TEENAGERS
FROM OUTER SPACE (1959)Director: Tom Graeff
Image/Wade Williams Collection
TEENAGERS
FROM OUTER SPACE (1959)For unintended laughs and cheesy 50s fun, it's hard to top TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE. It's right up there with other "revered" cult standards like PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE, BRIDE OF THE MONSTER and SHE DEMONS (to name only three).
Tom Graeff produced, directed, scripted, shot and edited this nutty film himself. Contrary to popular lore, he did not also star under the alias of David Love; actually, Love was Graeff's boyfriend. To further confuse matters, Tom is in reality playing the part of the heroine's boyfriend in the finished piece!
As the picture begins, a cheap-looking spaceship lands on Earth. Even though its outward appearance is barely big enough to escort a chimp through the galaxies of outer space, the large interior shots assure us that it's really quite expansive. The inhabitants of the craft are a handful of human-looking aliens with receding hairlines far back enough to betray any illusion that they could truly be high school contenders. They have a mission to use our own planet to cultivate their race of huge beasts which they call Gargon. They even come equipped with powerful ray guns that turn animals and people into crumbling skeletons when zapped (cool!).
Bleeding heart member Love decides that he wants no part of this and abandons the rest of the crew, settling in with leading lady Dawn Anderson and her extremely cordial grandfather (Harvey B. Dunn). Shacking up with the Americans in their Leave It To Beaver-esque environment, Love is pursued by former ally turned adversary Bryant Grant, who is packing his deadly disintegrating weapon at the ready.
The oversized Gargon appears for the climax of the movie, a poor special effect if ever there was one. Consisting of only the enlarged shadow of a lobster, you'd be hard-pressed to come up with a less satisfying creature even taking into account this decade's reputation for such absurdities.
TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE is good clean fun, and its only major liability is due to its excessive length; this could have been even more enjoyable at 60 or 70 minutes as opposed to the occasional slackness during its present running time of 86. Much of the fun stems from the hilarious performance of Harvey Dunn as "Gramps." His wholesome-as-apple-pie shtick is totally out of control as he dotes on anyone stepping into his path, from neighbors to the nasty villain of the piece. Truly the Aunt Bea of his town, ol' Gramps makes Edith Bunker look like Leona Helmsley.
Wade Williams has done it again with a beautiful print for this DVD release. Despite an insignificant line or two on rare occasions, this is a very detailed and sharp picture that is happily free of grain. The mono sound is fine, and we get a theatrical trailer to compliment the package.
Can't wait for the next bunch of quality discs from Image and that endearing old Wade Williams Collection! Get to the store and pick yours up now. GO...BE SWIFT! (Joe Lozowsky)