I Married a Monster from Outer Space
Directed by Gene Fowler Jr.
Written by Louis Vittes
1958/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] Bill Farrell: Eventually we’ll have children with you.
Marge Bradley Farrell: What kind of children?
Bill Farrell: Our kind.[/box]
This sort of wastes an above-average monster suit but is not too bad for all that.
The film opens at Bill Farrell’s (Tom Tryon) bachelor party at a local bar. All the other guys are telling horror stories about married life. Bill leaves early to visit fiancee Marge (Gloria Talbott). But he is waylaid by a mysterious force and it turns out Marge will be the one with a horror story for a marriage. In fact, her new husband seems like a stranger. Soon, other men in town are acting pretty weird.
I was expecting something like I Was a Teenage Wolfman but it turns out this is more like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It’s not as effective as the latter film but few films are. This is a nice solid studio B picture. Almost all of the monster shots are super-imposed, shadowy images. I can’t figure out why as the stills of the beast are rather awesome.
Paramount distributed The Blob as the intended B feature on a double bill with this movie. The Blob, produced by a small church studio, was much more successful. Paramount should have seen that coming as The Blob has color, Steve McQueen, and a much better alien.
Trailer
