February 21, 2010

The other film that knocked my mouth open then, was Corman's "Not of This Earth" (1957) with Paul Birch, stolid and grim visaged, but plenty convincing as the blood craving alien, agent from the planet Davanna. He mostly wore wraparound sunglasses, until his attacks.














I still have not seen this film again in going on forty years. Tho' one of the last issues of the old Castle of Frankenstein did a thorough recap of the story. Gotta get me a DVD someday soon...

The real edge it had over, say, "House on Haunted Hill', was that not only did he arrive in the seedy town that could well have been your own, his craving was treated as an addiction, dependent on nurse Beverly Garland's assistance. Include a fridge of blood bottles, contaminated dog's blood, scenes of 'Johnson' fixing, enough fellow aliens, and an 'it's not over' conclusion and you have quite a potent mix of fears for a six year old psyche.