The Strange World of Planet X (film)

The Strange World of Planet X

The Strange World of Planet X VHS cover
Directed by Gilbert Gunn
Produced by George Maynard
John Bash
Written by Paul Ryder
Starring Forrest Tucker, Gaby Andre, Alec Mango
Music by Robert Sharples
Cinematography Josef Ambor
Edited by Francis Bieber
Distributed by Distributors Corporation of America (US)
Release dates
 1958
Running time
 75 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English

The Strange World of Planet X (1958) is a British science fiction horror film, and a cautionary tale about science. It was also known as Cosmic Monsters, The Crawling Terror, The Cosmic Monster, and The Crawling Horror.

The film was adapted by Paul Ryder from the 1957 Rene Ray novel of the same name; a TV serial adapted by Ray aired in Britain in 1956.

Plot

A monomaniacal scientist, Dr. Laird (played by Alec Mango), has invented ultra-sensitive magnetic fields, which attracts objects from space. Strange things begin happening, including a freak storm, and insects and spiders mutate into giant monsters. An alien spaceship appears over London and mankind is warned against the dangers of this scientific experiment.

Cast

Trivia

The plot of this low-budget film appears to have been inspired by The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). On its original release it was not notably successful, but subsequently became something of a cult favorite due to television reruns.

Unusually, a theremin is used in the musical soundtrack.

The film supposedly inspired the B movie, Invasion from Inner Earth (1974).

External links