THE COSMIC MONSTERS (1957)
(a.k.a. THE STRANGE WORLD OF PLANET X)
Article #514 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 8-11-2002
Posting date: 1-4-2003

A scientist experimenting with metals and magnetic fields ends up creating environmental problems with his work.

A casual reader might look at the titles and think the movie is about monsters from outer space, and though outer space does play a role in the proceedings, he’d be wrong. This movie was, like it’s theatrical companion piece THE CRAWLING EYE, modeled after the Quatermass movies; though none of the movies that took this approach ever actually equalled their models, it did make the movies much more interesting than they could have been. In this case, the science is interesting enough to keep the story moving along until the monsters show up (it is at least partly a big bug movie), and even after that, it doesn’t throw out everything it set up in the first half for the sole purpose of concentrating on thrills. And even though the direction is very dull at times, the story and the fairly decent performances from all concerned do keep the viewer’s attention. Not a great movie, but a mildly diverting one for all that.