Such a frustrating disappointment

Just what I expected

I wanted to but couldn't!

Good concept, poorly executed.

Another classic Sci-fi /Horror genre from the Fabulous Fifties. Roger Corman does it again by drawing curiosity into his audiences imagination. Our story begins with a twisted tale of a Bespectacled rap-around sun glassed Paul Birch as the Alien Mr. Johnson. Johnson has a problem Iron poor blood. How poor? VERY POOR!! Your imagination runs wild as you see the pupil less eyed Mr. Johnson sitting in his easy chair telepathically communicating to his superior on the wall. So many questions hit your mind and the opening credits didn't even appear on the TV. Off to the Doctor's office for some blood and company. Enter the young blonde and vivacious Beverly Garland as Nadine the inquiring Nurse. Johnson is evasive in his explanation of hemoglobin issues. The Nurse passes the buck to her employer Dr. Rochelle played by William Roerick. Johnson uses mind control to have the Doctor fill his every need discreetly. Nurse Nadine has her trepidation about working exclusively for Mr. Johnson at any price. Johnson minus his pupils(EYES), takes it upon himself to drive around town disobeying traffic rules mainly parking Philadelphia style (any direction). Nurse Nadine's boyfriend Harry (Morgan Jones) who happens to be a cop was ready to write out a summons or two to the ailing Mr. Alien but Nurse Nadine comes to his rescue and tells him,"To put the book away, "Mr. Johnson is a sick man." Off to the mansion enter the chauffeur Jeremy (Jonathan Haze)who at first appears uncomfortable in his uniform but questions his bosses strange habits. Nurse Nadine gets comfortable in her new dwelling taking a dip in the pool but notices smoke coming from the house chimney on a 90 degree day. Her curiosity draws her to the basement furnace. Little does she know that Johnson just cremated a Vacuum salesman moments earlier. Speaking of vacuum salesmen, (Dick Miller) does a fine job of acting. Loses the sale and his life but Johnson keeps the vacuum. Throughout this movie Johnson kills his victims and takes their blood. One more tidbit is the umbrella monster that flies through the neighborhood and lands on the poor Doctor.The rest is up to you. In my estimation Paul Birch gave a strong performance in his only leading role. Beverly Garland shows how she landed parts in Hollywood by flaunting her looks. Just a classic from the vault of 50's Horror schlock films.

Vampires from outer space! This flick is a classic of science fiction from 1957. Low budget, but very effective with good special effects, especially the transporter device. All- around good acting, especially Paul Birch as the blank-eyed alien and Dick Miller's comic relief as the hapless vacuum cleaner salesman- a role he would reprise in a word-for-word remake (1988). Miller also played the gun shop clerk in Terminator.Birch even effects a Bela Lugosi accent when inviting Miller into his basement to demonstrate his vacuum cleaner.The introduction has an amusing scene with teenagers and 50s dialog. An excellent copy of this movie is available for free on YouTube. The 1988 remake with Traci Lords has lots of T&A and is also on YouTube.

A human-like alien leaves his dying planet to secure earthling blood that his planet needs.Too bad Corman didn't dump that flying lampshade that apparently sucks the doc's blood. Because that's really the only cheezy element of this otherwise effective monster flick. It's arguably Corman's best. Birch is pretty scary with his deadpan face and perfectly parsed diction. Just don't ask him to take off his glasses. Then too, I wonder what he puts down as eye color. Plus I would give dear Beverly Garland a drive-in Oscar for her sparkly portrayal of nurse Storey. It's a performance far and above the call of a paycheck.Yes indeed, what I remember from my first viewing decades ago is Dick Miller's vacuum salesman. He's so pesky and obnoxious, horns honked all over the drive-in when he got his. And what about the teen-age cutie who opens the film, even if she doesn't stick around. Too bad. Anyway, Corman sure knew his audience since we boys were hooked right then. Nonetheless, for the less hormonally minded, there's a message in the alien madness-- better watch out earthlings, nuclear war can cause a calamity that only a steady stream of blood can help. Okay, so the movie's not exactly Oscar bait. Nonetheless, it's got a better-than-usual Corman script, plus good location staging that keep the usual hokey sets to a minimum. Yes indeed, it's still fun to track the Darvana alien, and maybe honk your horn when Miller gets his.

I judge Corman movies by a different set of standards than I would a bigger budget effort such as "This Island Earth" or "The Day The Earth Stood Still" or even "Earth Vs The Flying Saucers". That's because this obviously sketchy 10-day wonder still has lots of rough edges and some of the seams are still leaking sawdust...but manages to entertain and amuse almost as well as those class "A" efforts.As usual, the screenplay has a derivative but somewhat intriguing premise: a space vampire with a basilisk stare scouts for a fresh blood supply for his home planet and kills, oh, a bunch of people to keep himself going and to send samples back to his home planet. Not the stuff of Oscar winners, but enough to drive a perfectly watchable science fiction movie.The cast is pretty good (in a "B" movie way), and they work really hard to make the ludicrous and stiff dialog work. Beverly Garland is always fun to watch (even in her early movies, she still has a lot of verve and moxie) and Paul Birch is perfectly cast for the part of the alien. He was born to wear wrap around sunglasses and act stiff and grumpy and vaguely menacing. (I've read that he hated working with Corman in this movie and actually quit before it was finished, making it necessary to use a stand-in double for some of the chase scenes.) On the other hand...the "police department" is two people (except for a spear carrier who shows up on screen and is killed inside of 2 minutes), the "hospital" is obviously a sound stage with 2 doors, the "monster" is a tentacled umbrella/catcher's mitt thing, the plot makes no real sense (one scene with Dick Miller is obviously there strictly for laughs) and the action scenes looks as if they were shot in 10 minutes with a hand-held 8 millimeter.Joe Queenan once made a movie (to prove it could be done by anyone), and he said at one point when it was near completion, it was a "movie" in the same sense that a hand typed manuscript with a crayon drawing of an Axe-murderer on the front was a "suspense novel". Well, that's what always comes to mind when I'm watching a Corman movie - the elements are there, but the polish and finish of a "real" movie are never put over the nuts and bolts to make it look like something you'd admire.Still, they kept things moving and there was even a bit of thought and sympathy at the end.