Label: Imprint Films
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 78 Minutes
Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Dual Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Gene Fowler Jr.
Cast: Tom Tryon, Gloria Talbott, Peter Baldwin, Robert Ivers, Chuck Wassil
I Married A Monster from Outer Space (1958) is a sci-fi title that on it's face sounds absolutely awful, it's a movie I passed over many times because it just sounded like a corny bad-movie that would get a good spanking on Mystery Science Theater 3000, but I was totally wrong! This is a gem of body-snatching sci-fi that was made on the cheap for sure, but the themes and subtext are of a much higher caliber, even if the look of the alien-creatures is not.
The night before his wedding to Marge Farrell (Gloria Talbott, The Cyclops) tall and handsome guy Bill (Tom Tryon, The Moon Pilot) stops along the country road to investigate a body blocking traffic. As he gets out of his car to get a closer look he is attacked by a shimmering alien-being, and is then engulfed in a nebulous cloud that makes his body disappear. The next day his bride is worried when Bill's late to the church, but he eventually turns up, but he seems aloof and a bit out of sorts. She shrugs it off, a s wedding jitters but on their honeymoon he not-at-all into de-flowing his virgin bride, though she strongly hints at her sexual desires, at least as best she could in a movie made in 50's.
We catch up with the newlyweds a year later, we discover that Bill has forsaken his drinking buddies at the bar, and his wife continues to worry that he's not the man she agreed to marry, but she soldiers on dutifully. We the audience know that Bill is not in fact the same person, but an alien impersonating him, in an attempt to infiltrate the human population to breed with our desirable women. It's explained that they've come from distant galaxy where their sun fizzled out, and that all the female of their species died during their journey across the galaxy.
We come to find out that a small group of aliens have similarly replaced other locals, infiltrating influential positions within the police department and beyond. As Marge becomes more suspicious of her husband's strange ways she suspects something otherworldly is happening, eventually
she follow him to an alien spacecraft that's hidden away on the outskirts of town.
There's a lot of strange sub-text happening, I think you could read a variety of interesting things into it, it could be a metaphor for conformity, cold war paranoia, or even homosexuality, it's credit to the screenwriter and the director that there's such a variety of potential metaphor and undercurrent stitched into it.
Something that caught me by surprise about this one was the cruelty to animals being depicted, there are at three dogs and a cat killed by the aliens monsters, they're not gruesome deaths by any means, but they're either strangled to death or zapped with a disintegration ray gun, those poor little guys! I think the special effects are fairly bad, the design of the alien monsters are not-uninteresting but rubbery and the cheesy shimmering effect does not help. The alien spacecraft is wisely left largely to the imagination, obscured by a rock outcropping so that you can only see the door mechanism. Also pretty cool is the effect of the alien creatures melting, with goo resembling a fish egg slurring melting out from their now vacant clothing, its a simply achieved effect but it looks dang decent. Also decent is the nebulous, but never quite explained, cloud that engulfs the human victims before they are assimilated. At first I thought that the aliens were inhabiting the humans, that the cloud is absorbed into the body and they control it, but there's something else altogether happening, it's not fully explained, but I liked it.
So, the effects aren't that great, but how's the acting? I thought stars Gloria Talbott and Tom Tryon were quite good, with Talbott playing the 50's housewife caught up in the paranoia of her husband being an alien. I like the way she played it, a bit too cool at times considering what was happening, but it worked for me. I wouldn't say the film was ultra-feminist - it's the 50's after all - but she's the one that figures out what's transpiring, she's semi-independent, and a sexual being, plus she's a risk-taker, but all the other women in the film are sort of useless Tryon is also quite good in the role of the impostor husband, he's appropriately
aloof and cold, not fitting into his skin so speak, but he also adds a layer of curiosity and depth to it, The alien comes to admire the human's capacity for love and happiness, making him a bit sympathetic at the end, there's a subtlety to it.
I think it would have been an interesting angle if it was the community of women in the town who band together to get to the bottom if it all, but instead it's a group of men with guns that more or less save the day, with the help of some ferocious German shepherds . It's a cool little sci-fi gem, it's definitely riffing on Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but it's a lot better than the corny title would have you believe.
Audio/Video: I Married A Monster From Outer Space (1958) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Via Vision Entertainment as part of their Imprint Films brand. It's licensed from Paramount Pictures who I am assuming provided the HD master, it being framed in 1.78:1 widescreen in 1080p HD, and while there is no statement as to the source of this scan it's most likely coming from an older master and possibly from several elements, The black and white imagery looks good for the most part with attractive contrast and grayscale, but there is a brief segment that goes on for about a minute that looks like it was sourced from an inferior elements, the grain looks clump and definition lacks. There doesn't appear to have been much restoration or clean-up applied to the elements as there's plenty of white speckling, scratches and instances of minor frame damage, but overall I thought the image was very pleasing with good depth and clarity, just a touch soft but nothing egregious. Audio comes by way of English LPCM Dual Mono 2.0 with optional English subtitles. The dialogue is delivered with a nice directness to it, the score sounds terrific, I didn't find any issues whatsoever.
The single-disc release comes housed in an oversized Criterion-style clear keepcase wit a sleeve of artwork with what looks to be a new, and cool-looking illustration. On the reverse side is a yellow tinted image from the film. The keepcase comes in a limited edition (of 1000) slipbox featuring the original movie poster, the yellow and red color scheme really gives it a cool retro aesthetic. The spine of both the wrap and the slip features both the year the film was released and is numbered, this being release number three from Imprint. This first batch of Imprint releases have great shelf appeal, the packaging is bold and vibrant.
Special Features:
- NEW Audio commentary by film critics Barry Forshaw & Kim Newman
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min)
- Gallery (2 min)
- Limited Edition slipcase on the first 1000 copies
Imprint Films region-free Blu-ray of I Married A Monster From Outer Space (1958) marks the sci-fi film's long overdue worldwide debut o Blu-ray , the film itself is a bit of a gem with themes, sub-text and acting that far surpasses the silly title. If you're a fan of atomic age sci-fi that's chock full of cold-war paranoia along the lines of Invaders from Mars and Invasion of the Body Snatchers and you have not checked this one out, do yourself a favor and get on it, you will not be disappointed.
More screenshots from the Blu-ray:
Pack Shots:
