FIRE MAIDENS OF OUTER SPACE (1956)
Tagline: See* the blonde queen sacrificed on the altar of
the sungod!
(Adventure, Sci-Fi, Atlantis In Space) [PG]
Note – This movie did not originally have an MPAA rating, but
I think it would land at a PG or possibly a G.
Based on what we've learned, the possibility of life as we
know it exists only on the 13th moon.
In this one, a space crew lands on the 13th moon of Jupiter and ends
up finding New Atlantis there. Because where else would you find New Atlantis
but in freakin space. Turns out almost every inhabitant is a woman with the
exception of Prasus who controls everything. It doesn’t take long before the
crew discovers that almost nothing is what it seems and on top of that a
creature is lurking around the gardens of New Atlantis waiting to devour.
So just a quick lesson first. If you are in New Atlantis, do
not get engaged before your time, because the fire maidens will turn their
wrath on you fast.
First off, out of all the sci-fi flicks I have watched recently, this one was
probably the second-worst. With a name like FIRE MAIDENS OF OUTER SPACE, I think
I was expecting more of a crazed “fire maiden” invasion, or the main villains
to be carrying torches and burning villages or something like that. Instead
what we get is basically a Las Vegas Caesar’s Palace situation with lots of
dancing women. In fact, we don’t even really see a noteworthy fire till the last
15 minutes or so.
Acting-wise there isn’t a lot I can really complain about. The leading lady is
Susan Shaw who plays Hestia. She had 45 acting credits and was mainly known for
thrillers, one of which was IT ALWAYS RAINS ON SUNDAY which also starred Sydney
Tafler who plays Dr. Higgins in this movie. This is the only well-known sci-fi
movie she was in. The movie's male lead was Anthony Dexter as Luther Blair and
he’s very solid in the role. He was best known for a couple of other sci-fi
films 12 TO THE MOON and THE PHANTOM PLANET.
Everyone else was pretty solid including Owen Berry as Prasus.
I give 1950’s movies a lot of grace when it comes to effects, but the creature
design in this is horrifyingly weak as are the other effects in the movie. I
mean this creature just looks like a guy in a leotard with a cheesy kids Halloween
mask on. It’s very bad, like kids in a craft class could have come up with 5
better designs if they were given 2 or 3 hours to do it. This movie falls into
the category of horror, but don’t expect anything very horror-like in this
movie. It’s more just a bit like if you went to a Roman-themed restaurant and
one of the cooks accidentally lit his face on fire, and after quickly dousing
his head with water, then decided to run around the dining room. The score is
also just really rough and at times almost falls into the comedy area.
I love crazy old sci-fi stuff but this wasn’t a great watch for me and even
though it’s free to watch on a few streaming services, I don’t see myself
returning to this one. I can’t recommend it.
Overall this is a 2 out of 7 and that is probably being generous. The idea was
far better than the execution.
GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF CRITERION FILMS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.
Please check out the link below by clicking on the picture.
Because no one should die buttonless.
I concur!
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