Transplanting the story from 1890 London to 1953 California, The War Of The Worlds is one of cinema's most exciting invasion stories. From the initial meteor landing that heralds the arrival of the Martians to their emergence and attack upon our cities, this movie delivers on all fronts. The Martian war machines are some of Hollywood's finest creations. And it has one of the best endings of a sci-fi film as the unstoppable aliens finally succumb to Earth bacteria. Only Earth vs. The Flying Saucers in 1956 would ever rival this movie in its theme of an all-out attack by hostile aliens.

My Personal Views - "This is one of those films that I've seen so many times, I can practically quote it verbatim. In fact, I put the video on every Halloween night as a tradition. No alien saucers have ever looked so cool to me as these do. I've heard that a remake is in the works. I can't wait."

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms was the first (although by no means, the last) of the giant monster movies of the fifties. Based on a short story by Ray Bradbury, this story of a prehistoric "Rhedosaur" who is awakened by an atomic bomb blast in the Arctic and goes on a rampage in New York city was also one of the first assignments of stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen. His creation would spawn a host of other films like The Giant Behemoth, Godzilla, Gorgo and the big bug movies of this time. The finale, showing the monster in its final moments among the burning frame of a roller coaster at an amusement park, is a highlight of special effects.

My Personal Views - "I was originally disappointed when I saw this film for the first time back in the mid 1980s. I felt it didn't live up to Harryhausen's later work; films like Jason And The Argonauts and the Sinbad films. I realize now I was being unfair. All later work by an artist IS better as the artist grows. So a few years ago, I sat and watched it again with a new appreciation. I loved it. The story drags in spots but the creature himself is terrific."

It Came From Outer Space was another film based on a story by Ray Bradbury. In it, the discovery of a crashed spaceship leads the hero to find aliens wanting nothing more to do than fix their spaceship and leave. Making duplicates of some of the populace of a small town, the aliens use the humans as labor to help them fix the ship. Both aliens and humans are distrustful of each other and in the finale, the townspeople attampt to destroy the aliens but the hero, who discovers the aliens mean no harm, defends them against his fellow human beings. A well done film, it is very eerie in parts and the aliens themselves, though rarely shown, are creepy looking.

My Personal Views - "I discovered this film on video about 10-15 years ago and wondered why more people hadn't seen it. It's really well done but I think because it's not filled with a lot of action, it is probably overlooked by sci-fi fans. This is a film which should have a better reputation than it does."

In the film CatWomen Of The Moon, the "Cat Women" run around in black leotards but don't do much else. An expedition to the Moon leads an American crew into an underground city which looks Greek in style. After they kill some Moon spiders(!) the crew escape from the Cat Women who want to use their rocket to get to Earth. The film was remade in 1958 as Missile To The Moon and the idea of a planet controlled by man-hating women (who are all between the ages of 19 and 24 and run around in miniskirts and high heels) would reach its apex with the 1958 semi-comedy, Queen Of Outer Space, starring Zsa Zsa Gabor.

My Personal Views - "This is one of the greatest cheesy films I have ever seen. This is the kind of film I watch with friends who can enjoy the absolute inanity of a film. Better than a lot of what Hollywood calls comedy. Only Queen Of Outer Space and Robot Monster are better as cheesy sci-fi goes. I dare you not to laugh."

Invaders From Mars is a unique film because of it's told from the viewpoint of a young boy who believes that aliens have taken over his parents. It turns out the boy is right although not only is he not believed at first, there are some in the town who want to stop the boy from talking at all. Is it because...they've been taken over as well? Shot in a stylized way, the movie is more like the kind of story a young boy would tell than an adult. The final moments of the film, with the aliens defeated show the boy waking up from a dream. Was it real? There's no time to decide as the boy hears the sound of the saucer landing at the movies end.

My Personal Views - "I originally saw the 1980s remake before I saw this film. I like them both for different reasons. I think this ne holds up very well and I think for its time, the trick ending was kind of cool."

It doesn't get much worse than Robot Monster when it comes to ultra low budget moviemaking. This one, diected by Phil Tucker looks as if it was put together in someone's back yard over a weekend. There seems to be no effort at all to make a coherent story, the actors look as if they're in different movies and the special effects - from the diving-suit helmet and gorilla-suit monster to the destructive power of a card table with a bubble machine on it, all expense was spared to bring this opus to the screen. And yet, it is a lot of fun to watch.

My Personal Views - "This is the one. The motherlode of everything that's so wrong yet so right with sci-fi films. It seems to revel in its badness. I can watch this film and think 'WHAT were they thinking?' I think this is what gives the film it's charm. The cast and crew really threw themselves into this pile of muck and didn't care that they were making cinematic history as the worst film ever. Forget Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space, this is the worst film I've ever seen. And I love it!"