A bizarre and unique sci-fi film
This little movie usually gets lost in the vast crowd of 1950s sci-fi pictures, but it arguably is one of the most interesting. (I find it superior to W. L. Wilder's previous film, the still decent 'Phantom From Space' [see my review].) The aliens' physique and their plans for Earth, the minimal special effects and sets, and the use of stock footage showcase the sheer bizarreness of 1950s cult films - the lack of resources actually enhance the film's unique feel. The invasion-laden theme is common enough, but the way it is articulated sets the movie apart from most of its peers. The crucial scene, i.e. when the hero meets the aliens, is used as a lengthy flashback inserted near the middle of the film; it is only when the hero gets out of his trance/amnesia that the scene is shown. This seemingly innocuous device actually changes the whole dramatic perspective of the movie: in the first half, the hero acts against his own will, while in the second half, all of his decisions are...
Killers From Space
Combine Cold War paranoia with a pinch of speculative pseudo-science and a dash of radiation anxiety, shake it in a cheap sci-fi tumbler for 70-minutes and you get KILLERS FROM SPACE.
A very young Peter Graves plays the desert scientist studying nuclear blasts and counting the radiation. When his plane crashes after one blast and he's missing for a few days things change. A big, ugly cautery scar over his heart doesn't explain much, either. Of course, nobody believes him when he tells them there's a troop of ping pong ball-eyed aliens living in the caverns in Yucca Flats, poaching our electricity and growing gigantic beetles and rock lizards....
KILLERS FROM SPACE is goofy, and for all of its campy charm pretty slow moving. Graves plays "astonishment" in every key in his repertoire. The alien outfits and makeup aren't very convincing, but they look comfortable. The big bugs look like... well, they look like rear-screen projections with amplified sound...
Classic B-Movie!!!
Killers From Space is everything you want in a B-movie about Aliens taking over the world. Peter Graves plays Dr. Douglas Martin, a nuclear scientist who is surveying a piece of land where an A-Bomb is tested. This begins a strange journey that leads him to believe that aliens are using our atomic energy to support themselves so they can unleash a deadly herd of giant insects that will devour all humans on the earth. It is one of my all time favorite B-Movies. A must see!!!
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