DISCOVER--fifty schlocky vintage sci-fi movies worth a look
As the old cliche goes, nobody ever set out to make a bad movie... although in the field of '50's sci-fi, it's fair to say that some cared more than others about the end result. Most of these films failed due to a combination of lack of funds and over-ambitious intentions. That's why they're worth a look, even if its only on fast-forward to 'the good bits'. Somewhere in these calamities there's about five minutes of good footage.
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50 titles
- DirectorAndrew MartonStarsLloyd BridgesShirley EatonBrian KellyThe crew of a five-man submarine travels the world oceans, planting sensors on the ocean floor to warn scientists of any impending earthquakes.
- DirectorBert I. GordonStarsGlenn LanganCathy DownsWilliam HudsonA military officer survives a nuclear blast, only to begin to uncontrollably grow into an increasingly unstable giant.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetStarsArthur FranzDick ForanBrett HalseyShips mysteriously disappear on route across the Arctic Sea, and a specially-equipped submarine is sent to investigate.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsRichard GarlandPamela DuncanRussell JohnsonScientists become trapped on a shrinking island with intelligent, murderous giant crabs.
- DirectorNathan JuranStarsAllison HayesWilliam HudsonYvette VickersWhen an abused socialite grows to giant size because of an alien encounter and an aborted murder attempt, she goes after her cheating husband with revenge on her mind.
- DirectorBrett KellyStarsMark CourneyeaKerri DraperKevin PreeceIn a small town, the silence is shattered by a rash of disappearances at the swamp near the old deserted factories. Bodies are being discovered with no blood left in their bodies. It's up to a park ranger and the town sheriff to discover what ungodly creature is responsible for these deaths.
- DirectorBert I. GordonStarsJohn AgarJohn HoytJune KenneyLonely, deranged puppet-master designs a machine that shrinks people.This is, as the image shows, and everyone knows, Attack of the Puppet People.
- DirectorJon HallStarsJon HallSue CaseyWalker EdmistonSurfers are being brutally murdered. Is the culprit a sea monster or just one of the teens' jealous parents?
- DirectorEugène LouriéStarsGene EvansAndré MorellJohn TurnerMarine atomic tests cause changes in the ocean's ecosystem resulting in dangerous blobs of radiation and the resurrection of a dormant dinosaur that threatens London.
- DirectorEdward LudwigStarsRichard DenningMara CordayCarlos RivasVolcanic activity frees giant scorpions from the earth who wreak havoc in the rural countryside and eventually threaten Mexico City.
- DirectorNathan JuranStarsJohn AgarJoyce MeadowsRobert FullerAn evil alien brain from the planet Arous hijacks the body of an Earth scientist in order to control the Earth.
- DirectorArthur HiltonStarsSonny TuftsVictor JoryMarie WindsorAstronauts travel to the moon where they discover it is inhabited by attractive young women in black tights.
- DirectorEugène LouriéStarsJohn BaragreyMala PowersOtto KrugerA brilliant surgeon encases his dead son's brain in a large robot body, with unintended results...
- DirectorHerbert S. GreeneStarsJohn CarradineBruce BennettAngela GreeneA spherical UFO proves to contain one alien visitor. How to deal with him? Investigators disagree...
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsRichard DenningLori NelsonAdele JergensIn a post-Apocalyptic world after an atomic war seven disparate people find themselves in a protected valley in the home of a survivalist and his beautiful daughter.
- DirectorFrancis D. LyonStarsScott BradySheree NorthGary MerrillA group of scientists working in a deep-sea research station discovers a strange craft of extraterrestrial origin.
- DirectorFred F. SearsStarsJeff MorrowMara CordayMorris AnkrumGlobal panic ensues when it is revealed that a mysterious UFO is actually a giant bird that flies at supersonic speed and has no regard for life or architecture.
- DirectorRobert ClarkeTom BoutrossStarsRobert ClarkePatricia ManningNan PetersonAfter exposure to radiation, an atomic research scientist finds himself changing into a murderous, lizard-like creature every time he is exposed to sunlight.This Is, as the image shows, and everyone knows, The Hideous Sun Demon.
- DirectorDel TenneyStarsJohn LyonAlice LyonAllan LaurelSea creatures created from radioactive sludge terrorize a beach community.
- DirectorEdward L. CahnStarsSteven TerrellGloria CastilloFrank GorshinAliens equipped with venomous claws invade a small town but the town's teenage population is mobilized to fight the menace.This is known to everyone else as Invasion of the Saucer Men.
- DirectorEdward L. CahnStarsJohn AgarJean ByronPhilip TongeInvisible aliens from the Moon invade the Earth by occupying the bodies of recently deceased humans but a scientist, his daughter and an army Major, try to fight them.
- DirectorEdward L. CahnStarsMarshall ThompsonShirley PattersonKim SpaldingThe first manned expedition to Mars is invaded by an unknown life form, which stows away on the rescue ship.
- DirectorRobert GordonStarsKenneth TobeyFaith DomergueDonald CurtisA giant, radioactive octopus rises from the Philippine Trench to terrorize the North American Pacific Coast.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsPeter GravesBeverly GarlandLee Van CleefA well meaning scientist guides an alien monster to Earth from Venus, so that he can rid mankind of feelings and emotions - but only death and sorrow results.
- DirectorDavid L. HewittStarsScott BradyAnthony EisleyGigi PerreauHard-nosed new boss Stanton takes over a scientific research company upon the death of his benevolent father.
- DirectorW. Lee WilderStarsPeter GravesJames SeaySteve PendletonAn atomic scientist claims he was abducted by aliens after being injured in a plane crash.
- DirectorBert I. GordonStarsWilliam BryantWanda CurtisDouglas HendersonA new planet moves into the Solar system and four scientists (two couples) are sent to explore planet Nova. In between romantic interludes, the cast faces an iguana masquerading as a Tyrannosaurus rex.
- DirectorSam NewfieldStarsCesar RomeroHillary BrookeChick ChandlerMajor Joe Nolan heads a rescue mission in the South Pacific to recover a downed atomic rocket. The crew crash lands on a mysterious island, and spends much time rock-climbing.
- DirectorLarry BuchananStarsTommy KirkYvonne CraigByron LordDop leads his fellow Martians to Earth on an interplanetary quest for females. Dop proves that Martians have impeccable taste when one of his first conquests turns out to be sexy scientist Dr. Marjorie Bolen.
- DirectorRichard E. CunhaStarsRichard TravisCathy DownsK.T. StevensEscaped cons stowaway on a flight to the moon and discover alien women ruled by a sadistic queen.
- DirectorVirgil W. VogelStarsJohn AgarCynthia PatrickHugh BeaumontA party of archaeologists discovers the remnants of a mutant five-millennia-old Sumerian civilization living beneath a glacier atop a mountain in Mesopotamia.
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsArthur FranzJoanna MooreJudson PrattThe blood of a primitive fish exposed to gamma rays causes a benign research professor to regress to an ape-like, bloodthirsty prehistoric hominid.
- DirectorArnold LavenStarsTim HoltAudrey DaltonHans Conried"The Monster That Challenged the World" is a 1957 horror / science fiction movie of when horde of prehistoric mollusk monsters enter the canal system of the California's Imperial Valley and terrorize the populace.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsPaul BirchBeverly GarlandMorgan JonesAn alien agent from the distant planet Davana is sent to Earth via a high-tech matter transporter. There, he terrorizes Southern California in an attempt to acquire blood for his dying race, the result of a devastating nuclear war.
- DirectorWilliam MarshallStarsDean FredericksColeen GrayAnthony DexterAfter an invisible asteroid draws an astronaut and his ship to its surface, he is miniaturized by the phantom planet's exotic atmosphere.
- DirectorEdward D. Wood Jr.StarsGregory WalcottTom KeeneMona McKinnonEvil aliens attack Earth and set their terrible "Plan 9" into action. As the aliens resurrect the dead of the Earth, the lives of the living are in danger.
- DirectorEdward BerndsStarsZsa Zsa GaborEric FlemingDave WillockAmerican astronauts are drawn by a mysterious force to the planet Venus, which they find to be inhabited only by beautiful women and their despotic queen.
- DirectorPhil TuckerStarsGeorge NaderGregory MoffettClaudia BarrettThe monstrous Ro-Man attempts to annihilate the last family alive on Earth, but finds himself falling for their beautiful daughter.
- DirectorNicholas WebsterStarsJohn CallLeonard HicksVincent BeckThe Martians kidnap Santa Claus because there is nobody on Mars to give their children presents.
- DirectorEdward L. CahnStarsChester MorrisTom ConwayCathy DownsA mysterious hypnotist reverts his beautiful assistant back into the form of a prehistoric sea monster that she was in a past life.
- DirectorSherman A. RoseStarsRichard DenningKathleen CrowleyVirginia GreyGiant robots from Venus invade Chicago. Stranded in the deserted city are strangers Frank and Nora.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsRobert VaughnDarah MarshallLeslie BradleyA young man defies tribal laws and searches for answers. The result of his quest yields knowledge of past generations.
- DirectorTom GraeffStarsDavid LoveDawn BenderBryan GrantA young alien and a teenage earthling fall in love, and plot to stop the alien's race from using Earth as a food-breeding ground for giant lobsters from their planet.This is, as the image shows, and everyone knows, Teenagers from Outer Space.
- DirectorIb MelchiorStarsPreston FosterPhilip CareyMerry AndersIn 1964, a group of scientists create a portal that takes them to a barren, mutant inhabited, Earth in the year 2071.
- DirectorLee SholemStarsCharles DrakeKarin BoothBilly ChapinA young boy-genius befriends his grandfather's robot, designed as a test pilot for space travel and coveted by foreign spies.
- DirectorEdward BerndsStarsCesare DanovaSean McCloryJoan StaleyIn 1881, in Algeria, Michael Denning and Hector Servadac are fighting a duel when a comet brushing Earth takes the two men to the Moon where they discover a prehistoric civilization.Better known as Valley of the Dragons.
- DirectorJerry A. BaerwitzIshirô HondaMotoyoshi OdaStarsMyron HealeyTsuruko KobayashiClifford KawadaHeavily alerted American version of Japan's Varan. A prehistoric behemoth is unwittingly awoken from hibernation due to a U.S-Japanese military experiment for economic means on it's watery lair.
- DirectorBert I. GordonStarsSally FraserRoger PaceDuncan 'Dean' ParkinGlenn Manning, "The Amazing Colosasal Man," believed dead after falling from the Hoover Dam, reemerges in rural Mexico, brain damaged, disfigured, and very hungry.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsSusan CabotAnthony EisleyBarboura MorrisThe head of a major cosmetics company experiments on herself with a youth formula made from royal jelly extracted from wasps, but the formula's side effects have deadly consequences.
- DirectorEdward BerndsStarsHugh MarloweNancy GatesNelson LeighAstronauts returning from a voyage to Mars are caught in a time warp and are propelled into a post-Apocalyptic Earth populated by mutants.Jon is not on Facebook, but can reply to comments here, at the base of this list.
The only "creepy goth vampire" I can think of from this period is Florence Marley in Queen of Blood. At a stretch, it might be Blood of Dracula. Anyone else?
Obsessed with the popular culture of the 1960s and surrounding decades, Jon Abbott has been writing about film and TV for over thirty years in around two dozen different publications, trade, populist, and specialist. He is the author of several books, including
Irwin Allen Television Productions 1964-1970,
Stephen J. Cannell Television Productions: A History of All Series and Pilots,
The Elvis Films,
Cool TV of the 1960s: Three Shows That Changed the World,
and Strange New World: Sex Films of the 1970s.
See his Amazon author's page, and his other lists on the IMDB, all under the pre-fix DISCOVER.