THE FLAME BARRIER (1958)
Tagline: The First Satellite That Returned To Earth...And The Hell It Brought With It
(Sci-fi, Horror, Welcome To The Jungle) [PG]
Note – This movie was never given an MPAA rating, but I’m pretty sure it would be a PG. When it came out in theaters originally it was a double feature with THE RETURN OF DRACULA.
Excuse the cockroaches. Fortunately, they don't bite... everything else does.
In this one, a rich wife named Carol Dahlmann, whose husband owns a chemical company decides to track him down after it is thought that he might be dead. He was looking for a satellite that hit the flame barrier and crashed back down to earth. Two brothers decide to help her out and trace through the jungle where her as they discover an acid is killing both animals and villagers in the area.
First off, this movie isn’t anything like what I was expecting given the poster or the title. It’s actually a really intriguing idea given the crazy number of satellites we have orbiting earth these days. I don’t want to give away too much regarding the plot, but it’s a pretty rad concept.
What the movie does right is the cast. Arthur Franz plays Dave Hollister and Franz is no stranger to sci-fi. He appeared in both FLIGHT TO MARS, INVADERS FROM MARS, and MONSTER ON CAMPUS. In this flick, he is pretty solid as is Robert Brown who plays Matt Hollister. Having said that, Dave is a bit of a depraved individual, I can’t stand his character or his morals, but moving along. Kathleen Crowley plays Carol Dahlmann and is good in the role like everyone else, but her character Carol is just the worst. So yes, unfortunately, that leaves us with only 1 of the main character that is worth rooting for.
The effects in the movie are not amazing but they work. The jungle setting also adds to the storyline because there is danger around every corner, even when we are not dealing with the main enemy in the movie. This also has the effect of keeping the pacing interesting so as the movie moves through each scene you want to find out what will happen next. As a tidbit, "the flame barrier" isn't a real scientific area in the atmosphere. It was made up for the movie.
Where the movie fails for me is in leaving us enough for us to root for. Unfortunately, all but 1 of the characters in this movie sucks. Morally speaking. I don’t always need that, but you kind of hope for at least one of the main cast to be someone you can like. I really didn’t like anyone in this movie aside from Matt.
Regarding the score, everything is good and overall the production is solid outside of maybe one clearly fake snake and a few editing issues. Overall I have to give this one a 5 out of 7. Yes, even though I didn’t like anyone the movie itself is still very interesting and does a great job of keeping you wondering what is really going on with Carol’s husband. I guess the moral of the story is really just don’t get a job where you are blowing your wife off. That is all I am going to say about this one.
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