Purely Joyful Movie!

One of the worst movies I've ever seen

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

1959 was a great year for bad movies and with "Teenagers From Outer Space" we have yet another - and this one is one of the best, at being bad. Invaders from another planet (who are "just more people" of course, same as you or I it must be the uniforms they wear that qualifies them as inhuman or alien) land their space ship, a cheap little flying-saucer deal, with the intent to use Earth as a breeding ground for some kind of animal (it pretty much looks like a lobster to me) they raise and is an important source of food for these people. One of the members of a crew of 5 or 6, a young fellow named "Derrick" quickly develops a conscience and questions his peoples plan's to take over Earth, after he noticed a dogs (that they reduced to a skeleton moments earlier with a ray-gun) collar tag and realizes that it's inhabited by other intelligent life. He immediately becomes mutinous towards the rest of his crew and runs away from them, one of them stays behind and attempts to find and kill him, while the rest blast-off back to their home planet, to help prepare for their impending invasion. This is when the movie really picks up, as the opening scene is a bit slow, but it soon turns into a real fun, fast-paced game of cat-and-mouse between to alien guys - good versus bad. The only things that distinguish these two apart from the "Earthlings" are, their uniforms, their pocket-sized ray-guns and the way they talk, sure they speak English, but it's just their choice of vocabulary that sets them apart. The bad alien "Tor" is very determined and vindictive towards Derrick the traitor and neutralizes (ZAP!) several Earthings along the way, leaving bare skeletons (some of which you can plainly see the wires holding them together) laying all over town; with lot's of determination and some luck he remains hot on Derricks trail, which really keeps the pace tight and fast. With Derrick's clean-cut looks and cool personality, he quickly and easily befriends some Earthlings, effectively renting a room (with no money down) and goes to a swimming party. Yet all the while he manages to keep his mission's objective in mind and stays one step ahead of the vengeful Tor, because deep down Derrick likes Earth and dose't want to return to his home planet and face the cold and unforgiving wrath of the Intergalatic Counsel. What do you think their verdict would be: For the crimes of treason to and conspiring against your crew and country and for consorting with thee inferior Earthlings, you Derrick, are sentenced to death.Meanwhile a creature they left behind in a cave near their initial landing point, is beginning to grow at an insanely and otherworldly fast rate, which is the main reason their intended to bred them (essentially giant lobsters) on Earth in the first place, once it made a quick snack out of a detective who was snooping around the cave. It breaks free of it's bindings and commences to feed on the people in and around the town and....... OH BOY do the "effects" suck ever so badly for this particular space monster. I was hoping for some cheap and deliciously corny looking stop-motion effects to bring the creature to screen, however, what we got was AWESOMELY pathetic. What we got (not stop-motion, unfortunately) is nothing more then the "silhouette of a lobster", filmed from several different angles and poses and then crudely superimposed on the screen. Not surprisingly, it looks completely unnatural in every aspect regarding it's relation with the environment - alien space monster (lobster, crab or crayfish) or not. Derrick, with the help from his cute Earthing girlfriend and the (VERY quick to respond) local power company have a showdown with the monster (I.E. the lobster silhouette) and with great courage and live wires, main-man Derrick slays the space monster and at the same time, rids the world of some of the worst special effects it's ever seen. But now another threat has arrived, not surprisingly, it's the rest of Derricks people and the invasion is set to commence. But as it would turn out, Derrick (unbeknownst to him) happens to be the son of the ruler of the planet. Pop's emerges from a flying-saucer and calmly breaks the news to him, (this acts sort of as a proto-type for: "No Luke, I am your father.") who forgives his act of treason, seemingly anxious to redeem himself, Derrick asks if he may call in the flight instructions to the fleet, pop's agrees to his son's request, wasting no time Derrick climbs into the saucer, closes the hatch and sends in a suicidal batch of deliberately bogus flight instructions to the fleet, which causes them all to smash into the ground (with not a speck of burning wreckage to be seen anywhere, just a small patch of smoke in some near by woods). Thanks to Derrick's heroism and unflinching selflessness Earth is saved! The End.This vintage sci-fi flick is loaded with a lot of fun clichés and is definitely a product of it's era: 50's sci-fi. The movie is absolutely gold for a good number of reasons, all of which will be resoundingly obvious once you have had the fortune of seeing Teenagers From Outer Space! It's simply overflowing non-stop with comically ridiculous dialog, which is generally well delivered (though there are a few wooden actors in the flow of things as well), flying-saucer's, ray-gun's, a poorly devised "monster", a sweet but naive girl-next-door type of heroine, a dumpy old sweater-wearing homebody grandpa, incompetent and ineffective (at times downright stupid) policemen, a scrappy reporter always in search for "the next big scoop", sadly I can't recall much about it's soundtrack - my guess is that it must not of had any theremin's blazing away on high.In conclusion: A VERY fun movie.

What happens when teenagers from the planet Earth fall in love with teenagers from outer space? That's what the hero and heroine of this hideously bad science fiction movie must figure out. The hero, the teenager from outer space, tells the heroin, from the planet Earth, that he intends to make the earth his home. The way the line is said is if he is quoting Shakespeare, and the result is a moment of melancholy melodrama that you can't believe that you are hearing.One thing I know about outer space is obviously that the planet these aliens came from certainly does not have acting schools, because the acting of the two men who land in a strange looking spaceship is so monotone and tedious that it seems like they are simply being fed airlines through a teleprompter and reading them as if they were still in rehearsal. The only thing that gives this a rating above the two other teenage movies from the DVD collection this comes with is the fact that it includes the potential of a hideous looking giant monster which ends up being nothing more than the shadow of a lobster obviously being held up by a string while its claws wiggle around.I found this one a bit more watchable and it certainly has a single plot structure that makes it flow, but the amateurish way it is presented is still not what qualifies as good cinema. I can imagine this being watchable on a huge drive- in screen, because it is at times unintentionally funny, although sometimes I wonder if the unintentionally was actually intentional.The villain of the film get several dramatic speeches of his intent to dominate the planet earth, and with his ray gun dispatches several characters, including a cute little puppy who is barking at the spaceship as it lands. Another scene has a seductive femme fatale at first flirting with him but then refusing to do as he is demanding, and when she gets it from his ray gun while in a swimming pool, it is moderately frightening. However when the monster does finally appear in the last real of the film, the shadows of the lobster are so hysterically and bad that that it comes off as massively absurd and in using an electric line to take care of the monster, dears to grab some butter and lemon takes over. But unlike the crab who is boiled in one of the Ray Harryhausen movies, this one is in black and white and is certainly not as tasty looking as the dinner that the heroes of the film would have.

Released in 1959, "Teenagers from Outer Space" chronicles a small group of English-speaking humanoid aliens who investigate Earth as a possible breeding ground for their staple food-supply, Gargans, which are essentially giant lobsters that stand vertical. One of the aliens, Derek (David Love), rebels against the others on the grounds that Earth is inhabited by intelligent humanoid beings. Dawn Bender plays Derek's possible romantic interest while Bryan Grant plays Thor, a particularly malevolent alien. If you can ignore the lameness of the non-special effects and overdone or underdone melodrama, the story is well done in ways and Derek & Dawn are likable protagonists. The movie's also worthwhile simply as a historical artifact to observe American society in the late 50s. However, compared to Sci-Fi giants from the 50s like "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) and the monumental "Forbidden Planet" (1956) "Teenagers from Outer Space" is dissatisfactory and cheesy, not to mention the title is dumb and disingenuous. It can't even compare to 1958's "I Married a Monster from Outer Space" (another dumb title, but at least it's accurate). The flick's worth checking out though for the positive items noted. The film runs 86 minutes and was shot in Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park and Los Angeles, California. GRADE: C-

This film is so bad it is almost funny, but not quite. Everybody is playing really bad, the script is ridiculous and the special and sound effects horrible. The monster is a lobster! And later, when it grows, it is the shadow of a lobster.You see, these aliens are trying to find a planet fit for the herds of lobsters that eat everything and grow in one day "millions of times in size". They find Earth, disintegrate everything and everyone they meet and the only one that can stop them is the idealistic teenager son of "the Leader", an empty headed girl and her idiotic grandfather.Nuff said, this is a horrible film, something about I could find nothing good to say.