DISQUS

Film School Rejects: The 7 Must-See Monster and Alien Movies of the 1950s

  • MrDeath · 8 months ago
    Dear god. I haven't seen any of these! And all these years I thought I was a film snob...


    I'M A MONSTER!
  • David G · 8 months ago
    I still think Creature from the Black Lagoon is still a boring movie. Day Earth Stood Still, as well. But they were creative and are creature features. The Blob is one of my all time favorites
  • ottobud · 8 months ago
    No love for The War of the Worlds (1953) or This Island Earth?
    PS - Day of the Triffids is a 60s flick.
  • ANGRYBROOMSTICK · 8 months ago
    I'm adding all of those to my Netflix queue. thanks!
  • ANGRYBROOMSTICK · 8 months ago
    the only one i've seen here is THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, I love that movie. the remake sucks.
  • FGD135 · 8 months ago
    Great article!
    I saw "The Blob" when I was 8 and have been hooked to 50s alien/monster films since.
    "The Day the Earth Stood Still" continues to be an amazing movie, despite the campiness. "The Thing" was actually slightly frightening.
    What about "Them"?
  • jrichview · 8 months ago
    You forgot to mention that James Arness from Gunsmoke played the Thing in "The Thing From Another World " in one of his earliest roles. Interesting trivia tidbit.
  • Slammer64 · 8 months ago
    Let us not forget one of the all time great Science Fiction films' ; Forbidden Planet!
  • Cole_Abaius · 8 months ago
    Nice catch. I got caught up in my Steve McQueen fandom. Totally forgot about Arness.
  • Dan · 8 months ago
    THEM!!!!!!
  • RobertFure · 8 months ago
    Any Vincent Price fan who hasn't seen "Theater of Blood" yet needs to BUY IT right now. Then watch it. In my college days we obsessively ran around talking about poodlehead pie. If you want to know why, you've got to see Theater of Blood. If you're still not sure, let me say this - Vincent Price fences a dude while they're both jumping on trampolines. So fuck you. (I don't know why I felt the urge to add that last insult)
  • John Davis · 8 months ago
    Wow, makes sense to me. Well done!

    RT
    www.privacy-tools.us.tc
  • djjeffhall · 8 months ago
    I haven't seen the Blob for years. (As in since I was a teenager in the 70's. God, I'm old.......) I keep wanting to go back and revisit it, just for the scene where the Blob invades a movie theater.

    While I agree that most of these are classics (I might take issue with 50 Foot Woman which is a fine film, but hardly a classic in my book. I'm also not sure that Blob would qualify either, despite its charms.) I think you've over looked at least one or two others that might better qualify.

    Them is pretty wonderful. War Of The Worlds should qualify on every Classic 50's SF list and perhaps even Forbidden Planet if only because it gave us Robby the Robot.
  • Bob · 8 months ago
    Agree with slammer. Forbidden planet can not be forgotten. My alltime favorite for sure.

    Bob
    Traffic site
  • Allan Sharpe · 8 months ago
    I must agree with the votes for THEM!. It is one of the greatest science fiction films of all time.
  • Jason Reneau · 8 months ago
    I love Creature from the Black Lagoon, but my favorite is the sequel to Creature from the Black Lagoon, Revenge of the Creature, just because it is Clint Eastwood's first film and it is funny as hell to see the future Dirty Harry, and Man with No name as a squeaky clean Lab Tech.
  • Jason Reneau · 8 months ago
    HERE IS A LINK TO EASTWOOD"S FIRST ROLE:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHGC7UqebhE
  • Jason Reneau · 8 months ago
    [youtube EHGC7UqebhE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHGC7UqebhE youtube]
  • Morbious_fod · 8 months ago
    What? A Fifties monster movie article and no Godzilla King of the Monsters? Beast from 20,000 Fathoms? Them? Robot Monster? Ok I'm kidding about the last one; however, I'll admit I own it on DVD. Come on an antagonist in a gorilla suit and a diving helmet with terrible acting all around, what's not to love about that. Seriously Robot Monster has to be experienced at least once, if you dare!

    As for The Thing from another world, who doesn't like to see Marshall Matt Dillon of Gunsmoke fame as a vegetable based alien? I've watched all but two of the movies in this article and own those I've watched as well.
  • Wagnerelli · 8 months ago
    Why no mention of Gojira? The original is not just an amazing monster movie; it is an amazing film period. Most giant monster films would not even exist if not for that movie.
  • Sharon E. Dreyer · 8 months ago
    The old horror film, The Crawling Eye, scared me so bad when I was six that I didn't sleep for two nights and I only slept the third night because of exhaustion! Otherwise the seven movies listed here were what made me into a science fiction fan then author.
  • Sindy · 8 months ago
    What about the might Santa Claus vs. The Martians! These guys do a cool "Moster Fight-Offs" article
    http://blog.onthebox.com/2009/03/25/top-6-monster...

    Sam kind of tone as this article - v funny with clips from the movies