Killers from Space

Plot synopsis:
We open with a dawn view of a government installation in the desert. A narrator (Mark Scott) tells us, "Soledad Flats, Nevada. The time is 6:15 a.m. The climax of arduous planning. Operation A-bomb test underway." Detonation is two minutes away and troops are stationed in trenches to witness the test. A jet is aloft carrying sensitive instruments and Dr. Doug Martin (Peter Graves). He is ready to record the levels of radioactivity from the closest possible vantage point. Observers on the ground, settle in their wooden chairs, and we see the flash and the growing mushroom cloud from a high angle above. While the cloud increases in size the title of the movie is shown. The plane circles the cloud as Dr. Martin records data on radioactivity. The pilot, call sign Tar Baby 2 (Ben Welden) radios in altitude and speed while Dr. Martin reads radiation levels to the ground. The pilot moves in closer and spots a flashing light on the ground. The pilot loses control of the aircraft. Repeated calls to the jet go unanswered. A search is launched and wreckage is immediately discovered.Col. Banks (James Seay) calls Dr. Kruger to ask that he join him in his office. Banks is meeting with Ellen Martin (Barbara Bestar). Banks tells Mrs. Martin that wreckage was discovered, and the body of the pilot, but not of her husband. Dr. Kurt Kruger (Frank Gerstle) enters the office and comforts the widow. Sometime later, Dr. Martin wanders back to the base guard gate, still wearing his flight suit. He is brought to the base hospital and examined by Dr./Maj. Clift (Shepard Menken). Clift pronounces Martin fit and asks him to recount his movements after the crash. Martin, now sporting an "L" shaped scar on his chest that measures about four inches by four inches, remembers nothing between the crash and his arrival at the base gate. The doctor asks about the scar, and Martin explains he must have gotten it in the crash. Dr. Clift refutes that story by explaining, "No this was surgery. Very skillful incision."Mr. Briggs (Steve Pendleton) is from the FBI. He joins Col. Banks and Maj. Clift to discuss Dr. Martin. Banks just finished questioning Dr. Martin. Briggs is concerned about security and wants all the missing time to be accounted, and adds, "Did you ever stop to think that perhaps this Dr. Martin isn't really THE Dr. Martin?" Sometime later Briggs was able to confirm that Dr. Martin was the same and informed Col. Banks. Banks and Cliff called Ellen in to brief her on her husband, and why he was still being held in the base hospital. They inform her he is to be released into her custody.Doug Martin sleeps fitfully at home. He wakes and sees a pair of eyeballs stare at him from the window. It wakes his wife. Doug gets up and phones the duty desk at the base. He speaks to Sgt. Bandero (Burt Wenland). He asks about the next planned test and is upset when he is told, "Sorry sir, regulations. I can't give out information to anyone. No sir, it won't do any good to come down." Doug argues with his wife, but decides to stay home. He goes out to get the newspaper and is shocked to read the headline, "Another Atom Bomb Exploded: 6 a.m. Blast Visible for 300 Miles." Doug confronts Col. Banks and Dr. Kruger. He demands to know why he wasn't briefed and is told he is still sick and a security risk. He is given a choice; Go home or be confined to the base hospital. He storms out of the room and enters his office where he is greeted by his secretary, Miss Vincent (Ruth Bennett). He gives her the rest of the day off and waits until after 6:00 p.m. He fills his pipe, but when the phone rings he ignores it. Dr. Kruger locks up his office vault and departs. He checks Dr. Martin's office, and finds it empty. Doug heard his colleague and hid behind the door. Doug steals into Kruger's office, unlocks the vault and enters. He reviews some files, then exits Kruger's office, leaving the vault door wide open. A guard (Robert Roark) on rounds discovers the security breach and contacts the main gate. Sgt. Powers (Ron Gans as Ron Kennedy) confirms Dr. Kruger checked out and had left the base about twenty minutes before the call. Dr. Martin signs out at the gate as the guard is taking the call.Briggs meets Dr. Kruger at his home. He asks that Kruger return to the base. They drive separately. Now in his office, Kruger confirms for Briggs that the papers in his vault are in order. Briggs asks about why he left the vault open, but is assured by Kruger that it was secured for the evening. Briggs asks who has the combination. The answer is only three - Kruger, Banks, and Dr. Martin. Briggs notes that Dr. Martin signed out twenty minutes after Kruger left. The final clue is tobacco on the floor of the vault, which matches a brand Doug has in his office and at home.A police dispatcher (an uncredited Roy Engel) puts out an A.P.B. (all points bulletin) on Dr. Martin's car. Dr. Martin drives out to a deserted canyon (Soledad Flats) and leaves a paper message at a rock. Before he can hide it behind a rock, Briggs is there to intercept it. Doug is confronted by Briggs, slugs the FBI man, and escapes in his car. Doug stops at a gas station to fill his car. The attendant has the police band playing in his office. Doug calls home but no one answers. He hears the APB and drives off. The attendant (Lester Dorr) calls the police to report Dr. Martin. Briggs wakes and walks to his car. He answers a radio call and is told of Martin's sighting. Doug gets into an accident, distracted by the hallucination of the eyeballs. He wakes in a hospital bed mumbling, "There here. There here. They're going to destroy us." Hovering over his bed are Dr. Clift, Briggs, Kruger, and Col. Banks. The doctor gives him an injection of truth serum. Under its influence, his interrogation is recorded. The first question they ask involves the examination of the contents of Kruger's vault. Doug explains he was gathering and delivering information to a drop location at Soledad Flats. Doug starts his story at the point he was in the jet gathering information around the atomic cloud.Doug recounts that after the crash he woke on a table surrounded by pop-eyed men wearing black hooded shirts. His heart was on his chest, beating outside his body. When he got up from the table the "L" shaped scar was fresh and he was escorted through a cave system to confront Denab (John Frederick as John Merrick). Denab explains that he is a scientist from a planet unknown to humans. Doug tries to run, but Denab activates a ray that immobilizes Doug. Denab goes on to explain that they are accumulating the energy released by atomic explosions, then hands Doug the information gathered on the most recent test. Denab reminds Doug that he did not survive the crash and that they revived him because, "We had an important need of your services." Denab explains that their sun is beginning to fail and they moved to planets closer to the dying star. Their next move will have to be to Earth, all one billion aliens. The invasion is already being staged. Doug manages to escape into the cave system, but doesn't really know how to get out. During his wandering he encounters giant spiders, lizards, and insects. He learns that they are being bred to devour all life on earth to make way for the alien invasion. Doug guesses the aliens are tapping power from a local power station to keep the energy they've already captured safe. He surmises that an overload would destroy the facility. The Tala (also John Frederick as John Merrick) hypnotizes Doug to remember nothing and to obtain information on the upcoming tests. Doug finishes his story. Of course, no one believes him. The doctor gives him a sedative.Dr. Kruger drives out to Soledad Flats where Doug was going to make his drop and is met by Briggs who was already there looking around. At the hospital, Ellen comes to see her husband. Doug gets up and tries to leave, but is put back to bed. Doug asks for a pencil, paper and a slide rule. Kruger is called and soon arrives in Doug's room. Doug feverously works on formulae and calculations. Doug calculates that he only needs eight to ten seconds of power cut to accomplish his goal of stopping the aliens. Doug escapes the base hospital and drives off to the power generating station. Kruger and Ellen follow in another car. Doug arrives at the power station and is confronted by the guard. The guard warns a worker, who calls another worker (an uncredited Coleman Francis) to warn him of the intruder. The two workers begin a search of the plant for Doug. Banks, Briggs, Kruger and Ellen arrive at the power station and search for Doug. Doug manages to gain access to the control room and orders the operator (Jack Daly) to cut power. The guard refuses and tries to back his objection with a gun, but is quickly disarmed by Doug. With gun in hand, Doug forces the operator to cut power. When the master switch is pulled, Doug counts to eight. A tremendous explosion takes place at Soledad Flats. We close with a giant mushroom cloud seen through a window. The credits roll over the image of the expanding cloud.

Tags: brainwashing

Review:
I don't know why, but the scifi and horror films of this cheap, primitive, paranoid era were more fun than those made nowadays.Besides its innate aesthetic value, this film is notable for an early featured role for the great Peter Graves, who died about a month prior to me writing this review.
Mr. Graves' performance here is certainly not Oscar-worthy, but if one imagines the circumstances under which this film was undoubtedly made, he acquits himself well.Another noteworthy thing: this film features a storyline in which alien space travelers abduct a USAF pilot and perform mysterious and creepy surgery on him, leaving him with a strange scar and the gap in his memory that ufologists call 'missing time.' Missing time and secret alien medical procedures have become a cliché of modern UFO mythology, but this is the earliest film I have seen to feature these concepts.The aliens are bug-eyed creatures who dress in outfits of uncanny similarity to the costume worn by 1930's newspaper comic strip hero 'The Phantom.' Their base of operations is a typical low-budget movie cave of the type favored by the villains in Republic chapter-plays, and their equipment looks mostly like various disemboweled floor-model radios and old DuMont TV sets.
Before Seventh Heaven, before Mission Impossible, before even Fury, Peter Graves spent a lot of his time doing science fiction films, some of the best and some of the worst.
I won't say more, but it involves a scheme of creating monsters who will destroy mankind and then the aliens will destroy the monsters without spilling too much human blood.The miracle here is that Peter Graves as an actor had a career after some of the films he appeared in back in his salad days.
Even the length of the film, the whole 70 minutes, feels too long to watch, when no-one actually can act, the plot is terrible and the special effects are bad, even for the 50's standards.Now, there are some elements in the film, that caused me to laugh, but that was just because of the lack of quality, or just the sheer stupidity of things coming out from the mouths of the actors.Let's tackle the plot: A-bomb, the great and glorious days of the atom.
But he's acting somewhat strangely and there is a huge scar on his chest.Soon it's discovered that he was hypnotized and open heart operated by the aliens with huge, bulging and quite motionless, yet sometimes in different way looking eyes.
Part of the "problem" from that perspective is that Peter Graves is pretty good in the lead, and the special effects aren't as horrific as the Ed Wood movies.
When Doug awakens he decides he has to save planet Earth from those evil aliens.Again, not a great film but fun if you like the older Sci-Fi Horror B-films!
Only a shot of good old commie confessor will do the trick.This one has it all, if 'all' means aliens with ping-pong ball eyes and weird eyebrows, giant insects and snakes, and about as much exposition from a bad guy as you can get in a film.
Just as well, as the aliens disappear for the rest of the film (but there's still plenty of action).Although the make up on the bad guys is hilarious, I didn't particularly see this is a 'bad' movie, just a nice time capsule before the horrors of Chernobyl sullied the good name of nuclear technology.
No, not me (although I'm sure it would apply to me) that's Peter Graves explaining his dilemma in this Cold War relic, Killers from Space (based in no way on Hemingway's novel).Peter Graves is a scientist who, during an atomic experiment, crashes in his plane and (presumably) dies.
And the film ends in a generating plant, with Peter Graves being chased around in his underwear by what looks like Coleman Francis (Don't ask.)In short, if MST3K had made just ONE more episode, this would've been it.
Well, It Seems That Anyone That Knows About This Movie Bought The 50 Movie Pack That I Own: "Sci-Fi Classics" by Mill Creek Entertainment, Or They Watched It OnlineThe Plot Couldn't Be More Cliché, The Beginning Is Shameless Stock Footage (Of Airplanes) From Another Films, Then The Protagonist (Peter Graves) Crashes He's Airplane and Survives, Later He Discovers That He It's Alive Because Of Aliens and Those Aliens Want To Take Over The World And He Has To Stop Them.Same B-Movie StuffBut Actually when I Saw it I Thought it Was A Little Funny Movie, I'm Not Saying That This is An Excellent Movie But It is Entertainment (In a B-Movie Way).It is an Underground Super low budget sci-fi movie from the 50's, but isn't that great?
This is quite plausible and keeps up the film's suspense.Peter Graves is a very convincing actor so whether he's playing a sergeant in an Oscar winning movie about a POW camp (Stalag 17), or running around in a sci-fi flick, he's still very good and lends credibility to whatever vehicle he's in.While the movie's plot and ending are predictable, Killers from Space is fast paced escapism.
Martin (as you would expect) so he goes out himself (in his pyamas) to shut off the power to their secret underground settlement (sounds pretty lame, huh?).The aliens are pretty cool but there are way better comparable movies from that time than this one, so skip it!
Sure, even for B science fiction films it is cheap, but the story really isn't that bad and Graves does a workmanlike job acting.
So it's a toss up.Peter Graves stars in one of his, well, his performances (Any modifying adjective there would be a waste of typing) as a guy who learns of the Killers, whose big eyes bely their from space heritage.
"The Thing From Outer Space" admonshed viewers to 'keep watching the skies', a clear reference to airborne soviet attack and commie treachery in general"Killers From Space", in addition to priceless scenes of generating plant interiors - check out the Bailey Boards and massive U-shaped steam ducts which join High and Low Pressure Turbines - clearly portrays the relentless expansionist proclivities of 'progressives'.Peter Graves plays an 'Everyman' character who realizes the reds are poised to seize America and kill her citizens.The aliens from the dying planet - communism is all about death and their third-world police state toilet-nations are always in a dying state - clearly represent commies who in real life subvert, invade, and loot other nations to prop up their own failed marxist gulags.The aliens plan to kill Americans by means of bloated, freak-like reptiles and insects, a clear reference to the insectoid, reptile-brained subversives who infested New York City, Hollywood, Washington DC, and other power centers during the 50s.The aliens' underground breeding of insects and reptiles is itself a metaphor which emphasizes, in addition overt soviet attacks, lovers of liberty must remain watchful for red subversives who dwell in 'under-the-rocks' enclaves of academia, 'policy institutes', and 'organizing' groups.Isn't it fitting that in the film, gutless aliens outsource killings to insects and reptiles, just as in life the soviets outsourced killings to local 'progressives' in the Congo, Cuba, and American campuses?Isn't it fitting that in the film, as in life, marauding reptiles and insects crawl from beneath rocks to attack citizens?
Isn't it interesting the aliens, as with modern day reds, plan to kill the citizens and take the planet as a spoil for themselves, and will make phony promises to anyone stupid enough to help them in their malevolent quest?How very original of them, eh?Isn't it interesting that Peter Graves' 'Everyman' is at first denounced, then pursued as a raving lunatic for even speaking of communist conspiracies, yet after he demolishes them by elegantly simple means, he's hailed as a hero?Aren't the patterns and parallels are plain to see?Isn't that why "Killers From Space" should be required viewing for all who wish to see the true death-dealing nature of inter-generational 'progressives'?
If Peter Graves' character, nuclear physicist Doug Martin, seems disoriented and confused throughout the 1954 sci-fi shlocker "Killers From Space," I suppose he has a good excuse.
Killed in a plane crash while taking readings after an A-bomb test, Martin is brought back to life by bug-eyed aliens from the planet Astron Delta and forced by them into performing an impossible mission (whether he decides to accept it or not!): stealing the plans for the next A test.
Yes, the film is shlocky, but I didn't laff at it once, and really enjoyed seeing Graves and that giant grasshopper; in retrospect, a warm-up for 1957's "Beginning of the End." Fans of '50s sci-fi should probably give "Killers" a bonus star.
Yes, this is your typical science-fiction Z-movie from the '50's, with all the usual and typical genre defining elements present in it.Lots of use of army stock footage, weird looking aliens, absurd special effects, a non-existing/no sense making story, giants insects and of course an alien plot to take over the world.
They're obviously an advanced and smart species but yet the best they can come up with to take over the Earth is with the use of giant tarantulas, lizards, crickets and other friendly looking animals.Those animals really form the weirdest part of the movie, in which our 'hero' runs through some underground tunnels and runs into those large looking animals, that too obviously look like ultra-enlarged footage, with some hilariously bad 'monster' sounds put over it.
You know, it's the sort of movie for which they used small plastic miniatures for the planes and archive footage for the action sequences.Peter Graves, in a role before his "Mission:Impossible" series fame, holds up pretty well in his role, despite having to deliver some horrible cheesy and laughable dialog.
This early low budget Peter Graves film showcases extremely low budget special effects, generally poor acting, a painful undramatic soundtrack and pedestrian directing from Billy Wilder's brother W.
Lee Wilder showed a few glimmers of hope early in his career, but once he started making low budget sci-fi films, his apparent talent vacated the premises.The film begins with Graves flying around in circles in a toy plane over a nuclear test site.
Graves shows up unharmed and starts telling crazy stories about aliens with apparently vestigial (they do not move) golf-ball sized protruding eyes and black tights who want to use him as a spy to time their attempt to harness the energy of the next nuclear test to fuel the conquest of the earth.
hearing the Air Force use the call sign "Tar Baby" brought a cringe.I'm sure Peter Graves would like to forget this one, and the resulting parody, Don't Ask, Don't Tell.It was an interesting little tale of alien abduction and attempts to take over our planet.Do not expect great acting, but it is a glimpse of the past and the thoughts of people in that era.
I am no longer enthralled at a protagonist resurrected from the dead by space aliens who came to earth over the "electron bridge" and who pursue him with disembodied eyes and then stick him in a cave with fire engine-sized insects that never quite notice him.What I do still appreciate about the move is its brisk paceit packs a lot of action (or at least plot) into 71 minutes, and the actors treat the material with deadly seriousness.
First he's killed in a plane crash and then he comes to half-naked and vulnerable in the hands of egg-eyed creatures from outer space who plan to invade earth--because their own world is dying, so they say, but I suspect they're just really in search of a beautician with a really good set of eyebrow tweezers.
There is not a single bit of acting that isn't wooden, not a single display of real emotion, not a single line of dialogue that shows anything approaching wit or intelligence, and not a single scene that develops any tension.There is not a single special effect shot that is done convincingly, whether it's the toy airplane against stock footage of a nuclear test, or the endless series of forced-perspective shots of lizards and beetles made to look like giants.
Aliens wearing ping-pong balls for eyes and candy-cane striped cummerbunds inhabit Earth's underground and all they need now is one bad actor (Peter Graves) to provide necessary energy information.Director Lee Wilder's second take on atomic science fiction succeeding 'Phantom from Space' the year before isn't too bad.
Graves almost ruins the film with his atrocious acting, but the rest of the cast keeps things alive, including some cool eerie space music by Bill Lava.Fun B-movie with the usual doses of unintentional humor: Graves' acting is typically grave, the base doctor explains good health practices while he puffs on a cigarette, and the aliens look like Sleestak rejects from 'Land of the Lost'..
Wow. Atomic scientist/pilot Doug Martin is missing after his plane crashes on an reconnaissance mission after a nuclear test.
Aliens take control of the mind of a scientist and use him to steal military secrets as part of a nefarious plan to take over the world.This very cheap science fiction movie was directed by W.
Killers from Space (1954) 1/2 (out of 4) Peter Graves plays a scientist overlooking atomic tests when he is killed.
The film has some very bad special effects including a sequence where Graves keeps running into giant insects and lizards that the aliens have created.
It is one of countless Z-grade horror/science-fiction flicks from the days of yesteryear and is just as unbearably bad as say "Creature from the Haunted Sea," "Plan 9 from Outer Space" and "The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues."I am giving this film a half-star (2 out of 10 on the IMDb scale) simply because there is a saving grace, which I mentioned at the beginning of my uncharacteristically terse review.
Killers from Space has to be one of the dullest sci fi movies around.The only thing and i do mean the only thing good about this film is the bulging eyes on the aliens.The plot is dull,the action is limited and peter graves even looked bored.As for the leading lady barbara bestar,she looked like she should be working in a cafeteria serving hot lunches for little brats.She,s very ordinary.Graves was much better in "It conquered the World" This is a real sleeper..
I recently watched Killers From Space for the first time and I rather enjoyed it, despite reading a lot of bad reviews about it.A nuclear scientist is killed in a plane crash but is revived and then kidnapped by aliens from the planet Astron Delta with ping-pong-ball eyes wearing jogging suits and mittens, who want to take over the world.
Not surprisingly, when he tells his story to others, no one believes him so he goes to the local power station to cut the electricity for 10 seconds and this blows up the aliens and giant creatures and kills them.The best thing about this movie are those aliens' eyes which are ping-pong balls.
Killers from Space starts as scientist Dr. Doug Martin (Peter Graves) is monitoring the aftermath of an atomic bomb test detonation at Soledad Flats in Nevada from a military jet, Dr. Martin sees a strange flashing light which when approached causes the jet to crash.
The acting is suitably rubbish & a fair amount of the cast actually smoke on screen.Killers from Space is a bit pants really, there's no scares or decent sci-fi in it, the aliens are ridiculous & despite being a public domain film so you can download it for free it's just not worth the time or effort..
Not the least of which is Peter Graves amateurish overacting as a not to be believed back from the dead test pilot who knows that the aliens with the big eyes are here to conquer earth !!!
A stock footage festival for the most part interrupted by bad acting filler this is never the less a fun film to watch because of how bad it is , and to see how Peter Graves had evolved from such humble beginnings was interesting as well .His brother James Arness also starting in horror-sci-fi genre as the title character in '' The Thing from another world '' , that film however is a classic albeit Arness had a less than starring role like Graves .Just some more useless info !!
It appears that Peter Graves had better accept this mission, or all of Earth will fall prey to hordes of giant insects and reptiles before becoming populated by an entire race of Marty Feldman's."Killers From Space" is a dubiously entertaining film.
KILLERS FROM SPACE is a typically cheap and cheerful science fiction B-movie of the 1950s, notable for featuring MISSION IMPOSSIBLE actor Peter Graves in an early role.
It's best known as the movie that features a bunch of goofy aliens hanging around in a cavern who possess these crazy ping-pong ball eyes which look absolutely ridiculous, so it was a hoot for me every time they appear on screen.
The film's plot is lightweight and everything's rather cheap and silly, but Graves certainly seems commited to his performance which helps things a bit, and you have to love those aliens.
KILLERS FROM SPACE is a good example: cheesy script, an all-white cast, bargain-basement acting, static camera work, gobs of stock footage, riotous-looking aliens, and Atomic Age paranoia that now seems quaint.The plot: Dr. Douglas P.
It's never explained how his body stayed intact in a crash that reduced his pilot to ashes.Item: when the alien scientist hands Dr. Martin a set of calculations (on what looks like a sheet of tinfoil), they are written in Earth numbers.To his credit, Peter Graves remained stoic throughout this turgid 71-minute exercise.
The remaining eighty minutes or so owe something to "Plan Nine From Outer Space." A scientist, Peter Graves, manages to survive a calamitous airplane crash after an atomic bomb test.
Did they learn it from watching other cheap movies about aliens from space?