The Sci & Horror B-movies of Yesteryear

Osnome | 6-7-09 | poster

[Osnome]

I like the b-movies of the 1950's and 1960's the best.

Little or no foul language, not too much violence, and the wacky cheesy monsters they created. Today it is all femminazi superbimbos in charge, tons of CGI effects, and they are all produced in Canada :-Z

Last night I watched a sci-fi flick from 1962 called: Journey To The Seventh Planet, that had some really hokey monsters- one of which was a one-eyed dinosaur creature with rat-like features and big three fingered claws. This film was created by the same team that made ANGREY RED PLANET of 1959. Ib Melchior wrote that flick and this one and many others. Ever see 'Planet Of The Vampires' 1965 by Mario Bava? That film was inspiration for ALIEN.

[Darkwolf377]

Planet of the Vampires is a neat little Mario Bava flick with a couple of hot babes in leather space suits (!) and a really eerie tone.

It's a bit of a stretch to say it was the inspiration for Alien, though. There are one or two similar shots. It! The Terror from Beyond Space was the predecessor to Alien in several significant ways.

[Darkwolf377]

Angry Red Planet is one I picked up last month, and it was as weak as I recalled BUT there is one moment which has never left me—when a guy gets absorbed by a giant Jell-O mold. Yikes! That one creeped me out as a kid.

[DemforBush]

I saw Journey to the Seventh Planet when I was a little kid visiting my aunt in Indianapolis. It was on some late night movie show called “Sammy Terry” with this ghoul guy doing shtick inbetween segments of the movies. Fun stuff.

Planet of the Vampires was pretty cool, and you’re right: it *definitely* was a huge influence on Alien:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUXlc8lLEzY

Some others from that era I enjoy are

The Green Slime:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g79_ljVC5Wk

Robinson Crusoe on Mars:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLaHJvF59Fg&feature=PlayList&p=06639747D61FC953&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=6

The original War of the Worlds (no link, sorry);

and The Incredible Shrinking Man (not really a monster movie, but I liked the battle with the house spider)

[DemforBush]

I completely forgot about IT!... Definitely an influence on Alien, as you correctly point out.

[Osnome]

>>It! The Terror from Beyond Space was the predecessor to Alien in several significant ways. <<

Hey hey what about Howard Hawkes THE THING
and so was Roger Corman’s PLANET OF BLOOD of 1966.

And even The Exorcist (the puking material in the face caused by the ‘incubus’ scene in both pictures)

What about that episode of Dr Who called The Ark In Space( the outer space digger wasps) with a little bit of that animated episode of Star Trek: Beyond the Farthest Star of 1973.

In the end, the source material for ALIEN and the some early episodes of Star Trek(The Man Trap) are derived from A. E. Van Vogt’s THE VOYAGE OF THE SPACE BEAGLE, of which I have an autographed copy.

[Osnome]

Back in the 70’s when I first saw these flick s here in Los Angeles, the horror night was hosted by some guy named Seymore, then Grimsely, then Elvira in the early 80’s

[Darkwolf377]

In the end, there isn't a single movie that doesn't have predecessors in the genre, so I don't see those as being nearly in the same league as IT! in terms of influence. TTHE THING is a great movie--the original, at least--but it certainly wasn't the first to use those elements.

Fox had to pay Van Vogt a settlement because he was going to sue them for the similarities to BLACK DESTROYER.

[ktw]

Don’t forget 1956 Forbiden Planet, Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen. With Robbie the Robot!!

[Snurple]

Luvs them trashy vampire vixens!

[calex59]

One of my favorite, besides Creature from the Black Lagoon and others, from the 50s Sci-Fi is “Forbidden Planet”. It has great special effects, they solve the problem of how to make the monster look real by having it be invisible, they have Robbie the Robot in it, Leslie Nielsen(as a very young actor)and, best of all, a young and gorgeous Ann Francis. I like to watch the other ones mentioned on here also including the original “The Thing”...

[DemforBush]

Mmmm....Elvira.... Had a brief crush on her as a teenager, until Rhonda Shear and Up All Night! stole my heart away (I think it was my heart...it’s so hard to tell at that age, LOL).

[Snurple]

[Osnome]

>>The Green Slime:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g79_ljVC5Wk
<<

I saw that flick before, the only interesting spfx were those on Luciana Paluzzi(she was that evil babe in 007's Thunderball) and they were only chest high:-)

Green Slime was to be the first film ever excoriated by Mystery Science Theater 3000, but it was never broadcast.
Instead the first was The Creeping Terror with F-Troop’s Forrest Tucker.

[randomhero97]

Those were great times. The USA channel was awesome back then.

[Osnome]

Don’t forget THIS ISLAND EARTH was very good too.

Got a good laugh out of that Braino Insect Claw monster that was chasing after Faith Domergue.

[Osnome]

I saw that flick, it was boring!

Reminds me of the THE INCREDIBLE DOCTOR HUMMPH - - a brain in a fish tank.

None of these flicks hold a candle to Donovan’s Brain

[Snurple]

LOL! It was horrible.

[Osnome]

Here in L.A. there is an Elvira immitator called Ivanna Cadavre who appeared on channel 29 late at night a few years ago.

[Always Independent]

I saw it at the saturday matinee as a kid. Fun back then.