IMDb > The Earth Dies Screaming (1964)

The Earth Dies Screaming (1964) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
5.8/10   357 votes
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Director:
Writer:
Harry Spalding (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Earth Dies Screaming on IMDbPro.
Genre:
Tagline:
Who... Or What Were They... Who Tried To Wipe All Living Creatures Off The Face Of This Earth? more
Plot:
A crack space pilot returns to earth to find the planet has been devastated by some unknown forces. There are a few survivors... more | add synopsis
NewsDesk:
Blood, Bats and Future Shock - Chosen Survivors
 (From Fangoria. 24 June 2009, 1:45 PM, PDT)

User Comments:
Invasion! - but Let's Not Have a Screaming Fit more (29 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Additional Details

Runtime:
62 min
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.66 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
USA:Approved (Certificate #20758) | USA:Not Rated (DVD) | UK:A
Filming Locations:
Company:

Fun Stuff

Movie Connections:
Referenced in The Last Man on Earth (1964) more

FAQ

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17 out of 18 people found the following comment useful.
Invasion! - but Let's Not Have a Screaming Fit, 15 January 2006
6/10
Author: Bogmeister from United States

A warm-up by director Fisher for his "Island of Terror"(66) and "Night of the Big Heat"(67), this is a template for alien invasion pictures: there's a small group of survivors (in rural England) and marauding invaders, here in the form of slow-moving robots. Since the invaders never do move beyond a slow walk, they never seem to pose a serious threat unless you happen to run right up to them (which one of the characters does indeed do). Then they zap you with a touch of their cold hand and you eventually turn into a controlled zombie. It sounds a bit silly, but the film manages to convey an eeriness to the whole setting. Maybe because it's in black & white, it also reminded me a bit of "Night of the Living Dead"(68). The sense of isolation and the threat are very similar.

What sets this above other sci-fi films of the fifties & sixties is the lack of clunky, melodramatic dialog. The intent by the filmmakers and actors is that this is really happening. The survivors are an average group of citizens, caught in a traumatic situation. None of them are prepared or trained for something like this. There's always that one troublemaker in the group, of course, brandishing a revolver and behaving like an ass. But the story needs that extra tension to make it more interesting. It's low budget, but they didn't really need a lot of money to show empty streets or just several bodies littering the landscape. This one, though, really begs to be remade with a decent budget, as a full throttle invasion story. A similar Americanized version was the earlier "Target Earth"(1954).

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Unanswered questions galore. frantichedgehog
whole film is on the internet! browncal
The Man Who Dies On The Train astech
Please Release on DVD Silentx777
DVD released 9/11/07 pressureworld
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