1950's-1960s Sci-Fi

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Inspector Abberline

Since I watched The Hideous Sun Demon.(1959) im pretty sure they use SOME of the same music library cues that they use in Romero's Night Of The Living Dead,I've been listening to the soundtrack of Night and its very similar. Not earth shattering news I know but still.

It's as more earth shattering than most of the posts on the forum.

[Nordicdusk]

Destroy All Monsters

[Nordicdusk]

Destroy All Monsters

[Inspector Abberline]

X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963)

Directed by Roger Corman,this is about as different as you can get from his POE feature films. Corman's The Man with the X-Ray Eyes is a giddy mix of 1960's psychedelic collision of colours and weirdness that see's its protagonist Ray Milland as Dr. James Xavier go from esteemed scientist to a crazed faith healer with god like powers. When Dr. James Xavier creates his eye drops to help develop the range of peoples vision,he of course tests the serum out on himself first.I mean when has that ever gone wrong,right? Needless to say at the start all goes well,I mean there he is at a party,enjoying his Martinis,when,what's this I can see naked ladies every where.In fact the party scene is the only real humorous moment in the film,Xavier feigns embarrassment when he realises his new powers give him an unexpected little treat . Unfortunately this is the only side effect that Xavier finds remotely fun,as his new vision takes him deeper and beyond anything his mind can actually handle. It is a fairly grim story,Xavier powers are supposed to help him help mankind and solve some of those tricky medical problems you can not see with the naked eye.Yet as he takes more dosages of the serum Xavier powers increase to a magnitude that takes him out and beyond the known universe,so its not much good at seeing through women's clothes at parties no more then. By the end of the film Xavier is pretty much as mad as a box of frogs ,and when an evangelical priest quotes him the passage "If thine eye offends thee... pluck it out!" Well you know its going to end in tears,literally. The rumour started by Steve King about the alternate ending where Xavier shouts "I can still see!" has been denied by Corman ,and that it only ever existed in Kings head. The Man with the X-Ray Eyes is a great and fine example of what Corman could achieve on a low budget and a film that actually lives up to its title.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Still don't own this nor have i seen it. nice write up though, Inspector.

[Inspector Abberline]

Invaders from Mars (1953)

Directed by William Cameron Menzies, what drives this story so well is the paranoia and fear of its central character little Jimmy Hunt as David MacLean ,while all the stupid adults go stumbling around the sand dunes getting sucked down and lobotomised. David is the only one smart enough to believe his own eyes and know the truth,while gradually the more important towns folk are being recruited into the Martian army. Its not until some one from the Dept of Health ,Dr. Pat Blake (Helena Carter) starts to believe David that eventually we get some action from the adult populace.Again its David who takes the initiative and tries to contact the police to no avail and the local astronomer Dr. Stuart Kelston (Arthur Franz) . Also whenever David is confronted by some sort of a authority like the prison cell (seemed a bit harsh putting a little boy in the slammer) or the entrance to the police station,Menzies exploits Davids fear by making the sets seem more increasingly larger than reality,just to make the kids journey even more fraught with danger.In fact its quite a relief to the viewer when David is finally believed and then we can get on with killing them darn Martians. Again Menzies makes the Marian's huge hulk like creatures,larger than life and twice as ugly,apart from the lead Martian who is just a head and tentacles in a gold fish bowl. Invaders from Mars gets a little talky in the mid section,especially the British version as the distributor wanted some re-edits and allot more information about the invaders. Invaders is a firm favourite of mine,mixing good old scientific twaddle with a good dose of martian action towards the end,influence on many films later,I especially think Dead And Buried shares similar themes of paranoia and people not being what they appear to be.Highly Recommended.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

The Angry Red Planet (1959)

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

What a terrific screamer she is.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

The Thing from Another World (1951)