Fairview Productions, Tonylyn Productions Inc.,
Steve McQueen, Aneta Corsaut, Earl Rowe, Olin Howlin, Alden “Stephen” Chase, John Benson, George Karas, Lee Paton, Elbert Smith, Hugh Graham
Steve Andrews (Steve McQueen) and Jane Martin (Aneta Corsaut) are out on a date, when Steve gets in a little trouble being goaded into a race by some other teens. After dealing with the cops, Steve and Jane notice a meteor that hits not too far away. Little do they know, a glob-like material has landed and starts growing. It grows, feeding on human flesh, and no one knows how to stop it, in this horror classic from 1958.
This was one of the earliest of the more modern horror films with science fiction themes. Before long, radiation was creating giant cockroaches, ants, rabbits, mice, etc. were crawling out of the desert to eat people. But this one is simple jelly blob of goo. This film is short on the real blood thirsty horror that was to follow, but is a great classic 1950’s horror film. This is truly a classic film, and one that’s well worth watching again after all these years. I know it’s been at least 40 years since I’ve seen it, and I really enjoyed watching Steve McQueen playing a teenager in this film. The sets are cheesy, and the dialog is straight out of a 50’s B movie, but this is one of the first films I remember seeing of the “the kids know what’s going on, but none of the grown ups will believe them” themes. They play this to he hilt here, and there’s no way they can convince anyone over 30 that there is really a monster killing people. No one believes kids when they witness something like this. This was done will in lots of other films, and adds a lot of suspense to the film, since we know they’re telling the truth, but no one else will believe them.
All in all, at Halloween especially, it’s nice to go back and catch a 54 year old film! I enjoyed it. Look for it on TV, Cable, or On-Demand.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
