Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Instant Favorite.

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Experiments with magnetism in a laboratory in south England causes a rupture in the ionosphere that leads to people going insane and insects growing large. The film starts slowly but builds up to a action packed ending. There is a lot of talk before the army starts taking out the over developed bugs and various characters are menaced. At one point a teacher is trapped in a school by some giant insects and it is quite creepy. Not a classic but well made on it's small budget.Forrest Tucker and Gaby André (dubbed into English) as the main leads are bland but Alec Mango as Dr. Laird and Martin Benson as the mysterious Mr. Smith are good. The great Dandy Nichols makes a couple of comic appearances in a pub. Also in the cast are the reliable Hugh Latimer, Geoffrey Chater, Peter Copley and Howard Pays.It has the plot point of the male scientists not wanting to have a female scientist forced on their team, which is so old a trope that it has whiskers. Of course the female turns out to be capable and attractive (and French!) and the men soon melt.

This British film is set at a lab where some weird experiments on magnetism are being conducted. Unknown to the researchers, these experiments are releasing radiation and it's making huge and very hungry bugs--bugs that suddenly have developed a taste for humans! Can it be stopped in time? And, whose idea was it to have Forrest Tucker play the romantic lead (something scarier than the bugs, actually)? And what about this invader from Planet X? There have been a ton of films like this before and after, as giant bugs caused by radiation is a VERY common theme during this era. In fact, giant ANYTHING was a typical theme. The difference is that this version has particularly bad special effects. Most of the bugs are just closeup shots of tiny bugs and they are clumsily inserted into the shots. A few times they are a bit cool (such as the one eating the guy's face), but for the most part they are pretty limp. In addition, the film gets low marks for choppy edits and sexism. The sexism occurs early in the film. When a professor gets a female assistant, all the guys complain about how stupid women are! And, when she arrives and is relatively hot (at least in 50s British cinema standards), they all quickly change their tune and the staff take turns trying to seduce her. Ultimately she chooses Tucker--showing that the pickins' were indeed slim! The only interesting element was the alien coming to help out as well as the insane professor--I sure didn't see that coming! Not terrible but not one of the better examples of the giant radioactive bug genre.

I enjoyed Cosmic Monsters on DVD recently, and Forrest Tucker has never disappointed in such films (The Crawling Eye; Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas). It has those British science aspects that I really, really like in black & white films from the 1950's (Professor Quatermass comes to mind). The science of the plot is believable to a point, and the UFO Planet X elements work for me. Special effects are limited, and I did not care for the insects near the end, nor was I impressed with the numerous scenes of soldiers shooting bugs. However, the titular "spider in the web" scene is quite effective. Simplistic, well-paced, and enjoyable. Two points off for special effects & ending.

***SPOILERS*** Interesting little British sci-fi movie about man's attempt to create a powerful electro-magnetic energy generator that tares a hole in the fragile Iononasphere. This creates a massive bombardment of the Earth by deadly and radioactive Cosmic Rays that cause havoc on the planet and it's inhabitants, man and insect alike. Dr. Laird, Alec Mango, working with both Dr. Graham & Dupont, Forrest Tucker & Gaby Tucker, gets carried away with his work in the field of electro-magnetic energy and goes too far in his experiments to the point that a fleet of space-ships are sent from Planet X to stop Dr. Laird and save the Earth. Throwing out both Graham and Dupont from his lab Dr. Laird shoots and kills British government official Gerard Wilson, Geoffery Chater who came to talk some sense to him about what he's doing. Dr. Laird locks himself up in the bunker-like lab and continues his dangerous experiments as the whole world goes to pot. The Cosmic Rays effect people by driving them insane where they go out and commit acts of violence and murder as the insects are cause to mutate and grow to giant sizes and devour everything in their path. One of the aliens from Planet X Mr. Smith, Martin Bensen, comes to the rescue by first convincing the authorities that he's the real McCoy and then getting their permission to stop Dr. Laird, with deadly force if necessary, before he destroys the entire planet. Short in special effects but very intelligent story about the excesses that man would go to inflate his own ego at the expense of those around him, man and animal. Dr. Laird's mad attempt to develop a electro-magnetic device to satisfy his personal hubris and self-gratification, not the for advancement of science for the betterment of Mankind, almost put an end to the world as we knew it. It took an alien force who was much more advanced and wiser then us to put a stop to his, Dr. Laird, madness at the cost of his life.