best movie i've ever seen.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

A quick moving film about what happens when we aren't careful with potentially deadly, unknown substances. Here, an arrogant scientist is acting on his own and unleashes a kind of plant/creature that devours everything in its path. After an encounter with his ex he is eaten by the thing. Forces move in and burn the creature but it has contaminated other objects and may be carried by the ex-wife. Much of the movie involves hunting down this woman who thinks she is suspected of murder. I have to admit that the interrogation of different women on a plane aren't done very well. Perhaps the first thing you do is lay it on the line. There is good suspense at the end and it leaves one with a little something in the pit of the stomach. Good 1950's stuff.

Space fungus menaces planet earth. Okay, everything else was menacing the besieged 1950's planet, so why not a creepy fungus. Well, it's actually a bloody slime from outer space that spreads like a dirty carpet, and unless trackers can catch up with the shapely blonde Typhoid Mary (Thomas) carrying it, we're all one big toadstool. I'm trying hard, but I just don't recall this epic from 1958, and I rarely missed one of these drive-in specials. According to IMDb, TCF didn't syndicate the film, which is why, I guess, it's gone unseen for 50 years.Actually, the movie's pretty well produced for its kind. The location shots lend at least some credibility to the wacky plot. And catch those early versions of protective Hazmat suits in the train yard scene. Williams and Ellis do well as the bloodhounds, but why Ellis remains a lowly Pfc with his officer-level credentials seems odd. Also, I really like the unheralded Lyn Thomas as the nervous blonde. Note that brilliant screenwriter Dan Mainwaring, e.g. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Out of the Past (1947), collaborated on the screenplay. I'm guessing that promising trapped-in-the-airliner concept came from him. Too bad the full potential of those scenes is not realized by director Bernds. At the same time, the movie ends all-too-abruptly, as though the production suddenly ran out of money. I get the feeling that with better backing and a more perceptive director, this drive-in programmer could have turned into an uptown smash on the order of Alien (1980).

I can't give this film more than five stars, because it's just a standard, low-budget 50s horror flick featuring the usual gimmicks:1. Phony narrator claiming this is a "true story" 2. Manmade spacecraft returning to earth with deadly virus/creature 3. Desperate attempt to control spreading of virus 4. Scientist who dies attempting #3And really, it's not outstanding in its genre, because it has a clunky ending and it tends to veer from true SF to being a chase picture. Most of the middle of the picture has nothing to do with the evil spores from outer space.BUT...where have you ever seen Paul Frees on camera before? I didn't see his name in the credits, but when Prof. Pommer started talking, I shouted, "That's Paul Frees!" Here's a man with hundreds of credits (and many uncredited roles) but they've almost always been for his voice. Even in this pic, he also "appears" as the announcer voice in the bus station. Space Master X-7 gives him a good reel or more almost by himself, as a scientist attempting to figure out what the virus is. He's not matinée idol material, but the film shows that he could act with more than his lungs.AND...a couple of scenes with Moe Howard, down on his luck between the demise of Columbia's short film division, and the amazing comeback of the Stooges in the early 60s. When I saw the names Bernds and Maurer in the credits, I almost wondered if the film was going to be a parody, since they're the pair that did most of the Stooges' 60s features. Maurer kindly gave his father-in-law Moe a decent part as a cabby who helps police find the missing (spore-infected) woman.It was fun to find this film on TV, since it had disappeared for decades. For fans of SF schlock, it's a must. But definitely for fans of Moe and Paul (Boris Badenov) Frees!

I saw this movie in a drive-in when I was less than ten years old, and for the last forty years, I have been more concerned about the destruction of mankind than about the deaths of just a few people. The special effects and dialog might be old, but the plot is something that could actually happen. It still scares me now. I would pay to see it in a theater if it were showing. I used to think that I liked this movie so much because I grew up loving science fiction. Now I realize that it's movies like this one that made me love science fiction. It isn't some silly fantasy about unicorns and elves. It's a realistic story of science and scientists, and their importance as the only ones who can save us all. It made me want to grow up to be a scientist while my friends all wanted to be doctors and lawyers. For me, it was a life-altering movie.