Reviews & Ratings for
Target Earth More at IMDbPro »

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 4:

[1] [2] [3] [4]

Index

34 reviews in total

---

11 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Pretty good low budget science fiction based on a bad novelette., 8 December 2001

Author: jim riecken (youroldpaljim)

The main thing I liked about this film is the basic premise. An assorted group of people find themselves in an abandoned city with an alien menace lurking about. The first half of this film is quite creepy and is very effective. However, once the alien robots show up, the film becomes just another ordinary 1950's alien invasion flick.

Like many of these 1950's science fiction and horror flicks, I first saw TARGET EARTH on T.V. in the sixties. Then the film vanished from television and I did not get a chance to see it again till I purchased a video copy about ten years ago. In the interim (when I was a teenager) I read the short novel "The Deadly City" by Paul Fairman which TARGET EARTH was adapted from. Having seen the film several times since, I can tell you the film is actually better. In the novel the invaders were not robots, but flesh and blood aliens (if aliens have flesh and blood!). They are never described, but someone utters something like (I'm not kidding): "They don't look like us!" While the films characters are the standard type found in films of this nature, those in the novel are all unpleasant types. No reader would care if they survive or not. Like the film, the characters are menaced by an escaped killer, but at least in the film he has a motive to menace the characters. In the novel the killers motives are unclear. Also, the novel ends by having the aliens suddenly drop dead with no explanation offered other than someone alluding that the aliens might not have been able to adapt to conditions on Earth.

Overall, TARGET EARTH is not a bad film. It's to bad it's makers let the film drift into a routine alien invader film after the very effective first half. The second half is okay, but it just doesn't deliver anything special. At least the writers didn't use the same unpleasant characters found in the novel. Like many cheap films made in the early fifties, TARGET EARTH is much better and enjoyable than many low budget films made in the later fifties.

---

11 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
The Robots are Coming!!, 10 January 2000

Author: oigres from Burlington, Ontario

When I first viewed this movie,I was 11 years of age. Needless to say I couldn't sleep for a couple of nights. The movie is vintage post-World War II paranoia that has reached cult classic status (see The Astounding B-Monster web site).

All right!! So it isn't hi-tech or academy award winning material, however, the premise is a good story.

So what! The robot looks like a Maytag washer-dryer combo gone mad. Give us a break!! Stop comparing yesterday's movies by today's computer F/X standards. Think (if you can) what it was like in the fifties with no internet, no laptops and no cell phones! And you couldn't trust those Russians! The fifties reached their peak with UFO's sightings and stories and that's what this movie is all about.

Enough said!. Turn the lights down low, make some popcorn and enjoy this movie with a friend, because that robot might just be looking over your shoulder.

8 out of 10.

---

8 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Top Sci-Fi Budget Noir!, 25 February 2005

Author: Son of Cathode from New England

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Here's an unusually subdued Grade-B sci-fi potboiler which plays itself out like a stagy, atmospheric gangster movie, with a bunch of Runyonesque folks trapped in a creepy, deserted Los Angeles after a mysterious invasion/evacuation. When the clunky killer robot(s) show up with their death rays, it's like pulp magazine fiction at it's purest. The army saves them just in time. This could almost be termed "Sci-Noir" (a genre-splice arguably not attempted again for twenty years, with BLADE RUNNER), with it's "Petrified Forest" cast of losers hashing out tensions in a cramped hotel room whilst hiding from the Venusian tin-men. As this was filmed on the streets of LA early one Sunday morning, on the sly, without permits or anything, this could fall under the classification of "Outlaw Art." Far more interesting than most robot pics of the funky 1950's, and quite lovable.

---

9 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Target missed on account of budget, 18 December 2004

Author: movieman_kev from United States

In this low-budget '50's sci-fi movie, a young woman (Kathleen Crowley) awakens only to find herself being an apparently lone survivor of some event and everyone has disappeared, eventually she runs into a few more people. They find out that the place has been evacuated on account of an invasion of robots from another planet. The movie is fairly decent, until said robots (or in this case, robot, as thats all the budget allowed for) shows up, then it loses all sense of forward momentum that the film had going for it.

DVD Extras: Commentary by Producer Herman Cohen; 20-minute video tribute to Mr. Cohen; Biographies; Theatrical Trailer; and Trailers for "Horrors of the Black Museum" and "The Headless Ghost"

My Grade: C-

---

9 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
A good scary movie, 19 June 2002
Author: julianbristow (julianbristow@sbcglobal.net) from San Jose, California

Although dated, this science fiction thriller asks the question, "Is it possible for outer space aliens to invade our earth?" The script was well written and the acting was just as good. Richard Denning and Kathleen Crowley have been seen in other top notch "B" 50'S sci-fi and horror films. But this is one of the best.

---

10 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
An eerie 1950's sci-fi, 7 August 2002
Author: Chris Gaskin from Derby, England

I recently seen Target Earth for the first time and found eerie and haunting, despite the low budget.

Chicago is evacuated due to being invaded by robots from Venus. A small group of people who were not aware of this situation go into a hotel for safety, but the robots find them at the end. Two survive. Sound waves invented by a scientist 'kill' the robots and the "Windy City" is saved, as is the world.

The cast in this movie includes 50's sci-fi regulars Richard Denning (Creature From the Black Lagoon) and Whit Bissell (The Lost Continent). These and the other stars play good parts. The music and score to this movie is quite impressive for a low budget picture. The robots look pretty cheap though. They look like washing machines.

This movie is worth watching and I enjoyed it.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5.

---

8 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
A mixed bag of good and bad., 29 June 2000

Author: littlenemo from southern California

Acting: THE GOOD. Richard Reeves and Virginia Grey. Although they both started the movie completely intoxicated, they suddenly become sober at the sight of a dead body. But I found them to be the only two characters with any hint of personality in this movie. THE BAD: Everybody else. Kathleen Crowly runs through the vacant city with a smile on her face, isn't she supposed to be frightened? Richard Denning is just the opposite. His face is so straight throughout the whole movie, I was beginning to believe HE was a robot. And finally, Robert Roark...ugh!! What is that?? A Humphry Bogart impersonation?

SPECIAL EFFECTS: THE GOOD: You'll only have to look at the robots a few times,the rest is left to our imaginations. THE BAD: Is that robot bow-legged? Well, I have seen worse in other B-movies.

CLASSIC LINES: FRANK: "Take it easy, I'm not going to hurt you!" Just before slapping Nora in the face. And, FRANK: "It's(Venus)covered by a heavy layer of clouds,that means plenty of water, oxygen, and hydrogen in it's atmosphere." VICKI: "Say, where did you learn all this?" FRANK: "College." Overall, this is your average 50's sci-fi with more focus on character studies than on the cheap looking robot. Which saves it from the Ed Wood level of movie making.

---

4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
50's sci-fi fluff = fun., 10 April 2002
Author: William (onnanob66@gmail.com) from Lancaster, Pennsylvania

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

There are many ways to rip apart many films made before our day in age, because they seem outdated. Target Earth is outdated by today's standards, but it is a fun science fiction flick from the fabulous 50's. I'm sure many who collect these 50's and 60's horror and science fiction films will want to add this one to their collections. SPOILERS ahead: The beginning of the film is creepy and well done with Nora (Kathleen Crowley) becoming frantic as she learns the water and electricity have been shut off, and there isn't a soul around. Nora peers into windows, and rings doorbells hoping to find someone. she comes across a dead woman, and runs into Frank (Richard Denning as his usual.) They figure the city has been evacuated, and try to find information on what is happening. They then meet Jim and Vicki (Richard Reeves and Virginia Grey) in a "posh joint." Jim and Vicki while intoxicated seem to be characters that are the first downfall of the film, but most people will probably overlook that. Frank and Nora convince the two partyers to join them. They discover a dead man in an automobile, and Jim and Vicki sober up quick. They meet another man who joins them as they go to hideout in a hotel after seeing a non-human shadow cast on a building. The new (and obnoxious) character becomes frantic, runs out of the hotel, and is killed by the ray of a silly looking robot. A murderer soon enters the hotel, and there's trouble for our two couples. He's a gun happy killer with a plan of using Frank, Jim and Vicki as decoys so he can escape into the sewer with Nora. Vicki ends up getting shot as she makes her way to the killer, but he is then put to his death by Jim. It is then one of the robots from another planet smashes through a large window of the hotel, and goes after the remaining three. They head for the stairs, and go up to the roof of the building. The robot follows. On the roof Jim gets killed by the robot, and Frank and Nora are saved as the Army shows up with their robot stopping invention. The opening scenes of this movie are rather good and creepy as I mentioned earlier. The introduction of Frank puts a slight leadweight on the film, and the introduction of Jim and Vicki while drunk makes the movie more silly. Then there's the third (obnoxious) man who also missed being evacuated, silly looking robot, and military scenes that worsen the movie. Something fantastic could've been made if the script were much different. I am ripping the movie apart somewhat, but all in all I do enjoy this movie. It will be a boring feature to those who don't get into it as a 50's, fun, B-flick. Everything about Target Earth (the acting, special effects, plot, etc.) is pretty much typical of 1950's sci-fi b-flicks. Take it for what it is and enjoy it.

---

4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Fabulous Fifties Flick, 21 June 2000
Author: dls-3 from Toronto, Canada

The fifties were the decade for the teenager. He/she had money and time to spend on just about anything. So Hollywood stepped in to fill part of the void.

I like the fifties an sixties sci-fi and horror flicks because, not like today where special effects and schmaltz are a major part of the movie, in the fifties and sixties, things were a lot simpler and people "really"(?) had to act even in B movies.

There wasn't that much gore as there is today. The black and white film added to the atmosphere. Just enough of a monster scene was shown for your mind to fill in the blanks.

We didn't have to see bodies being blown apart.

This film was filmed during the Cold War and UFO paranoia and people just gobbled it up. One thing I like about these type of films and that is that somehow the enemy, whoever he or she is, will always get it in the end and our hero or heroes will come out on top.

Need I say more. For an interesting evening, try to get this movie, you won't be disappointed.

---

3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
An army of one (robot), 8 August 2007

Author: copper1963 from Staten Island, New York

Crackerjack opening: awakening from a deep, self-induced slumber, Nora King discovers a strange new world. Imagine, for a moment, you wake-up, after an evening of popping pills, to find that everyone has vanished. You are left alone in a quiet, empty metropolis. You search the city streets and edifices for signs of life. You find nothing. And fear begins to creep into your thoughts. Target Earth, a b-movie pioneer from the 50's, begins in such a manner. It's a powerful beginning. After about ten minutes of screen time, Miss King meets a business man, Frank, from Detroit. A few stops later they hear music and stumble across a married couple, bickering and boozing it up at a high class joint. A nervous fellow soon joins the quartet--but is dispatched quickly by one of the army (never seen) of robots from Venus. Of course this makes very little scientific sense on any reasonable level. But we are along for the ride, anyway. I enjoyed the performances by the four main characters. I also felt Robert Roark's "killer" was quite good and smart. Towards the end we get a burst of ice cold violence. Not unexpected. The one mechanical man we do see is properly menacing despite the crack in his view plate. I wish the final had been filmed on the roof of a real building, instead of an indoor set. And a few more shots of the robot vaporizing some soldiers would have been appreciated.

---

---

Page 1 of 4:

[1] [2] [3] [4]

Add another review

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Ratings	External reviews
Plot keywords	Main details	Your user reviews
Your vote history