MONSTER MOVIES I SAW AT THE THEATER IN 1958

 Well, I thought I'd do another post of  horror and sci-fi movies I saw at the theater, this time 1958, and it was a banner year to be sure! Just check out the movies I was sooo lucky to see when I was a measly 10 years old...

Oh man, this movie was a thrill and a half plus some! It was non-stop action with some of the greatest animated movie monsters ever created, by Ray Harryhausen and his pals of course. Wow, a real scary/fun roller coaster ride!

This movie had a great cast of characters and was very fun to watch, but was tarnished by its special effects, namely the giant space alien that was very transparent at times. They tried to fix it in post but it was futile. And that weird giant hand just made me laugh. All in all though, it was an entertaining sci-fi flick

This was one of Mr. BIG's finest movies, the special effects were top notch for the time. I remember loving the giant furniture and telephone, the dolls of puppet people were excellent even if they used cut out photos.

O... M... G!.. My dad took me to see this freak out fest and I was never the same again, seriously!! The creepiest parts were at the beginning, starting with the old man and then at the doctor's office. When Steve went back to see if the old man was okay, he's walking outside the house when he sees something crashing against the window blinds... I got out of my seat and went into the lobby and sat there 10 minutes before my dad dragged me back to my seat. Man, this movie was the absolute scariest! I even had the 45 record, freaking love that theme song!!

Donald Wolfit was a terrifying mad scientist, but I don't remember a whole lot about the movie because Hammer made so many of them using that formula. Their labs were the best!

As cheap as this little thing is, I love it to pieces. At the time though, it was hilarious when they show the little Brain Eaters scooting around the place, I mean, holy cow, what the Hell!

This movie left me stunned at how cool the Colossus looked, what a great monster movie it was! As usual, it ends up a tragedy, his son is the one that destroys him...

Here's another cheapie that has its moments, especially when the Faceless Man starts moving around, causing mayhem and crushing people!

I actually saw EARTH vs. THE SPIDER, and that particular poster is a little hard to find for some reason. Anyway, I liked it, but I had already seen TARANTULA a few years earlier and there was no comparison. Joe's hot rod was very nice, but the part that still bugs me is when the Spider was displayed at the school (really?!), its leg just looked wimpy! Best part was Paul Blaisdell's motorcycle policeman dummy after the Spider sucked all his blood out!

THE FLY and THE BLOB were the two movies that really kicked my ass, remember, I was only 10 years old! When David Hedison was walking around in his lab coal, right hand in pocket, head draped, unable to talk, well that was unnerving enough, but when he was shown with his fly head and hand exposed, I almost fainted, I'm not kidding. I cannot watch it now, too sad. James Clavell's screenplay is pure genius! What a ride!

Wow, here's another mind blowing movie for me, it totally kept my attention the whole time. The skeletons looked a little crappy with clear plastic wrap for skin, but when they go into the cave with the satellite and see the guy who got stuck there inside of the blob, yikes, blobs! The tension of the thing growing in cycles was pretty intense too.

Oh man, I dug this crazy movie! The Frankenstein monster at the beginning was creepy and weird as Hell. Boris Karloff as the mas scientist was great, but I liked that freaky atomic Frankenstein wrapped in cloth, it's one of my all time favorite monster!

There was so much drama going on that it was easy for this monster kid to lose interest, I just didn't remember much about it. It used some gadgets from FORBIDDEN PLANET and even some of the electronic sounds, round peg in a square hole.

I liked this one, the monster was pretty unique, the action was okay, and that last scene made me dizzy because I has a touch of acrophobia. But the part I'll never forget is the sweat on Robert's rear end when he was climbing the stairs, looks like he wet himself!

Wow, wow, wow!! This thing was a real thriller, in color with lots of bright red blood. Chris Lee was the man, his portrayal of Dracula is number one. The climax was just too much, another amazing movie from Hammer!

I saw this one with my dad and loved every minute of it, the rocket was definitely from Hell. The ending was intense, would their Thor missile destroy the Lost missile?!!

Talk about a thrill packed movie, this thing had it all, the creepy prehistoric fish, great transformation scenes, and plenty of mayhem! The cherry on top was that giant dragonfly!

I was enthralled by the beginning credit music and the digital delay used after the spaceship goes through a time warp. It was okay as a movie, beautiful women are always a plus, it had a giant spider reused from WORLD WITHOUT END. The girlie power plant at the end is one of the worst sci-fi sets, ever!

Again, those Hammer horror movies came through with a consistent mad lab theme, always the best. I remember this one had a sad ending, being their latest Frankenstein monster.

I really like this strange little movie, it was about kids saving the day. Loved the rocket at the military base, and it had a different kind of blob creature, making my day. 

This is another weird movie I liked, it just had a lot of elements that pushed my buttons. The characters went to a double bill movie with I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF and i WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN playing, I liked the noise their time machine made, but showing the lady from the future at the end, well, she looked goofy. One great part is when the hired hand Angelo is seen in his shack reading a girlie magazine and has nudie pictures of girls pinned on the wall!

This one creeped me out pretty good, the Thing looked terrifying with its makeup. All in all, it was at the end of the Universal fifties run and this one had a small budget.

Damn, I loved this movie, with the aliens taking over the mind of the head of the space project, where he burns his hand and just wipes off the residue, the squat rockets and wild satellites, it's definitely one of Corman's best films.

Wow, how lucky was I to get to see this many monster movies, they have had a lasting effect on me and I/m still doing retro monster art, in fact, I'll be working on them after I hang up. Click.