The Strange World of Planet X

I saw this movie recently on VHS. I was surprised at how compelling this film was. It took a while for the monsters to show but that's because great character development and a good plot outline was being established first. But when the monsters to show, there are some shocking scenes for even today.

The effects were very good as well as the acting, especially Forrest Tucker. They even managed to fit in a believable love triangle between the main characters. The logic of the plot pans out very well and was impressive. The movie flowed smoothly and the script well written. Overall it was a great 50s SF film.

With Barely a Budget, the Brits Managed to Pull this Off with such Seriousness and Overload it with so many Angles that when Viewed Today it is a Surprising Amalgamation of Genre Conventions.

This Obscure Movie has Flying Saucers, Manipulation of Magnetism that Interferes with the Earth's Protective Layer, Giant Bugs both Slimy and Crawly and a Reptile to show there is no Prejudice when Man Tinkers with the Unknown. An Ambassador from Space from the Klatu Klan, a Ray Gun, a Scientist who goes Mad in a Mad Lab, and just for Kicks a Breathtaking Scene where a Hungry Bug Gnaws away on the Face of a Fallen Woods Walker.

For No Money, barely over an Hour Long, and made with Hardly an Actor on Set, this is a Strange Find. There are more things Crammed in here than Usual for this Type of Thing. It has some Creepy Scenes with the Highlights, a Bug Siege on a Trapped Shapely Teacher in the Country School, and an Obligatory Lovely getting Trapped in a Spider's Web where She Lingers Long Enough to Witness what might be Called a Big Bug Battle for Her Charms.

Eagle Eye Viewers and Other Nit Pickers could point to some Painted Backdrops and Curtain Hangings that some of the Children at the Aforementioned School could have Made. But Overall there is more here than meets the Eye. That is to say it is a Smorgasbord of Fifties Sci-Fi Angst that is a Neat Discovery that got Lost on a Double Bill at the Drive-In a Half Century Ago and Needs to be Rediscovered.

As a very young lad in the late 50's with an older sister who had a car, I spent many a Saturday with her and her friends at the local movie theater watching the latest horror movies.She says this was my choice because I did'nt like Westerns. Well I can't remember that but I do vaguely remember a certain double feature that scared the hell out of me. When I got home I did not want to go to bed(our house was in the country with woods all around). I thought the real frogs,crickets, and other bugs I heard outside were giant insects coming to get me. Since that night some 45 years ago I have seen countless 50's SF and horror movies hoping to find out what those 2 movies were. Many were similar and some had similar names ie."Thing From Another World", "Monster That Challenged The World"(I also saw it when I was a little older but it did not scare me quite as much),"X The Unknown","The Beginning Of The End" etc. but none were exactly "right".I began to think these movies did not exist or had gotten lost so I just gave up ever finding them, especially since no tv station we get ever shows any old SF or horror movies anymore.Since I had no idea of their titles(if they did exist) or actors in them , I logged on to the imdb and starting reading reviews of some of the movies and BINGO!!!There they both were. I could not believe it.Thanks to the great descriptions by your reviewers I finally found them. Needless to say they have both been ordered. The scariest to me was "The Strange World of Planet X", probably called "Cosmic Monsters" or "Crawling Terror". I can't give a a decent review of either movie because it has been 40+ years. By the way the other goodie was "The Trellenberg Terror" aka "The Crawling Eye" or "The Creature From Another World" . Now my life will be even more complete (ha ha) when someone comes out with a DVD or VHS of "Caltiki ,The Immortal Monster".I did catch it on tv as an "adult" of about 14 years of age but have not seen it since.

I saw this movie once - over 40 years ago - and I still remember it very well. Even as a kid, very few movie really scared me, but this one did. The resident mad scientist does something that let in lots of bad cosmic rays and the local insects become giants. The school is a one room affair set in the middle of a forest. The giant insects attack the school trapping the teacher & the kids. Most horror movie monsters looked hokey - but the monsters in this were extreme close-ups of real insects. It wasn't until Alien that I saw a movie monster as scary as those giant bugs.

Of all the giant insects flicks of the 1950s, this is probably the worst. But as a low-budget sci-fi flick with a modest mystery, it's not so bad. First, the good news: Forrest Tucker and others are conducting magnetic experiments, which leads to a problem: the experiments allow cosmic rays to bombard the land, resulting in giant insects, reptiles and spiders. And they're all very hungry. A strange individual (Michael Benson) shows up to help. He's from another planet, naturally. Now for the bad news: the giant insects and reptiles and whatnot are simply regular creepy crawlies poorly enlarged through the camera lens. The one exception is a spider that tries to eat the obligatory helpless heroine (Gaby Andre). There's a bit of gore, but not enough to keep the kiddies away. Tucker is solid, as always, and Benson is oddly believable as the friendly alien. It has been suggested his performance was based on Michael Rennie's alien visitor in "The Day The Earth Stood Still."