Killers from Space

predatory aliens with the worst cases of ex opthalmis in medical history are lurking under the desert in the Southwest, and it's up to Peter Graves to stop them before we all laugh ourselves to death. The effects in this stinker are embarrassingly bad and very, VERY cheap. Lots of stock footage, glaringly obvious blow-ups of various insects, spiders, etc., model airplanes that look like model airplanes, a creaking plot. . .well, we could go on all day, but you probably get the picture by now. While we like Peter Graves, this is almost certainly one of those projects that he would like to forget. The one intriguing item in this otherwise rotten film are the alien physicians (at least we think they're physicians) who successfully perform open heart surgery on Peter by waving incense sticks over him. How did they DO that?

I get the horrible rating on here. But...

The cold war, guys in suits smoking cigarettes half of this movie is great. The cast is great and the story is interesting. A 6 or 7.

The aliens underground part of the movie is truly atrocious. Even if you enjoy close up footage of insects it is still trash. So bad. A 1 or 2.

But i find this movie overall enjoyable, hence I gave an almost respectable 5.

This is the definitive low-budget early-1950s sci-fi movie.

Not bad enough to go down in the annals of the worst movies ever made, but it comes close. Part of the "problem" from that perspective is that Peter Graves is pretty good in the lead, and the special effects aren't as horrific as the Ed Wood movies. There are also some mainstays of B and C movies of the Fifties in supporting roles, such as my longtime favorite Frank Gerstle. I always wanted to grow up to be like Frank Gerstle but unfortunately never succeeded. Sure, we get to see some wild beasts that are obviously running on a film screen, but that is OK. It's all good fun.

Killers From Space is undeniably a cheap science fiction film. The story centers around Peter Graves, having landed inexplicably in what looked like a blast, somehow living through his crash landing. Only trouble for Graves is that he cannot account for the time between his flight in the sky and his return - nor can he explain the surgery done on his chest. Graves is one of a handful of men in charge of these tested explosions, and now the army has concerns with Graves's return and his memory loss. Well, turns out Graves was intercepted by some real cheap-looking aliens. Aliens with bulging eyes that look incredibly artificial. Their suits are just as bad. And they have alien monsters which are nothing more than lizards and frogs showed to be giants(if you really, really, really stretch your imagination). I enjoyed Killers From Space. Sure, even for B science fiction films it is cheap, but the story really isn't that bad and Graves does a workmanlike job acting. The rest of the actors are adequate as well. The biggest detractors - other than the non-existent budget - is the cheap feel the movie has, its mediocre direction, the lack of even remotely believable special effects, and the aliens themselves. The aliens just do not carry off any believability. Notwithstanding these, the film is fun and short.

Peter Graves, all jut-jawed seriousness and desire to do good for the world, is nuclear scientist Dr. Doug Martin. (One of his earliest lead roles.) After an atom bomb test, he disappears in a plane crash. Later, he resurfaces, but he doesn't seem to be quite the same man as before. During an inquiry during which he is supposedly incapable of being imaginative, he tells his colleagues and friends a wild story: he was temporarily abducted by bug-eyed aliens. They intend to use him as an instrument in their scheme to take over the world. Naturally, nobody believes Dougs' story, but he's determined to foil the aliens before it's too late.

Passably directed by Billy Wilders' less talented brother W. Lee Wilder, "Killers from Spaces" is actually reasonably engrossing - provided the viewer has a soft spot for micro-budget 50s cheese. It tells a pretty entertaining story, with a lot of exposition shoved into the confrontation between Doug and the nefarious extraterrestrials. And these E.T.s are so wonderfully tacky with their egg-carton eyes and bargain basement wardrobe. The special effects are likewise endearing in their own way, with the standout sequence being Dougs' attempted escape from the cavern: he is overwhelmed by a variety of Earth animals that the creatures are manipulating into becoming giants. The music, cinematography, and atmosphere are all pretty enjoyable for this kind of sci-fi fare. The performances are on point: obviously not award-worthy, but effective in their sincerity. Co-starring are James Seay (also in the directors' "Phantom from Space"), Steve Pendleton ("The Great Missouri Raid"), Frank Gerstle ("Monstrosity"), John Frederick ("Blindman"), Barbara Bestar ("Navajo Trail Raiders"), Shepard Menken ("The Phantom Tollbooth"), and future prolific trailer narrator Ron Gans as a sentry.

While hardly a "quality" production, a movie like "Killers from Space" packs more earnest entertainment into its trim running time (71 minutes in this case) than some of the mega-budget movies of the modern era.

Six out of 10.