1950’s  – The Fang-tastic Fifties

In this decade, what’s known as the classic era for the Universal Monsters franchise came to an end. But it didn’t go out with a whimper. Aside from a few more sequels and some Abbott and Costello horror comedies, Universal gave the movie-going public a brand new monster.

The monsters made famous by Universal Pictures did not fade into obscurity. Rather, the lived on, thrived even. But it was time for another film production company to carry the torch. Hammer Horror, a British film company, would remake many of these classical movies with a modern flare. First, they were in color. Second, there was more gore (that rhymed!).  For the first time, vampires would finally grow some fangs. Fang-tastic! 

Outside the cinematic world, people were facing post war realities. New realizations, new fears. World War 2 ended with an unleashed atomic bomb, as if the various bombing campaigns that led up to the event weren’t frightening enough.  Terrors from the sky were a real thing. Conversely, new technologies allowed countries to launch satellites into the sky.  Throughout the 50s, there was talk of plans for a Soviet satellite (Sputnik) to be launched into space. The talk became a reality in 1957.  Who would win the space race, The Soviets or The United States? Both countries had nuclear weapons. No matter who won that race, everyone in the world stood a chance to lose.  The Cold War was on.

Many horror movies of the 50s reflected all this. Fear of the catastrophic “other.” Movies about giant beasts and alien invasions dominated the theaters. Science fiction captivated the minds of many. It wasn’t just a person strolling through the woods or a woman asleep in her bedroom that were potential victims of monstrous creatures. Whole cities and countries faced imminent danger. Sometimes the whole world paused in trepidation.

The 1950s horror genre had other treats as well. Some of the first horror films by the legendary Vincent Price premiered in this decade. Let’s not forget famed director William Castle. Most of his horror films had  gimmicks for theater audiences, allowing the popcorn-chomping masses to be thrilled by things offscreen, right there in the very aisles they sat in.

The entries in the list that follows show examples of all of the above.  Scroll and see. 

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The Thing From Another World – 1950

What did I tell ya?  The fifties wasted no time giving movie audiences an alien. Critics then and now adore this film.  In fact, there’s a mandate from such-and-such organization that all critics must heap praise on this film or risk confiscation of critic credentials.  And here’s little ol’ me, who ranks this film somewhere between okay and good. Uh, but I don’t have critic credentials. And I just made up that bit about the existence of such-and-such organization – so there!

Set in the North Pole, a team of scientists are studying an alien spacecraft that crash landed in the ice. In their possession is the driver of the craft, frozen in ice. Guess what? It unfreezes and lurks somewhere around their research sight. They are trapped.

I will say the final few minutes of the film are awesome. Is that a good word for a critic?  This film was remade years later by Director John Carpenter. Gee, will his film appear on this list? Could be!

 

House of Wax  – 1953

Vincent Price arrives. Yay!!!!!!!!!  Classic, color film.  

“Ol’ man Vincent comes to play 

Oh my – oh my- oh!  

Life-like statues on display

 – Oh My Oh My Oh!”

Now Vincent, please don’t tell me the bodies of recently murdered women are ending up in your waxy statues!  Please don’t tell me that!

Great film!

Below is a clip of the best scenes of the movie – so says the title of the clip. 

 

Godzilla – 1954 – Original, Japanese Version

I’m sure you heard of his guy! Rising up from the ocean near Japan, this  giant, fire breathing reptilian causes absolute terror in its wake. That’s right, folks.  The original movie is the most serious in tone of all the Godzilla films.  It shows the aftermath of a Godzilla attack. Hundreds upon hundreds of Japanese citizens lying in cots in desperate need of medical treatment.  

There are two versions of the film; the Japanese and the American version. The American version includes actor Raymond Burr, an American journalist on site of the disaster scenes. Yes, it’s Perry Mason! This is one case he won’t solve alone. Godzilla will not break down on the witness stand.

How did Godzilla come to be? Answer – radiation. Radiation is at the root of many of these 1950’s giant monsters. We must remember that after the bombing of Hiroshima, radiation was a real threat.  This movie is an allegory of the dropping of the atomic bomb.

 

Creature From The Black Lagoon – 1954

 

I warned you about a brand spanking new Universal monster, and here he is! Meet Gill Man. He has gills (hence his nickname). This bipedal amphibian can both walk on land and swim under water, but he can’t stay above water very long.  He lives in the Amazon (the river that is; he doesn’t shack up and a distribution warehouse), and if humans would only just leave him alone all would be good. But, no. To better understand stray strands of evolutionary developments, scientists want to capture and study him.  But not if he has anything to say about it.

This movie was popular enough to spawn two sequels. There is a beautifully shot swim synchronization scene. Kay Lawrence, played by Julia Adams, is swimming near the top of the water while the creature swims below her, mimicking her movements.

 

Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers – 1956

To me, this is more sci-fi/action rather than horror. But I wanted there to be one film on the list that shows off the work of animator Ray Harryhausen. He was very famous for developing innovative techniques for stop-motion animation. Of course these days, CGI and AI have replaced these “outmoded” animation techniques, but back in the day, this was the shit! Besides, it still looks good to my eyes. See for yourself by watching these flying saucers attack our world.  

I find it difficult to know where to draw the line when it comes to sci-fi films with frightening scenes. In this movie, aliens in steel armor and faceless mask abduct humans and do a mind control technique on them. That’s kind of horrifying.  Besides, some sources list this as a sci/fi/horror film, so there you go.  Harryhausen’s animation achievements appear in several giant monster movies, but we already have Godzilla on this list, and there’s another film in this decade that’s “sort-of” a giant monster, so let’s stick with Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers.

Mars Attacks from 1996 is a near parody of this film.

Free on YouTube, until it’s gone

 

Invasion of the Body Snatchers – 1958

This is a film I just recently saw for the first time in preparation for this list. I’ve seen the one from the 1970s with Donald Sutherland but I had missed the original. Though it’s been a while since I saw the remake, I think I like the original better. Many would disagree.

Pod People. (Huh? People who eat Tide Pods?). No, silly. They were spores floating in spaces for many thousand years until finally they landed on earth and grew into pods. Inside the pods, humanoid creatures formed. These creatures “snatch” the biological characteristics of nearby, sleeping humans, cloning their cellular structure, stealing their memories and in the end, becoming replicas of the corresponding person.

After seeing both films, I’m still confused if the pod-things became the replicas, while the host itself disappeared, turned to dust, etc. or if the pod creature collected all the data and then somehow transferred everything to the host. If the former, the films  do not fully explain what happens to the hosts.

Comparisons have been drawn to the themes of this film and the collectivism and paranoia associated with the McCarthy era.  

 

The Curse of Frankenstein – 1957

The  timelessness of the Universal Monsters – I just can’t “hammer” the issue home enough. Or maybe I can with these movies from Hammer Film Studios. (See what I did there!) The Frankenstein monster fills the screen again in this retconned film.  Sure, the original is better, but this one stands on its own merit.

Peter Cushing plays Dr. Frankenstein and Christopher Lee plays the monster. Both these dudes starred as Star Wars villains at one time or another.  This version is more graphical and in color. There are scenes of various organs stored in bubbling solutions. Cushing’s character is more evil than Dr. Frankenstein as played by Colin Clyde in the original. In fact, one of the sequels to this film is The Evil of Frankenstein.  

This film is directed by Terrance Fisher. He directs most of the films of the Hammer’s horror analogy. Pairing Cushing and Lee (sounds like a law firm) over and over again.  Maybe one more of o these pairings will appear on this list?

 

The Blob – 1958

It came from outer space. Just a gelatinous thing the size of a bowling ball. The thing is, it crawls. It eats people. And it grows.  The more it eats, the bigger it gets. This blob gets so big it takes over a movie theater. Its extensions seep down the movie screen and leak down the walls, causing teenagers to flee the theater while saying “AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”

By the way, it was the teenagers that tried to warn the authorities about this Blob, long before it got too big. Did the authorities listen? Nooooo.  Oh, Steve McQueen is one of those teenagers.

This is a fun movie. And that’s all I’ll say about that! 

 

The Fly – 1958

Would you believe that yours truly had not seen this classic film until about ten days ago?  Me, a fan of noteworthy horror films across all decades – and a fan of Vincent Price (Pssst! That means he stars in this movie), had yet to take in this classic sci-fi movie.  Or maybe I had seen it. There are some scenes that were vaguely familiar, but I had to have been a wee little lad if such an exposure had taken place.

I was slightly disappointed that Vincent Prince wasn’t the fly. Or more appropriately, the part man/part fly.  That role went to actor David Hedison, who plays a scientist that invented a matter transport device. After breaking down the atomic structure of an object inside a glass chamber in one section of his lab, then transporting those atoms to another glass chamber in another location of the lab, the object is rebuilt. Problems occur when he tries this procedure on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a fly enters the chamber and tags along for the trip.  The result; a man with the head and arm of a fly, and a fly with the head and the arm of a man.

I’ll tell ya, the freakiest sight in the movie is the fly with the human head. It cries. So disturbing.  Great film.

 

The Horror of Dracula – 1958 

Terrance Fisher is at the helm again,  with the Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee duo  in Hammer Studios’ colorized version of Dracula. Cushing plays Van Helsing, the professor who always goes up against the evil in count.  Gee, can you guess who Christopher Lee plays?  If you’re thinking of Dracula, then you are correct. See how smart you are!

Unlike the original Dracula film, this movie is bloody. Blood erupts when a vampire is punctured with a stake. Blood drips out of Dracula’s mouth after he’s had a snack. Let’s not forget about the fangs! Christopher Lee, the first Dracula with fangs!

There are some fans out there that prefer Lee’s Dracula to Lugosi’s. Shot in color with Dracula all made up with fangs and blood, he looks scarier. Yet, I prefer Bela Lugosi as the famous creature of the night and therefore, I  like the original film better. This film is good though.  

There are several sequels to these films, both Frankenstein and Dracula. Cushing and Lee star in most of them. In addition to the Drac/Frank films, Hammer Studios produced several remakes of the classic horror stories, including Mummy movies, The Phantom of the Opera, and several originals. Alas, this is the last time we are visiting Hammer films. With Drac/Frank, I made my point, sharp like a wooden stake.

 

The House of Haunted Hill – 1959

This is the first William Castle film on this list. I told you about him in the intro. It stars Vincent Price as a millionaire who has invited a group of strangers into a haunted house to celebrate his wife’s birthday. They will be paid a large amount of money if they spend the night. Of course, in order to collect, they must survive.

Vincent’s character Frederick hates his wife. His wife loathes him back. Supposedly, she had tried to murder him in the past. Maybe he tried to murder her too. As you can guess, there is something fishy about this whole arrangement of a birthday party with strangers in a haunted house. Perfect scene for a murder, wouldn’t you think?

A murder does occur. Who is the murderer?

I mentioned earlier about Castle having advertising gimmicks for his movies. This film features a famous scene of a walking skeleton. In select theaters across the nation, a skeleton is rigged with wires and rolls on down to an unexpected audience during this monumental scene.    What fun. 

This is the second haunted house film on this list. Will there be more? Haunted houses are my favorite, after all.  I hope so (Hint: there will be more)