Category: Resurrection/Prolonged life
-
Womaneater
A scientist feeds women to a woman-eating tree, which gives him a serum that can bring back the dead. This British 1958 quota quickie is plodding and illogical, but kept afloat, barely, by its silly premise and decent acting. 2/10.
-
I Was a Teenage Frankenstein
A ruthless scientist creates a teenage monster in his basement and tries to hide it from his fiancée. Herman Cohen’s 1957 follow-up to the smash hit I Was a Teenage Werewolf is a slow-moving affair saved by a toungue-in-cheek script. 4/10
-
The Man Without a Body
A dying businessman wants to replace his brain with that of Nostradamus, but Nostradamus has other plans. Low-budget SF legend W. Lee Wilder directed this unintentionally hilarious 1957 British clunker. 4/10
-
The Man Who Turned to Stone
Mad scientists run a women’s prison and kill the inmates in order to prolong their own lives in Columbia’s 1957 genre mashup. Bernard Gordon’s script has interesting ideas, but falls back on dated horror tropes. 5/10.
-
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Ed Wood’s 1957 Magnum Opus is the epitomy of the so-bad-it’s-good movie. Far from the worst picture if all time, this is one of the most entertaining films in movie history, and unmistakingly a work of an auteur. 7/10
-
Croisières sidérales
A company offers “time trips” 25 years into the future through the science of time dilation in space. It’s a passable entertainment romp, but this French 1942 comedy fails to make anything interesting out of the intriguing premise. 5/10
-
Alien visitation Aliens Apocalypse Artificial humanoid Conquest of Earth Conquest of Man Conquest of Space Conquest of Time Dystopia Empty World Future technology Future war & weapons Futurism Humanoid monsters In the air Invisibility Mad scientist Man-made monsters Mars Medical alterations Monsters Moon flight Rejuvenation Resurrection/Prolonged life Robots Round the world Space exploration Superpowers Time Travel Transference of consciousness Transplants Underground Utopia
Top 25 Non-English SF Films Pre-1950
Much of the heritage in SF movies comes from non-English language films from the first half of the 20th century, many of which are largely unknown to an English-speaking audience today. Here we list the 25 greatest non-English language science fiction movies made prior to 1950. How many have you…
-
Indestructible Man
A 1956 cult classic, this gangster-monster mashup with Lon Chaney Jr. as a super-charged avenger suffers from the cutting of most of Chaney’s lines, and with them key scenes. Decent performances & good location shooting make it worth a watch. 3/10
-
Flying Saucers Over Istanbul
Attack of the belly dancers from outer space! Two dimwit journalists fall prey for the matriarchal aliens landing in Istanbul in Turkey’s earliest preserved SF movie from 1955. Unfortunately this Turksploitation milestone fails on every level. 0/10
-
Creature with the Atom Brain
Cult director Edward L. Cahn directs SF staple Richard Denning with a Curt Siodmak script in this 1955 consumable about gangster zombies with radioactive brains. An entertaining but forgettable atom age potboiler from Columbia. 4/10
-
El monstruo resucitado
As enthusiastic as it is bewildering, this operatic Mexican 1953 medical horror film is a clunky passion project. Throwing in everything but the kitchen sink, it’s a mix between The Phantom of the Opera, Frankenstein and Mystery of the Wax Museum. 6/10
-
Donovan’s Brain
The disembodied brain of ruthless millionaire Donovan takes telepathic control over the scientist keeping it alive in a fish tank. Based on Curt Siodmak’s novel, this 1953 effort is at its best a taut SF chiller, at its worst a confusing tax fraud potboiler. 5/10
-
The Maze
Veronica Hurst’s fiancé Richard Carlson becomes estranged as he takes possession of his ancestral Scottish castle, harbouring a dark secret. Atmospherically filmed in 3D in 1953, this fringe SF production is hampered by an oft-ridiculed climax. 6/10
-
Alien Invasion Alien monsters Alien visitation Aliens Apocalypse Artificial humanoid Conquest of Earth Conquest of Man Conquest of Space Conquest of Time Future technology Future war & weapons Futurism Humanoid monsters Immortality Interplanetary travel Man-made monsters Mars Medical alterations Message from space Mind Control Monsters Mutant Pandemic Post-Apocalypse Radiation Effects Resurrection/Prolonged life Robots Space exploration Superpowers Suspended animation Time Stasis Time Travel Underwater
Tales of Tomorrow
The first SF anthology TV show aired live in the US from 1951 to 1953. With material by some of the greatest SF authors of all time, its adult-oriented, intelligent scripts are often unsettling to watch even today. The cast boasts Leslie Nielsen, Rod Steiger, Paul Newman, Eva Gabor, James…
-
The Man in Half Moon Street
In 1945 the world still had time for one decent old-school mad scientist film before the genre imploded on itself. Swedish heart-throb Nils Asther shines in a Dorian Gray-inspired major studio production by Paramount about a 120 year old genius searching for the secret of everlasting life, while telling everyone…
Scifist. 