Tag: Jack Rabin
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Behemoth the Sea Monster
A radioactive dinosaur stomps London in this British-American 1959 co-production. Writer/director Eugène Lourié all but presents a carbon copy of his previous hit The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and Willis O’Brien’s stop-motion work is rushed and sloppy. It’s not terrible, but by the numbers. 4/10
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War of the Satellites
A body-snatching alien infiltrates the international space program with intents at sabotage. Good low-budget effects and acting, but a dull script makes this one of Roger Corman’s lesser SF efforts. 4/10
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The Unknown Terror
Three explorers search for a lost fiancé in West Indian caves inhabited by fungus monsters created by a mad scientist in Regal’s 1957 low-budget effort. Good visuals and an original idea, but the script is a mess. 4/10
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Monster from Green Hell
US scientists trek through Africa, tracking down giant wasps in this 1957 Al Zimbalist schlocker. Over a third of the picture consists of stock footage, and what is left has few redeeming qualities. 2/10
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Kronos
A giant alien machine descends to Earth and proceeds to drain the planet of energy in this 1957 Fox B-movie. The script is creaky, but this is a fairly original and well designed low-budget effort from the mind of Irving Block. 6/10
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The Beast of Hollow Mountain
Cattle ranchers feud over the mayor’s daughter while their cows mysteriously go missing in this ambitious US/Mexican B-movie. Beautiful colour photography and some adequate stop-motion dinosaurs partly make up for a sluggish script. 5/10
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World Without End
The first US time machine film from 1956 is a fun but clunky Technicolor adventure. Astronauts accidentally travel 500 years into the future, where the meek, pacifist human survivors hide from barbaric mutants in an underground civilisation. 5/10
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Cat-Women of the Moon
The first “Amazon Women in Space” film, this 1953 low-budget clunker is one of the dumbest films ever made. However, despite its borrowed sets, atrocious acting and ludicrous script, it is thoroughly fun in its naivety. 3/10
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The Neanderthal Man
A scientist transforms himself to a Neanderthal man and starts molesting women in this cheap and belated mad doctor entry from 1953. 3/10
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Robot Monster
Shot on 16,000 USD in 1953, this cult classic is as inept as it is unique. Told as a boy’s surreal nightmare, it features an alien robot gorilla in a diving helmet experiencing an existential crisis as he is about to wipe out the last six people on Earth. And…
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Port Sinister
Villains thwart a scientific expedition to a lost city rising out of the sea, and a damsel is distressed by lava quicksand and giant crab monsters. The valiant cast battles a thin, juvenile script, cramped sets and a low budget. 3/10
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Invaders from Mars
This 1953 classic is the most visually unabashed SF movie of the 50s. While hampered by a low budget, this first “invasion of the body snatchers” film scared a generation of kids witless, but also contains interesting themes for adults to chew on. 7/10
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Invasion, U.S.A.
Five American bar patrons who oppose the universal draft experience what a nuclear-fuelled invasion by the Soviet Union would entail. If one film should exemplify the hysterical red scare of the fifties, it is this low-budget propaganda piece from 1952.
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Captive Women
Christian mutants and Satanist “norms” must unite against evil marauders in the nuclear-scarred ruins of New York in this 1952 curio set in 3000 A.D. A good cast and an interesting idea butt heads with a clunky script and an inexperienced director. 4/10
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Flight to Mars
The first team of explorers to Mars are welcomed and double-crossed by a Martian civilisation attempting to hijack their rocket and invade Earth. A 1951 low-budget effort by Monogram, the movie’s striking for its visuals, but badly scripted and routinely directed. 5/10.
Scifist. 