obtain various objects from the past. On one occasion they discover that one item - a modernist Venus de milo-like statuette – that materialized in the machine, radiometrically dates to the year 5200 AD! It turns out that 20th-century objects that are placed in the machine appear to be "traded" for objects from the future by someone or something. It also transpires that Victor has been secretly trying to get a living intelligent specimen from the future to materialize in the time machine.

What does the future hold in store for humanity?

What present danger is humanity faced with now!

Directed by Robert J. Gurney Jr.
Produced by Robert J. Gurney Jr., Samuel Z. Arkoff, James H. Nicholson, Gene Searchinger
Written by Robert J. Gurney Jr., Henry Slesar
Music by Richard DuPage
Cinematography Arthur Florman
Edited by Dede Allen
Running time: 66 minutes

Cast

Ward Costello as Dr. Robert Hedges
Joyce Holden as Claire Erling
Frederic Downs as Prof. Howard Erling
John Stratton as Victor
Salome Jens as Future Woman / Nurse
Fred Herrick as Angelo
Beatrice Furdeaux as Miss Blake
Jack Diamond as First Lab Technician
Fred Taylor as Second Lab Technician
Bill Downs as Dr. Blair
William Cost as Joe the Bartender

Movie Clip

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Teenage Monster (1958)

Is it a Western?

Is it a Horror?

Is it a Sci-fi?

NO!

It’s a monster case of Teenage angst!

Directed by Jacques R. Marquette
Produced by Jacques R. Marquette, Dale Tate
Written by Ray Buffum
Music by Walter Greene
Cinematography: Taylor Byars
Edited by Irving M. Schoenberg
Distributed by Marquette Productions Limited
Running time: 65 minutes
Budget: $57,000 (approx.)

Cast

Anne Gwynne: Ruth Cannon
Stuart Wade: Sheriff Bob Lehman
Gloria Castillo: Kathy North
Chuck Courtney: Marv Howell
Gil Perkins: Charles Cannon
Norman Leavitt: Deputy Ed
Gabe Mooradian: Fred Fox
Stephen Parker: Charles Cannon as a Boy
Jim McCullough Sr: Jim Cannon
Frank Davis: Man on Street
Arthur Berkeley: Man with Burro

In 1880 in a small town in the American southwest, a young boy is exposed to the rays from a meteor and becomes a grotesque teenage killer monster who is hidden from a hostile world by his mother.

Trailer

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Top 10 Soviet Science Fiction Movies

Top 10 Soviet Science Fiction Movies

Brought to you by Indie Sci-Fi 451 (sci-fi and independent cinema)

Read about these Top 10 Soviet sci-fi movies accompanied by a dozen modern trailers made specially for the following article;

https://indiescifi451.com/2017/09/15/top-10-soviet-science-fiction-movies/

Also check out the following YouTube preview:

Space Master X-7 (1958)

A low budget drive-in feature with a nice mix of sci-fi and detective drama

Directed by Edward Bernds
Produced by Bernard Glasser
Written by George Worthing Yates, Daniel Mainwaring
Music by Josef Zimanich, Harry Bluestone
Cinematography: Brydon Baker
Edited by John F. Link Sr.
Production company: Regal Films
Distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Running time: 71 min.

Cast

Bill Williams : John Hand 

Lyn Thomas: Laura Greeling
Robert Ellis: Pvt. Joe Rattigan
Paul Frees: Dr. Charles T. Pommer / Train-Station Announcer
Rhoda Williams: Stewardess Archer
Joan Barry: Jean Meyers - brunet
Carol Varga: Elaine Frohman
Thomas Browne Henry: Prof. West
Thomas Wilde: Collins
Fred Sherman: Mr. Morse - Hotel Manager
Gregg Martell: Jim Dale - plane engineer
Jess Kirkpatrick: Pilot Vaccarino
Court Shepard: Hendry - Battalion Fire Chief
Moe Howard : Retlinger - Cab Driver
Al Baffert: Plane passenger

Trailer

A space probe returns to Earth bringing with it a mysterious fungus!

A fungus accidentally tinged with human blood and transformed into an ever-growing pile of …."Blood Rust!"

An entire world threatened by an ever-spreading alien infection!

Can the dynamic duo of John Hand and Joe Rattigan locate the one woman who holds the key to stopping the rust from spreading and engulfing the entire world?

Read on to find out more.....

Night of the Blood Beast (1958)

A sci-fi film gem that may produce in you "a hypometabolistic state. A type of suspended animation, brought on by the contraction of the mezzentary blood vessels in the pressure change,” all as a result of simply watching it.  

Directed by Bernard L. Kowalski
Produced by: Gene Corman: Roger Corman
Screenplay by Martin Varno
Story by Martin Varno Gene Corman (credited on-screen)
Music by Alexander Laszlo
Cinematography: John Mathew Nickolaus, Jr.
Edited by Jodie Copelan
Distributed by American International Pictures
Running time: 62 minutes
Budget: $68,000

Cast

Michael Emmet: Maj. John Corcoran
Angela Greene: Dr. Julie Benson
John Baer: Steve Dunlap
Ed Nelson: Dave Randall
Tyler McVey: Dr. Alex Wyman
Georgianna Carter: Donna Bixby
Ross Sturlin: The Creature

Trailer

What If..........????

US Air Force Captain Eugene K. Matthews sits at his desk in a small office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He is just a minor cog within a much larger machine that has been ceaselessly grinding away for decades. The giant machine is called the Human & Extra-terrestrial Anomalous Dialogue project. Project HEAD was initiated specifically at the request of General Neil Thomas, chief of the Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The order to initiate Project HEAD came via Roger Cowpepper, Special Assistant to the President, under the title of "NCS/MJ-12 Special Studies Project" dated April 1, 1954.

Many captains and other military intelligence personnel before Captain Eugene K. Matthews have been set the task of industriously beavering away at sifting through thousands of reports of human and extra-terrestrial contact, interaction, collusion and communication. Since the 1950s such reports have been collected, analysed and filed.

Project HEAD has been secretly and quietly humming away in the background while more publicised projects such as GRUDGE & BLUEBOOK have come and gone.

Project HEAD has two goals:

1. To scientifically analyse the related data.

2. To determine if the reported phenomena are a threat to national security.

Any data deemed to be of sufficient interest is to be immediately referred to the U.S. Air Force, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council. Such reports will then be digitized, stored away and acted upon if possible.

And so, as part of this never-ending “house-cleaning” project, we have Captain Eugene K. Matthews sitting at his desk with yet another manila folder containing a report of yet another historical incident of human and extra-terrestrial contact and communication. Rarely had he come across such an historically ancient case crying out to be buried under mounds of time-accumulated dust. In fact, the manila folder and its contents looked as if they had been stored away only yesterday.

Under the icy circle of the white cool-glow LED light illumination of Matthews’ desk lamp, the manila folder, T-471947 is opened to reveal a 1958 Incident code-named: “Night of the Blood Beast.” This particular document, Matthews learns, was located in Record Group 197, entry 1952.

After carefully studying the contents of the document, Matthews is to stamp it with one of the following letter codes:

H: Hoax & Deliberate Deception – Disposal

E: Explanation Satisfactory - Documentation turned over to the office of the Air Force Historian

A: Anomaly unexplained– Retain & classify “Top Secret” pending referral to and further investigation by U.S. Air Force, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council.

D: Danger & threat posed to national security. Immediate referral to President & Joint Chiefs of Staff for assessment & appropriate course of action to be undertaken.

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