The tight, intriguing story makes it easy to ignore the not very special effects and the cheesy title (actually, I'm very fond of the title). This is another one of those movies I saw a kid and have been wanting to see again for years. I'm very pleased to say it holds up well. Gene Fowler is the director and handles the assignment with a firm hand. The film stays remarkable on point with the one person knows the truth kind of paranoia parable popular at the time -- see "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". It's no wonder Fowler does such a fine job telling the story, he was the editor for couple of Samuel Fuller's westerns "Forty Guns" and "Run of the Arrow" in 1957 (which I co-incidentally watched the same week as this picture). Fowler's ability to convey the mounting tension of the situation show his editor's training. There's no coy is she or isn't she paranoid here; we know right off the bat she's married to a monster from outer space, but it's great fun to see her come to the same conclusion. One thing that really impressed me was the tremendous amount of boozing going on it the movie -- it was like a horror version of Mad Men. In fact, a key tip off that a person is really a monster that walks like a man is that he gives up the booze (aliens can't tolerate the stuff). This doesn't stop the cadre of monster conspirators from holding their little get together in a bar (and what a great bar it is, alcoholic bar tender, hot jazz, sleazy men and louse women). When the exciting conclusion comes, all is explained in a much more satisfactory manner than most shows provide and I for one felt a certain sympathy with the gruesome grooms.
