Aliens
UFO Creates
Bigtime Babe
Not all aliens come to Earth to eat people. Some are friendly (ugh!) and some just drop by for a visit.
Imagine encountering one and having the exposure to it turn you into a giant.
That's the story behind 1958's Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.
The husband of Nancy Fowler Archer (Allison Hayes) wants to make off with her multi-million-dollar
inheretence and the girlfriend he has on the side. But his plans go astray when his wife becomes 50 feel tall.
It seems as though there should be some femininist message in this film, but we're talking 1958. That angle is played up better in the 1993 remake starring Darryl Hannah (below).
• Few space monstershave generated the sheer terror created by the Alien.
•
In The War of the Worlds, Martians use heat rays to devastate the English countryside.Get Your
Shriek On!
Check out the top horror books, CDs, DVDs, video downloads and more at The Shriek Shop. If you dare.
Dead Space Packs Thrills
An immense mining ship, the USG Ishimura, comes into contact with a mysterious alien artifact in Dead Space, a newly released Electronic Arts game for X-box. The ship's communications with Earth are mysteriously cut off. Engineer Isaac Clarke is sent to repair the Ishimura's communications array, but he arrives to find a living nightmare—the ship is a floating bloodbath, the crew unspeakably mutilated and infected by an ancient alien scourge. Clarke's repair mission becomes one of survival as he fights not just to save himself, but to return the artifact to the planet … at any cost.
Blob, Blob, Blob
An alien that hitches a ride on a meteor that crashes to Earth becomes bigger and bigger as it consumes all in its path. That's the premise of the 1958 film The Blob.
Featuring Steve McQueen, the independently made film
benefited from the popularity of McQueen, known for his TV role on Wanted: Dead or Alive.
The first victim of the creature--a jellylike blob--is an old man who investigates the meteor and soon finds the Blob attached to his hand. When Steve Andrews (McQueen) and girlfriend Jane Martin (Aneta Coursaut) bring the man to a doctor's office, the Blob on the hand begins to grow, engulfing and consuming first the old man, then the doctor's nurse, then the doctor, and on and on.
Predator and Prey
Another Hollywood tale about a nasty alien invader is 1987's Predator. In this film, the alien (below) hunts a squad of commandoes in South America.
Interestingly enough, this film features two men who went on to become governors, Arnold Schwarzenegger (California) and Jesse Ventura (Minnesota).
Be Careful What You Dig Up
Another great sci-fi monster flick is The Thing from Another World (1951), directed by Howard Hawkes (not credited) and Christian Nyby.
When scientists at the North Pole unearth a block of ice with a lifeform in it, they decide to thaw it out and we know where this is headed: They are hunted around their base by a blood-thirsty alien.
The Thing, by the way, was played by James Arness, who starred as Sheriff Matt Dillion in TV's Gunsmoke. Inspired by the story "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, The Thing from Another World ticks along nicely with great dialogue.
In John Carpenter's remake, the Thing is more monsterous but both versions are wildly entertaining.
He'll Melt for You
Sometimes its not the alien that causes all the trouble in space-monster flicks. Sometimes its the alien atmosphere that is the culprit.
In 1977's The Incredible Melting Man, directed by William Sacha, astronaut Col. Steve West (Alex Rebar) gets zapped with some alien radiation coming off the rings of Saturn and, upon his return to Earth, he begins to melt, becomes insane and starts sucking the flesh from other humans.
Actually, it sounds much better than it really is. But, hey, you get to see a guy melt.
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An immense mining ship, the USG Ishimura, comes into contact with a mysterious alien artifact in Dead Space, a newly released Electronic Arts game for X-box. The ship's communications with Earth are mysteriously cut off. Engineer Isaac Clarke is sent to repair the Ishimura's communications array, but he arrives to find a living nightmare—the ship is a floating bloodbath, the crew unspeakably mutilated and infected by an ancient alien scourge. Clarke's repair mission becomes one of survival as he fights not just to save himself, but to return the artifact to the planet … at any cost.Blob, Blob, Blob
An alien that hitches a ride on a meteor that crashes to Earth becomes bigger and bigger as it consumes all in its path. That's the premise of the 1958 film The Blob.
Featuring Steve McQueen, the independently made film benefited from the popularity of McQueen, known for his TV role on Wanted: Dead or Alive.
The first victim of the creature--a jellylike blob--is an old man who investigates the meteor and soon finds the Blob attached to his hand. When Steve Andrews (McQueen) and girlfriend Jane Martin (Aneta Coursaut) bring the man to a doctor's office, the Blob on the hand begins to grow, engulfing and consuming first the old man, then the doctor's nurse, then the doctor, and on and on.
Predator and Prey
Another Hollywood tale about a nasty alien invader is 1987's Predator. In this film, the alien (below) hunts a squad of commandoes in South America.
Interestingly enough, this film features two men who went on to become governors, Arnold Schwarzenegger (California) and Jesse Ventura (Minnesota).
Be Careful What You Dig Up
Another great sci-fi monster flick is The Thing from Another World (1951), directed by Howard Hawkes (not credited) and Christian Nyby.
When scientists at the North Pole unearth a block of ice with a lifeform in it, they decide to thaw it out and we know where this is headed: They are hunted around their base by a blood-thirsty alien.
The Thing, by the way, was played by James Arness, who starred as Sheriff Matt Dillion in TV's Gunsmoke. Inspired by the story "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, The Thing from Another World ticks along nicely with great dialogue.
In John Carpenter's remake, the Thing is more monsterous but both versions are wildly entertaining.
He'll Melt for You
Sometimes its not the alien that causes all the trouble in space-monster flicks. Sometimes its the alien atmosphere that is the culprit.
In 1977's The Incredible Melting Man, directed by William Sacha, astronaut Col. Steve West (Alex Rebar) gets zapped with some alien radiation coming off the rings of Saturn and, upon his return to Earth, he begins to melt, becomes insane and starts sucking the flesh from other humans. Actually, it sounds much better than it really is. But, hey, you get to see a guy melt.
Sound SavingsTake your tunes with you and save big bucks with these great MP3 players.
