CREEPY CLASSICS presents...

MOVIE NIGHTS

Every weekend we're watching movies together...whether you're in Pennsylvania USA, or Sydney Australia. It's a throwback! Back to the days when you had the anticipation for waiting till the weekend to see the classic horror or science fiction film that was listed in the TV Guide. The plan is to watch a movie at 7:30PM on Saturday night in your own time zone. Or, if you can't Saturday night...anytime during the weekend. Then, we'll all get together and e-mail our thoughts on the film...a few paragraphs...or simply a sentence if you'd like. They after-viewing reviews appear on our Creepy Classics/Monster Bash News Page. See the latest thoughts posted by viewers ther now.

Concept submitted by Mike Adams of Cartaret, New Jeresey.

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PAST SATURDAY'S MOVIE OF THEWEEK:"KILLERS FROM SPACE " (1954) Also known as ALIENS FROM SPACE. Peter Graves stars in an early 50's sci-fi with the quintessential bug-eyed monsters from space. Graves is brought back from the grave(s) by the aliens. Whacky. Suggested by Les Zuckerman, Cherry Hill, NJ.

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KILLER FROM SPACE is low budget....low budget, but interesting on certain levels. Peter Graves' acting is solid as he w slowly working his way up the ladder....to Roger Corman (IT CONQUERED THE WORLD) a few years later. His brither was in an early sciene fiction film too....two years earlier James Arness, was THE THING (FROM ANOTHER WORLD). Arness was Graves brother.

KILLER FROM SPACE is still ahead of the curve as far as real science fiction and flying saucer films go. Only a few were earlier (of the top of my head THE FLYING SAUCER, THE THING and DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL). So, this still wouyld have been pretty startlinh in 1953...athough THE THING and DAY are miles better in quality.

Slow going at times with loads of tock footage and narration (usually a bad sign).

The ping-pong styled eyeballs are goofy, but rather weird at the same time. I don;t think they were actual ping-pong balls because you can see them flexing with the actor's speech at times. They look like they must have been rubberish.

-Ron Adams, Ligonier, PA

Above, art sent in by John Sargent for KILLERS FROM SPACE.

Thank you for watching my selection. Peter Graves deserves a lot of credit for sticking with the B-movie roles like this," Beginning of the End "and "It Conquered the World". He added some good acting and professionalism to an otherwise mishmash of stock footage, questionable scientific concepts and plot.

"Killers From Space" has a lot to offer... the questionable decision to expose all these people to radiation just to see what would happen. In all the bomb scenes, there is a stunning lack of protection. Although I sort of recall in the airplane scene at the beginning, Peter Graves does say something about a safe distance to be from the explosion. Lots of big bugs and lizards with a thin reason given for their existence.

The aliens obviously had run out of budget for costuming, but the ping pong ball eyes are immortalized in the opening credits of Chiller Theater, so that's a nice memory from Channel 9 NYC . You can go on and on about the sloppiness of the product but it's what makes 50s Sci-Fi so lovable.

Les Zuckerman
Cherry Hill, NJ

Hi Ron:

I always had fond memories of "Killers from Space" until I saw it again for the first time in years. Nothing really happens in the film. The characters just stand or sit around and talk. There is no real threat to earth as the aliens don't have enough power to actually attack the earth. Their plan just doesn't really make much sense. The screenwriter apparently could figure out a name for the planet or solar system that the aliens come from so the has them use the line another galaxy and a planet that you have not heard of.

My burning question is what is with the green tint evey time the aliens appear? If it is meant to give an eerie feeling, it doesn't succeed. It's only annoying. The scene where Peter Graves is remembering what happen when he met the aliens is laughable. His overly long run through the caves and see giant insects is just a time waster.

My other question is why are there extreme close ups of some of the actors? It looks like they are trying to be serious but ends up being funny. The one person that they should have had a close up of, Graves wife, they don't have.

The acting is very over the top. Peter Graves' acting ability inproved greatly in the time following his performance in this film. One thing I noticed was every time the characters talk in an office, you can hear an echo. This is a cheaply made film. All the sets are bare. The only picture I saw on the wall was a one of President Eisenhower. The makeup of the aliens appears to have been copied from "Invaders from Mars". I always wondered how they were able to see through the tennis ball eyes.

Incidentally, the director, H. Lee Wilder was the brother of Billy Wilder, the famed director of "Some Like It Hot" and "Sunset Blvd"
and other classic films. Unfortunately he did not have his brother's ability. H.Lee Wilder also directed "Phantom from Space" which is not a very good film either.

All in all, "Killers from Space" is a pretty bad film. The lobby cards, posters and stills are actually more interesting than the film itself.

Bruce Tinkel
Edison, NJ

I see this film, like many others of the era, opens with a stock footage
festival. I’m pretty sure the voice over announcer couldn’t sound any more
bored. Wow, the film has only been going for a minute and already it’s
dragging, not a good sign. I was going to watch this film earlier in the
weekend but I had some kind of flu with a fever in the triple digits,
maybe I should have watched it then though, it might have made more sense
in the fever induced haze. So, the plane at the beginning of the movie is
called “Tar Baby 2” should we assume this has some kind of cryptic
meaning, perhaps relating to the “Brer Rabbit” folk tales of the southern
United States? Could it be that this relates the ancient legends of the
trickster gods as portrayed by the rabbit and fox?... Nahhhhhh probably
not.

The picture of Ike on the wall in the office is in enough scenes that it
should get it’s own credit.

The movie has a reputation as a classic turkey and it’s well deserved,
it’s truly made to make fun of and insert your own lines. Herein I think
is one of it’s problems, the pace is so slow there’s plenty of time to
think up and then insert your own dialogue. I wonder if Mystery Science
Theater ever took on this one, they would have had a field day.
The acting is not all that bad really given the script, plot and direction
all of which give new meaning to “lame”. This being Easter weekend I
watched a lot of big biblical epics in which many people were healed, but
I think it would take more than the hand of God to save this picture.
I see that the stock footage parade continues throughout the film, I love
all the old gadgetry on display, I’m sure it looked pretty cool and
futuristic sixty years ago… ahh, the future ain’t what it used to be, but
then, it never was.

It’s great to see that even with aliens who can travel from planet to
planet you still have to transmit information by writing on a piece of
paper and hiding it under a rock.

“Those eyes, those horrible eyes” I noticed that aliens seem to operate
with blowtorches instead of scalpels. I love the backward voices, “turn
me on dead man” “the music is reversible but time is not… turn back, turn
back!”

Let’s not forget the ping pong ball eyes. You have to admit, the aliens,
while planning to take over the earth are at least friendly enough to take
a long, long, (and I mean really, painfully long) time to explain their
whole plan.

The basic plot of aliens trying to take over the earth is nothing new,
even the silly alien make up is not without precedent. Other films have
had these elements and fared much better. I would submit that the
incredibly slow pacing is a primary culprit here. There is no interesting
sub plots and no character development. Think about a film like “It Came
From Outer Space” that has a goofy alien, and most the film is about
waiting for it to come out of the cave, but it has several interesting
plot lines going on that move the story where this has none.
And yet, like many movies of this era this one is fun if for no other
reason to laugh at, that being said though, there are a lot of others to
make fun of that don’t drag on at such a painfully slow rate.

-Kevin Slick, Louisville, CO

ROCK says: "'SvenGOOLie' showed 'Killers From SPACE' last Sat. on sister station U-Too at 3 pm CST(4 pm ET) & I watched it! 'Cool' movie"! I love any & ALL 'Giant' Fall-Out Radiatin-Mutated Monster movies of the 'Glorious' 1950s & '60s! I liked all the giant bugs & lizards! Where was 'Devil ANT'?! Heeh! Ooh, that's right, that movie(directed by me in 1999) wasn't made, yet! It was alot of Fun"!

-David ROCK Nelson, Monster movie-maker, Des Plaines, IL

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