IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE / Universal International Pictures - 1953

It's Monster Redo Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Time to update this title since we did it years ago, hit the refresh button, NOW! One thing about Universal Studios, they always took their horror and sci-fi very seriously, this was their first monster feature in the fifties with a huge budget of $800,000. The story's about an alien spaceship that makes an emergency landing in the Arizona desert, it crash lands near the home of writer and an amateur stargazer, John Putnam. John and his girlfriend witness the event, so, John decides to investigate...

Eegah!! sent over a great lil' soundclip for our enjoyment, sooooo, push the big red 'GO' button there by the neon ventilator, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's our monsterous audio offering for... IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE!

This is stargazer John Putnam and his girl Ellen Fields, a local schoolteacher, they watch as an alien craft zooms across the horizon and crashes into a nearby cavern. Richard (THE MAGNETIC MONSTER) Carlson plays John, Barbara (WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE) Rush plays Ellen. For me, Richard Carlson was the perfect fifties sci-fi guy!

The viewer gets a sneak peek of the inside of the spacecraft and then the unique Xenomorph creature, which was created by the awesome Milicent Patrick. Milicent also designed the monster mask in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, the Creature in CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and the Mutant for THIS ISLAND EARTH, move over Paul Blaisdell!

Sexy Milicent Patrick with some of her pals...

John finds the spaceship in the cavern just before a landslide covers it entirely. The locals have trouble believing that John actually saw a ship from another world.

Electricians Frank and George are the first ones to be taken over by the aliens.

Frank's wife and George's girlfriend notice big changes in their personalities!

Hey, my last post had a space cadet in it too! This lil' creep just scared the crap out of Ellen, believe it or not!

Ellen's body is taken over next... I dunno, I think she's a lot sexier as an alien, I dig those eyebrows the most!

She lures John into a mine entrance, then, turns on the charm!

Back at home, John notices that he's had an unearthly visitor, there's a snailish glitter-like substance on the floor, also, some of his clothes are missing!

When he goes back to the mine he's met by alien Ellen, who then tries to kill him with her deadly ray gun! Ironically, she dies during the encounter.

John meets his double, the leader of the mission, they just need a little more time to replinish the power to the ship's space drive...

The locals have come to blow the place up with dynamite. John convinces the aliens to release their captives, and, that would buy them the time they need to power up for the launch as a gesture of good faith.

We'll end with the wise words of John Putnam ~ They'll be back!..

THE SPACE CHILDREN / Paramount Pictures - 1958

Welcome to Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We have a unique little blob flick directed by Jack (THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN) Arnold that I actually saw when it came out. It's all about an alien intelligence that aborts a rocket launching with the help of children. This is a redo of a post we did back in June, 2008.

Although a nice poster for the kids, I consider this kind of sci-fi artwork just plain weak.

The music's by Van Cleave, Van also worked on these projects.. THE LEMON DROP KID, A PLACE IN THE SUN, THE CADDY, SCARED STIFF, THE COURT JESTER, LIL' ABNER and THE BELLBOY. This is one of my very favorite sci-fi themes from the fifties!

Letz bring in our fuzzy little fiend and button pusher, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Ralphie's here to start the show, so, push the big red 'GO' button there by the coin-operated atomic dish washer, now, Ralphie! Here's the theme from... THE SPACE CHILDREN!

It stars Peggy (THE SCREAMING SKULL) Webber, Johnny (VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS) Crawford, Michel (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA) Ray and Adam (FEAR STRIKES OUT) Williams. Get this, Michel Ray quit acting in 1964, was a member of the 1968 UK Olympic Ski Team, then inherited over 50% of the Heineken Beer empire in 2002!

The family's trailer house interior was THE LONG, LONG TRAILER set! Saw that one in '53, we all loved Lucy at our place!

All the dads are working on a secret rocket program, where, the kids can walk right up and take a good look at what's going on!

Here's the lil' brain blob from space coming in for a landing, you can barely make it out there in the beam.

Wow, Russell (IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE) Johnson plays one of the biggest ass holes!! It's kinda hard to watch him at times.

The little bitty brain beckons it's mini minions...

Numbnuts here tries to smash the thing with a rock and gets paralyzed for his effort!

Russell plays Joe Gamble. Anyway, Joe gets what's comin' to him and has to go away for awhile. Check it out, he was going to wallop his stepson with that freakin' branch!!

Dad sneaks into the cave to see what's causing his kids to act against his authority. But, of course!

So, dad spills the beans to the military about the mysterious brain from space.

Jackie (MESA OF LOST WOMEN) Coogan plays Hank Johnson, he catches his daughter, Eadie, having a little telephathic chat with her new friend. Eadie's played by Sandy Descher, the little girl wandering around in the desert in THEM!

Ever since the kids have been bringing the thing McDonalds, it's really been putting on the pounds!

Nice looking composite shot!

The brain causes the rocket to fizzle out before it can cause the forseen damage it predicted.

The kids stand in defiance as the military shows up, ready to take care of the thing in the cave their way, deep six.

Although this scene where the organism takes off is definitely surrealistic, it looks sooo bad when the hard shadows are cast onto the matte painting in the background!

The big brainy blob shoots back into space, from where it came... I'll let you figure out your own analogy.