SPACE MASTER X-7 (1958)

SPACE MASTER X-7 (1958)

Tagline: Satellite Terror Strikes The Earth!

(Sci-Fi, Horror, Beware Of The Blood Rust) [PG]

Note: This movie was never given an MPAA rating, but it likely would have been a PG.

Are there any other brunettes on this flight wearing tweed coats?

In this one, a space probe ends up coming back to earth with a strange fungus one scientist deems “blood rust” due to its color. After the scientist is discovered dead, only a woman named Laura Greeling who is the last known to have come in contact with him stands between a growing devouring sinister fungal threat from space and the fate of mankind. Can John Hand and Joe Rattigan find her in time?

First off, a LOT of this movie is inexplicably dull. I wish I had something better to say regarding this thing, but outside of a few scenes and a few scenes at the beginning, this is merely an episode of DRAGNET masquerading as a sci-fi flick. 

So was there anything good about it? Well yes. The first 10 minutes or so and the final 10 minutes or so are great. Outside of that, there is some decent acting and the score is pretty top-notch. One great thing about THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT was that it kept you intrigued with a storyline and interesting things going on throughout. This movie has the creepy “blood rust” on screen for maybe a total of 3 minutes in the entire movie. For the 1950s, the effects are quite good when we do see the fungus, but we see so little of it, that you really need this script to pop and it just doesn’t. 

Acting wise this one stars Lyn Thomas who was in 55 different movies and TV shows, but “Adventures Of Superman” is probably what she is most famous for. She does pretty well in this one, but it was her only sci-fi movie, this is also the case for Bill Williams who plays John Hand. One great thing about this movie is that we do get some likable characters and John Hand is one of them with Williams doing a great job in the role. We also get Robert Ellis who plays Pvt. Joe Rattigan is solid in this and manages to be even more likable than John Hand. There is also a brief Carol Varga sighting. She plays Elaine Frohman and only gets a few lines, but 1950’s film experts might recognize the name. She was also in BRIDE OF THE GORILLA. None of the acting in this is bad, but the script is rough for a lot of this film in regards to keeping the viewer’s interest peaked. 

Outside of the main “blood rust” nemesis and the largely dull storyline, the movie does have one pretty cool element. I am not sure if this was a real practice back in the 50s, but in one scene a cab driver is describing a lady he drove around when he finds out it’s a matter of national security to find her. They have a rough sketch drawn and keep replacing the mouth and nose etc. with the properly drawn animation drawing board with acme pegs and animation cels. As an artist, I found this sequence pretty awesome and much better than having to draw an entire sketch being described to you. 

Overall SPACE MASTER X-7 is interesting, but it’s essentially a below-average remake of THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT. Even though I liked some of the characters we don’t get much of a story and the one we do get doesn’t make the characters more relatable. 

I have to give this one a 4 out of 7 just for the effort and the intriguing introduction and finals scenes, but the middle is pretty plain and just really didn’t draw me into the story like I had hoped.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF REGAL FILMS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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