Steineded How sad is this?

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

hrkepler 'Not of This Earth' is surprisingly creepier and much less cheesier than one can expect it to be. Most of the creepiness is thanks to Paul Birch's creepy performance as emotionless entity who's not from this Earth, clearly. I can imagine at the time of its release the film had some nice shock value as it contains some quite haunting scenes which isn't even affected by bad special effects.A blood sucking alien arrives to Earth to make experiments to determine if human blood is sufficient enough to cure the blood disease his nation is suffering in his home planet Davanna as the result of ongoing nuclear war. A nurse (Beverly Garland) and his quite clueless cop boyfriend (Morgan Jones) finally figure out the plans of the evil alien and do everything to stop him.'Not of This Earth' remains as one of the finest early Corman films, and is much less laughable than some of his other ventures ('It Conquered the World' for example). The film's serious and constant tone combined with quite good acting makes it easy to overlook some of the cheesy special effects (that flying lampshade). This is highly recommended B science-fiction from the '50s. The remake with Tracy Lords (produced by Corman himself) doesn't stand a chance against this magnificently original film.

Scott LeBrun Yes, folks, it's a "vampire from outer space" story, nicely devised by Mark Hanna and frequent Corman collaborator Charles B. Griffith. It's snappy & witty stuff, with particularly fun banter between co-stars Beverly Garland and Jonathan Haze. Despite being somewhat heavy on dialogue, it isn't boring (the very short running time does help), and producer / director Corman is clearly having a good time with this material. The actors are a treat to watch and there are effectively creepy moments along the way.The alien bloodsucker in question is blank eyed "Mr. Johnson" (Paul Birch), who needs the red stuff to replenish the dying population of his war-ravaged home planet, Davanna. After coming to Earth, he retains the services of amiable slimeball Jeremy (Haze, who would gain his greatest fame playing Seymour in Cormans' "The Little Shop of Horrors") as well as those of nurse Nadine Storey (the lovely Ms. Garland), whom he hires to live with him and provide regular blood transfusions. Those with the potential to thwart Johnsons' mission are Nadines' boyfriend Harry (Morgan Jones), a cop, and her understandably perplexed boss, Dr. Rochelle (William Roerick).Garland is certainly easy to watch, and rocks a one piece bathing suit in one sequence. Birch is amusing as the very cold and reserved villain. Haze is a real hoot in his role. Best of all is the cameo by longtime Corman regular Dick Miller, who's hysterical as a vacuum cleaner salesman. Filmed for the approximate sum of $100,000, this diverting little concoction has some fine moments where Johnson is communicating with associates back on Davanna, but the most freakish moment comes when a character is eliminated by a monster that resembles a lampshade; it's unnerving no matter how low tech the effects may be. And that ending is most enjoyable.Remade three times so far.Eight out of 10.

Coventry Now here's a fantastic hidden gem from the almighty B-movie emperor Roger Corman! Arguably even his finest directorial accomplishment of the 1950's, unless of course you fancy laughably inept monster movies like "Attack of the Crab Monsters" or "Creature from the Haunted Sea". "Not of this Earth" is an exceptionally atmospheric and solidly scripted Sci-Fi tale, with remarkably strong acting performances and even a handful of visuals and sequences that are genuinely shocking considering the time it was made. The eerily charismatic Paul Birch depicts an atypical alien ambassador from the planet Davana,on an attempted mission to rescue the population that is slowing dying following the results of a devastating nuclear war. He names himself Mr. Johnson and follows a 6-step program in order to fulfill his mission, which includes daily blood transfusions and selecting earthly specimens (like street bums and random Asian guys) to teleport across space through a closet door in his house. He hired the lovely Beverly Garland as a private nurse and also employs a lowlife thug as his servant/chauffeur. Johnson's deadliest weapons are hidden behind a thick pair of sunglasses and near the climax he suddenly also controls some kind of flying and bloodsucking jellyfish! Admittedly this all sounds like a bunch of campy nonsense, and it actually is, but it's the most entertaining type of campy nonsense imaginable! Traditionally these good old-fashioned fifties Sci-Fi flicks don't feature any redundant sequences or unnecessary sub plots, only straightforward action and relevant dialogs! Paul Birch and Beverly Garland are terrific in the lead roles, but also the supportive cast deserves some praise. Notably Corman's loyal buddy Dick Miller is memorable as a sly door-to-door salesman of vacuum cleaners. Roger Corman also produced a sleazy 80's update of his own gem in which contemporary porn star Traci Lords reprises the role of Beverly Garland. The plots are largely similar, but the 1988 version is more difficult to follow since the lead actress is parading around naked the entire time. Equally good fun, but go for the 50's original for sheer Sci-Fi nostalgia.

daikaiju1954 *** This review may contain spoilers ***This obscure Roger Corman film from 1957 is perhaps one of his best films despite that fact that many he has made are just terrible.The film is about an alien named Paul Johnson who comes for the planet Davanan. He is on Earth to drain blood from humans because radiation from a protracted nuclear war is causing his races blood to deteriorate. In some way he is a space vampire(not one that sparkles). Instead of using a flying saucer to come here, he comes using a matter transporter device, similar to the one used in Star Trek a couple years later. Another thing that interesting is that even though he comes from an advance alien race he is not very familiar to the way of Earth, like trying to drive for about Earth diseases. So I like this movie despite it being a Corman film. So I say give it a watch. But not the remakes.