Teenagers from Outer Space (1959)

A young alien and a teenage earthling fall in love, and plot to stop the alien's race from using Earth as a food-breeding ground for giant lobsters from their planet.

Director:

Tom Graeff

Writer:

Tom Graeff

Stars:

David Love, Dawn Bender, Bryan Grant

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Love	...	Derek
Dawn Bender	...	Betty Morgan (as Dawn Anderson)
Bryan Grant	...	Thor
Harvey B. Dunn	...	Gramps Morgan
Tom Graeff	...	Joe Rogers (as Tom Lockyear)
King Moody	...	Spacecraft Captain (as Robert King Moody)
Helen Sage	...	Nurse Morse
Frederick Welch	...	Dr. C.R. Brandt (as Frederic Welch)
Carl Dickinson	...	Gas Station Attendant (as Carl Dickensen)
Sonia Torgeson	...	Alice Woodward
Billy Bridges	...	Driver Picking Up Thor
James Conklin	...	Prof. Simpson
Gene Sterling	...	The Alien Leader
Ralph Lowe	...	Moreal - Spaceship Crew
Bill DeLand	...	Saul - Spaceship Crew

Storyline

A young alien (David Love) falls for a pretty teenage Earth girl (Dawn Anderson) and they team up to try to stop the plans of his invading cohorts, who intend to use Earth as a food-breeding ground for giant lobsters from their planet. The invaders, who arrive in a flying saucer, carry deadly ray guns that turn Earth-people into skeletons.

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Plot Keywords:

giant lobster | alien contact | death ray | alien invasion | space monster | 

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Taglines:

Teenage hoodlums from another world on a horrendous rampage!

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Unable to afford time on a soundstage to film Betty Morgan's home, director Tom Graeff posed as a UCLA student directing a student project. An elderly woman allowed him to film in her home for free.

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Goofs

Thor's jumpsuit has bloodstains on the chest and right arm before his surgery. When he stumbles into the outer office the bloodstains are gone, and when he confronts the nurse they're visible again.

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Quotes

[Upon discovering the skeleton in Simpson's office]
Hilda: I'm not going to keep a job where this sort of thing goes on.

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Crazy Credits

To give his film more credibility, writer/director/composer/editor/producer/actor Tom (Lockyear) Graeff credited himself as "Tom Lockyear" for the role of Joe, a newspaper reporter and Betty's boyfriend.

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Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Being from Another Planet (1992)

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Soundtracks

Eerie Heavy Echo (L-1203)
(uncredited)
Music by Spencer Moore

User Reviews

INTERESTING B

What is it about this no-budget film that gets my interest? Sure it was produced for a mere $3,000 and the effects are laughable, but there is something that's actually engrossing about its storyline: Aliens come to Earth for the purpose of breeding their man-eating lobsters called Gargons. Derek, the young,idealistic black sheep, with James Dean pretentions, disapproves of his comrades lack of compassion towards the fate of the earth people, and goes AWOL to warn the unsuspecting citizens of our world.

Derek ends up in a suburban utopia, where everyone is sincerely kind and caring of one another (this must be an alien planet). He rents a room and falls in love with the local teen queen (who is surprisingly as UN-prima-donna as they come). Unknown to the hapless pair, one of Derek's cronies, Thor, is hot on his trail, blasting everyone in sight with his focusing disintegrater (which turns the victim into a skeleton). The aliens plan to return soon with a full shipment of gargons, and our heroes only have a short time to thwart their trecherous plans.

Ridiculous? Sure. Engrosssing? Definitely. In some ways the plot is reminiscent of TERMINATOR (I wonder if Cameron saw this in his younger years). As little more than a home movie, it's not really that bad. You could tell that filmmaker Graeff (who plays Joe the reporter under the name of Tom Lockyear) compensated for an inadequate budget, with heart, imagination and soul, and has produced a picture that has some surprising moments of brilliance. It would have been curious to have seen how this production would have turned out if Graeff had had a decent budget. This film doesn't lack creative inspiration or intelligence (you can rank it above Ed Wood or Larry Buchanan), but simply money. When it comes to the mega-budget likes of INDEPENDENCE DAY or GODZILLA - money isn't everything!

The performances here are pretty poor, but I came to really care about the characters. Figure that. The film also takes on a certain hallucinatory quality that actually makes it memorable.

This also has the significance of being one of the first independently produced films to be released by a major studio, long before Indies became a tired trend (I'm not much of a Sundance freak). Graeff originally entitled this THE GARGON TERROR and managed to sell it to Warner Brothers (no small feat, believe me). The studio, in turn, changed its title to the more drive-in exploitative TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE. One could tell, if they drop their prejudices and pay close attention, that Graeff was sincerely trying to produce a worthy effort. The man deserves to be congratulated for his attitude, even if the results fall short, due to lack of funds. He was desperately trying promote a stronger understanding between the adults and the kids, hoping for a less troubled world. How can one be faulted for that?

Naturally, MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 had a field day lampooning it, but I sometimes wonder what its producers and fans criteria really is? Is it all just superficial budget and effects with no regard for content? Sounds pretty shallow to me.

I won't recommend this to most, but if you put aside high-tech, you may want to trip back to a different era for curiousity sake if nothing else.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 June 1959 (USA)

Also Known As:

Killers from Outer Space

Filming Locations:

Shell - 1309 N La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tom Graeff Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min 72 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1