I Married a Monster From Outer Space [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

I really wasn't sure what I'd be getting with the film I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958) as the title, while certainly informative (and long), screams cheap productions values, lurid storyline, and cheap exploitation intended on turning a fast buck, much like the putrid Ray Dennis Steckler crudfest, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964). After watching the movie, I found that wasn't the case, as while it may suffer (or benefit, depending on your point of view) from a lengthy and sensationalistic title, I Married a Monster from Outer Space is a fun science fiction film worth anyone's time (and money).

The film, directed by Gene Fowler Jr., probably better know for his work as an editor on films like It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and Hang `Em High (1968), stars Tom Tryon (The Longest Day) and Gloria Talbot (The Leech Woman) as newlywed couple Bill and Marge Farrell. The film opens with Bill and his friends, in a local bar, celebrating Bill's last night as a free man, as he's getting married the next day. On his way home, Bill has a strange encounter with an even stranger being and a noxious looking cloud of alien whammy gas. The next day, Bill is late for his wedding, and he seems a bit off...Marge doesn't pay much attention, but soon after the nuptials, she begins to realize the honeymoon is over even before it began, as Bill is a completely different person, short-tempered, distant, unfeeling and just generally cold. Maybe it has something to do with the fact Bill is no longer Bill, but an alien, inhabiting the shell of Bill's body (that's what I'm betting my money on, or that Bill is just a big jerkwad). Eventually Marge learns the truth, but trying to convince people of what she knows is entirely frustrating as who's going to believe something like that? Most just assume she's lost her marbles, or has taken up the drink...and given the fact that the aliens have since begun to inhabit the bodies of many other men in the small town, her pleas for help are routinely ignored. What is the purpose of this alien infestation? I will tell you they ain't here for the good cooking and sparkling conversation...

I really enjoyed this film, made near the end of Hollywood's golden age of science fiction films. The plot smacks of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), with a number of notable differences, mainly the aliens' intent and the supposition of a female lead instead of a male lead. I'm not saying this film is as good as Invasion, but it does work, and also delivers. I thought Tryon did well as the alien trying to insinuate himself in normal, everyday life. I thought the element of his learning different human emotions, like love, a bit goofy, but then it was touched on briefly, and never really examined in depth. At one point, it almost seemed like the transition from within, the development of human qualities, had nearly matched the physical transition. Talbot also played her role well, as the desperate woman who knows too much but can't find support. I really loved the scene between her and her friend, just before the friend was about to marry a man who had since been assimilated. She kept trying to find a way to break the news to her friend, but given the fact that her friend appeared to be in her mid- 40's and unmarried, it seemed she wouldn't have cared one way or the other, just so long as she was getting married. I have to say, while Talbot had attractive features (nice body), her face was off-putting, almost annoying, to me. Personal tastes, I suppose...My favorite character had to have been the bartender, Grady, played by Max 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom. He didn't have much screen time, but what he had was memorable as he added a bit of intentional, and welcomed, humor to lighten the proceedings just a tad. I've read that, when he was younger, he was a professional fighter, and, after retiring, he made a film career `playing a series of Runyonesque-type thugs and pugs'. Another scene I really liked was when Bill and his friends, now all aliens, congregated in the local bar, and were discussing the pros, and mostly, cons of their human bodies. I thought it odd that the aliens were discrete with certain things, but then obvious in other aspects. Maybe they assumed they had the town bottled up pretty well, and could afford some leeway here and there, using their demolecularizer ray-gun the occasional uppity carbon-based lifeform. The special effects were better than average, and I am especially interested to know exactly what that chunky goo was composed of, the goo that would be released after the death of a man/alien. The story moves along pretty speedily, slowing occasionally for pertinent and relevant plot points. There wasn't the level of tension here as there was in a film like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but it didn't really matter as I Married a Monster from Outer Space is a entirely fun and entertaining way to spend about a hour and a half.

The print provided on this release from Paramount Home Video is very crisp, clean, and clear, with a very minor amount of age deterioration present (a very minor speckling here and there, but hardly noticeable). There are no real special features included, not even a trailer, but English subtitles are available, which I made use of a few times (Paramount seems to lag far behind in their inclusion of goodies on their DVD releases...for shame...). The audio is pretty clear, but there were a few points it got a little muddled, but that was more due to the actor not speaking as clearly as I would have liked, and not a poor audio track.

Cookieman108

Despite having one of the worst, most misleading titles in movie history, "I Married a Monster From Outer Space" is a solid, often chilling science fiction movie, with some very good acting and an excellent script. You won't find a mindless us versus them story here, which makes it all the more effective.

Bill Farrell ((Tom Tryon) was having a last drinking spree with some pals, the night before his wedding. But the next day, Bill arrives late to the church, and on the honeymoon he seems strangely preoccupied and distant. His new bride, Marge (Gloria Talbot), is a bit worried by her husband's sudden change, but tries to keep going as if nothing has happened. But a year passes, and Bill is still acting weird -- so, for that matter, are his pals.

One night (after the mystery deaths of a couple of animals), Marge follows Bill into the woods -- only to see a strange glowing alien emerge from his body and enter a spaceship. Terrified, Marge tries to get help, but she has no way of knowing who's an alien and who isn't. And when she learns why the aliens have come, and why they've impersonated human males, she enlists the help of the remaining humans to help her.

"I Married A Monster" is an example of story triumphing over budgets and special effects. While the script isn't flawless (if the aliens can't tolerate alcohol, why doesn't Marge use that as a test?), the gradual buildup of tension, and the feeling of helplessness, is wonderfully done. Things as small as stumbling over a dead cat are imbued with horror, and the "less is more" exposure of the aliens in their true forms adds a great low-key tone to it. The special effects and costumes, though primitive by current standards, are surprisingly convincing.

One of the best aspects of this film is the handling of the aliens. They're not evil, just desperate to perpetuate their own kind. They're not invading for its own sake; they have a motive. But at the same time, they are clearly not acting acceptably, since they also kill off some humans (a young woman at a bar, and a nosy lech). Still, it's hard not to feel a pang when any of the aliens die, or when "Tom" explains their plight. Another nice touch is one of the aliens looking wistfully into a shop window.

Tryon does an excellent job, since he has to play an alien pretending to be a human -- cold, stiff, and a bit off-key. He does it wonderfully, with the right tinge of emotion when it's needed. Talbot does an equally good job. It would be too easy to make Marge an over-the-top hysteric, but she keeps the character reined in, so you can feel her panic.

It's a smart, well-written movie, like "Invasion of the Body-Snatchers" but with more suspense and more three-dimensional aliens. Recommended highly -- don't let the title scare you away.

This is a must-have sci-fi movie that, obviously, has been much overlooked. Not as subtle as Invasion of the Body Snatchers yet bearing many of the same characteristics, IMAMFOS probably has suffered due to its unwieldy title.

A young newlywed woman comes to realize that her husband is not the man she married- (I know, I know) literally. But this movie deals less with wide-scale paranoia than with one woman's struggle for identity, even as she wonders about her husband's (Like, for example, if he and their baby are monsters from outer space.)

One extra level to the movie which is adequately but not sufficiently dealt with is the question of who, really, are the bad guys. The aliens kill to keep their secret, but are almost sympathetic. They impersonate earthmen to carry on their race and may even treat their wives more compassionately AFTER they are taken over by aliens, whereas before they could not wait to leave them and go sit in the local tavern. An interesting twist, and one which could come off as preachy, but manages not to because the story moves at a pretty good clip and there's enough monster action to drown out secondary things like messages or character development. (Ahem.)

IMAMFOS boasts wonderful sci-fi music, a good amount of fine special effects and a shoot-'em up action climax where the members of a small town band together against the invaders. Bonus points for a shaggy hound dog figuring into the proceedings.

See also: It Came From Outer Space; Astronaut's Wife was a semi-remake, but ... yuck.