Only A Woman: Queen of Outer Space (1958)

How did she manage to overthrow the men? They didn’t take her seriously. They were preparing for war. After all, she was only a woman.

Now this is a film I didn’t really care for. It was HIGHLY sexist.

So the film is about four astronauts going on a mission to Venus to try and find out what it holds.

The interesting thing is that they used the same space station and uniforms from Forbidden Planet.  I spotted it right away.

When the guys arrive at Venus they discover it full of only women!

I know you guys are thinking that it sounds really great. However you are dead wrong!!!! These women hate men.

The women take the men and lock ’em up.

The whole Venetian society is run by one woman, the Queen, who is the biggest man hater of them all.

Now Zsa Zsa Gabor is often thought to be “the queen of outer space”, but she is just an underling (unfair as she gets to be all over the poster). However, it is actually played by Laurie Mitchell. Anyway Queen Yllana (Mitchell) hates men, and when she took over the planet she rid them of them. She wears a mask and forces everyone else in a position of power to follow that credence.

While they lock up the men, we get to hear all the beautiful things that the men say:

Lt. Larry Turner: How can a doll as cute as that be such a pain in the neck?

Lovely guys, just lovely.

Ugh

So the Queen doesn’t know how the men were able to get to Venus and that is something she is trying to figure out.

Capt. Neal Patterson: I didn’t say anything to the Queen. I didn’t want to put her on guard, but I’m beginning to think our being here is not an accident.

Prof. Konrad: I’m afraid I must agree with you.

Lt. Mike Cruze: What is that? What is that?

Capt. Neal Patterson: The ray that destroyed the space station and knocked us off our course may have originated right here.

Lt. Mike Cruze: Oh, come off it! How could a bunch of women invent a gizmo like that?

Lt. Larry Turner: Sure, and even if they invented it, how could they aim it? You know how women drivers are!

Ugh, men

They find out that Talleah (Zsa Zsa Gabor) was the one who brought them. She leads a rebellion that doesn’t like being away from men. She wants to end the Queen’s rule.

She and the Captain of the vessel start a relationship. However, someone else is interested in the Captain.  The Queen. She saw him and wants him.

He thinks he can use it to his advantage, by romancing her.

Talleah: I hate her! I hate that queen!

Lt. Mike Cruze: She’s jealous!

Lt. Larry Turner: Twenty-six million miles from Earth, and the little dolls are just the same.

Ugh, men

So he tries to romance her and the Queen is actually eating it up. In fact he convinces her, that he likes her so much he won’t be turned away by her face. She is so convinced of his care that she allows him to unmask her.

She has horrible scarring on her face from radiation. This is why she hates men. No one would give her any attention because of her ugly face. She becomes so angry she wants to destroy the opera house…I mean the Earth!

“Queen Yllana: I’m going to allow myself the exquisite pleasure of watching you while I obliterate the Earth.”

While Queen Yllana is crazy and evil, but at the same time you understand it. She could have been a nice person, but if no one is willing to give her a chance and look past her outer self, than how could she not turn evil?

So in the end Talleah and her group take down the Queen and allow the men to roam free. And Talleah becomes the new queen.

Ugh, men

Yeah, I didn’t really like it. It wasn’t that interesting and I hated the men’s attitude to the women. It was just so hard to get through.

To start Horrorfest III from the beginning, go to Even a Man Pure of Heart

To go to the previous post, go to What Is This Thing?

For more on aliens, go to Friday Night Fun

For more on men being a disappointment, go to Men What Happened?

For more on radiation poisoning, go to They’re Coming to Get You Barbara

For more on unmasking, go to Feast Your Eyes on My Accursed Ugliness

They’re Coming To Get You Barbara: Night of the Living Dead (1968)

 They’re coming for you, Barbara! 

This is such an amazing film! George A. Romero is truly an amazing screenplay writer and director.

I actually saw the sequel first, Return of the Living Dead, on AMC’s old Friday Fright Nights, but d wasn’t able to watch the original  film until much later. The sequel is no where as  creepy as this one, and the only watchable sequel in my opinion.

One of the things that makes this film so revolutionary and a cult classic is that it is one of the first films about zombies to depict them as actual living dead and not mind control, like in White Zombie or Revolt of the Zombies. It also has the zombies being created by radiation instead of being controlled by the “third eye”.

I also love how the zombies are true zombies and not any of these super soldiers they make them to be now. The zombies are living dead, so they move slow as their flesh is rotting. They are also destroyed by fire or a shot to the head.

It’s a great zombie film!

The film begins with Barbara and her brother, Johnny, going to a cemetery to put flowers on their father’s grave. While they are there, Johnny starts teasing his sister; trying to freak her out. He sees a man approaching and pretends that it is a “ghoul” after her.

The man turns out to be a zombie attacks Barbara. Johnny tries to help her, but hits his head on a gravestone. Barbara runs away from the zombie chasing her, and holes up in a farmhouse.

Now Barbara is extremely freaked out, but even though she is traumatized she doesn’t just sit around but  searches for a knife to protect herself. She ends up being joined by another, Ben, who stops at the house when his car runs out of gas.

Ben is the best character in the film as he dies everything he can to keep them safe. By this time Barbara is pretty much incoherent as she has gone into complete shock.

They are later joined by others trying to escape these zombie attacks. The film switches from being just a horror film, to being a survival film. We see what everyone’s true characters are as they show how they act in intense situations.

The movie is fantastic and has a completely unexpected ending.

It is a wonderfully done film, with complex characters, definitely worth watching! And because of a mistake it is public domain and can be viewed on almost any streaming site along with YouTube.

That’s it for this fearsome Friday! More posts to come! 5 days ’till Halloween!

Here’s a poster/cover photo I made for my facebook as part of my Halloween countdown

To start Horrorfest from the beginning, go to I Don’t Belong in the World

For the previous post, go to From the Sea Burning With Fire

For more on zombies, go to When Potatoes Go Bad

For more on monster movies, go to I Want Friend Like Me

For more films that spanned sequels, go to Someone Very Special

From the Sea Burning Like Fire:The Giant Behemoth (1959)

From the sea… burning, like fire!…Behemoth!

I love this movie! This is actually what I call my stomach when I’ve eaten too much, “The Behemoth”, I cry out. “Behemoth!”

I was thinking of this movie the other day because I was wearing jeggings, an oversized sweater, and my rainboots. My hair was put up, and I thought to myself, “I look just like the Leigh Madison in The Giant Behemoth“!

I think she looks a little like Jane Powell. Don’t you?

This movie starts out with tons of fish washing up on the shores of England. They are all destroyed by some kind of radiation. A fisherman is also ravaged by it.

He also happen’s to be Leigh Madison’s character Jean Trevethan’s father. When they ask him what happened, he replies

“John: What happened, man? Can – Can you talk to us? Can you hear us, Tom?
Jean Trevethan: Dad? Dad?
Tom Trevethan: From the sea… burning, like fire!
John: What was it?
Tom Trevethan: Behemoth!”

A paleontologist is trying to figure out what the beast is and how it could have awakened. His ends up declaring it is a plesiosaurs, much like the Loch Ness Monster. Even though it looks more like a Brontosaurus.

So Dr. Sampson Karnes, the paleontologist, and his son Steve determine that the creature must have been awakened by all the atomic bombs and radiation (like Godzilla).

Everything they try to do to defeat him fails to work. He can’t be stopped! The Behemoth is destroying everything! Will he destroy the whole world?

You’ve got to check it out for yourself! I love this film!

That’s it for tonight! More to come! 6 Days ’till Halloween!

Here’s poster I made for my cover page on facebook in honor or Halloween. Hope ya love it.

To start Horrorfest from the beginning, go to I Don’t Belong in the World

To go to the previous film, go to I Want Friend Like Me

For more on awakening a monster, go to Let Them Fight

For more on paleontologists, go to Life Finds A Way

For more monster movies, go to A Monster Race