Killers From Space (1954)

Fun but terrible

Shot on a budget of about $4.78, Killers from Space is one of those fun old 50's sci fi movies that provides plenty of unintentional laughs.

Peter Graves plays a scientist riding in a plane to observe a nuclear explosion. The plane crashes and he is believed to be dead. He shows up a few days later, disoriented and with a scar over his heart. He's seeing things and not thinking clearly and eventually starts talking about aliens living in caves. It turns out he was saved by aliens in black jumpsuits with Marty Feldman eyes. He was saved so he could tell them when the next nuclear test was because they are gathering and storing the energy to feed to their menagerie of giant insects and lizards. When they have a large enough zoo, they will turn them loose on the public and wipe out the Earth's population.

Yes, this movie is fun to watch, but make no mistake that as a film it's terrible. The alien's "look" is ridiculous and watching Peter Graves cringe from giant insects that aren't really there is hilarious. The plot isn't bad as 50s sci fi goes, it's just so poorly done. October 18, 2008

ALPHA DVD VERSION

ONE OF THE ALL TIME CHEEZIE 1950'S SCI-FI CLASSICS...RIGHT ALONGSIDE "THE GIANT GILA MONSTER", "KILLER SHREWS", "ATTACK OF THE 50FT. WOMAN", "TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE" AND "THE GIANT CLAW"...DID I LEAVE OUT "THE MOLE PEOPLE" & "HORROR AT PARTY BEACH"?...LET'S NOT FORGET "PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE", "ROBOT MONSTER" & "BEGINNING OF THE END"!!!!
DIRECTED BY BILLY WILDER'S LESS FAMOUS BROTHER W. LEE WILDER (PHANTOM FROM SPACE), THIS IS THE MOVIE WITH THE ALIENS WITH THE PING PONG BALL EYES!!! THEY WEAR HAND-ME-DOWNS FROM OLD REPUBLIC SERIALS, & THREATEN TO TAKE OVER THE EARTH WITH GIANT REAR-SCREEN PROJECTED INSECTS & SUCH. STAR PETER GRAVES STUMBLES ABOUT AIMLESSLY IN THE BRONSON CANYON CAVES.
CAN YOU IMAGINE THE CONVERSATION AT A WILDER FAMILY GET-TOGETHER?
BILLY: WHAT YOU BEEN UP TO LATELY W. LEE?
W. LEE: GOT A PRETTY GOOD PROJECT GOING. YOU?
BILLY: I'M DIRECTING JACK LEMON, TONY CURTIS & MARILYN MONROE IN "SOME LIKE IT HOT".
W. LEE: OH YEAH!...I'M DIRECTING PETER GRAVES IN "KILLERS FROM SPACE"!!!
BILLY: GEE...I HOPE IT'S BETTER THAN "PHANTOM FROM SPACE".......
........BUT, YOU KNOW, OVER THE YEARS, I'VE SEEN "SOME LIKE IT HOT" MAYBE TWICE...BUT "KILLERS FROM SPACE" I'VE SEEN AT LEAST A DOZEN OR SO TIMES & HAVE IT ON BOTH VHS & DVD!!!
I WAIT FOR "SOME LIKE IT HOT" TO SHOW UP ON TV ON TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES...
THE ALPHA DVD IS VERY GOOD, AN IMPROVEMENT ON MY VHS TAPE...& THE COVER IS GREAT TOO!!!
1950'S SCI-FI FUN. ONE OF THE BEST OF IT'S KIND. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
January 3, 2007

endearing minor s sci-fi B movie

Peter Graves plays Dr Doug Martin ,whose plane goes missing during a nuclear test in the Nevada desert .He is at first presumed dead but eventually turns up with no memory of anything and with his chest covered in what appear to be surgical scars.
Under hypnosis it emerges that he has been kidnapped by aliens from Astro Delta who are intent upon using him as an unwitting ally in their plans to take over the world ,a scheme which also involves giant reptiles and insects .
The special effects are what mainly lets this movie down -they are truly lamentable even by the standards of low budget mid 50, science fiction ,and the bug eyed aliens are especially silly with their black costumes and patently false bug-eyes .

The idea is quite imaginative and the pace is brisk with a nice line in Cold War paranoia both with the alien invasion plot and the approval given to the role of the FBI snoopers .Poor acting is no help either .

It is watchable but scuppered by technical inadequacay November 6, 2006

classic science fiction

I like the old science fiction movies,they are more realistic than some alien melting from a bad acid trip in the latest sci-fi movies they have now,maybe the producers of the sci-fi movies of now were acid heads!how ever they show a great lack of imagination and fill in their movies with special effects when there isn't any acting talent in the actors ,to dazzel the uneducated audience with this garbage,is to call them stupid, and the stupid audience will eat this garbage up!eat up!stupid! August 17, 2006

Stupid enough to be fun

This has got to be one of the first "alien abduction" pictures. Peter Graves stars as a nuclear scientist kidnapped and brainwashed by a gang of aliens with great big googly Muppet eyes. When he regains his memory, everyone thinks he's nuts, babbling about flying saucers and giant insects. But is he? Graves and his wife sleep in seperate beds...guess the marraige isn't going so hot, huh? This is another film from the Mills Creek Sci-Fi Classics thingy, and while it isn't quite a schlock classic like Teenagers From Outer Space or Robot Monster, KFS isn't entirely terrible either. Mildly recommended for one of those nights when you have a ton of time to kill. June 23, 2006

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