It's 1958, and that's as good a year as any for some low-brow hokum.
I also saw this as a kid, though some time in the early 1960's and on television. And I don't mind saying that it gave me quite a scare.
Tension builds surprisingly well for what is patently a B-movie. And that is a clue to good direction. The actors are all from the second division, which helps in a way because it makes the 'ordinary' characters they play seem more believable.
There are some suitably gruesome killings which ratchet-up the tension as the 'mysterious cloud' begins to drift about. Whatever's in there must be pretty nasty. 'Mysterious Cloud'; has there ever been a horror/thriller that didn't have one? 'The Fog', 'Independence Day', 'War Of The Worlds', 'The Mist'; you just can't beat a mysterious cloud for - well, clouding things with mystery.
When the monsters finally disclose themselves, you either laugh out loud or hide behind the sofa. Huge eyes with a bunch of whiplash tentacles: no evident brain, no discernible digestive tract; these are just horror-props plain and simple. Interestingly, the beasties attack an avalanche-proof observatory and manage to shatter the thick, concrete walls. Presumably they just stare them to bits.
Half a century ago; a credible, unquestioning audience gobbled their popcorn in a state of shock at the terrible aliens, 50 years on we can all have a good laugh at such truly terrible aliens.
The bug-eyed monster never got better than this.
I also saw this as a kid, though some time in the early 1960's and on television. And I don't mind saying that it gave me quite a scare.
Tension builds surprisingly well for what is patently a B-movie. And that is a clue to good direction. The actors are all from the second division, which helps in a way because it makes the 'ordinary' characters they play seem more believable.
There are some suitably gruesome killings which ratchet-up the tension as the 'mysterious cloud' begins to drift about. Whatever's in there must be pretty nasty. 'Mysterious Cloud'; has there ever been a horror/thriller that didn't have one? 'The Fog', 'Independence Day', 'War Of The Worlds', 'The Mist'; you just can't beat a mysterious cloud for - well, clouding things with mystery.
When the monsters finally disclose themselves, you either laugh out loud or hide behind the sofa. Huge eyes with a bunch of whiplash tentacles: no evident brain, no discernible digestive tract; these are just horror-props plain and simple. Interestingly, the beasties attack an avalanche-proof observatory and manage to shatter the thick, concrete walls. Presumably they just stare them to bits.
Half a century ago; a credible, unquestioning audience gobbled their popcorn in a state of shock at the terrible aliens, 50 years on we can all have a good laugh at such truly terrible aliens.
The bug-eyed monster never got better than this.