Diagonaldi Very well executed

Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

MartinHafer This British film is set at a lab where some weird experiments on magnetism are being conducted. Unknown to the researchers, these experiments are releasing radiation and it's making huge and very hungry bugs--bugs that suddenly have developed a taste for humans! Can it be stopped in time? And, whose idea was it to have Forrest Tucker play the romantic lead (something scarier than the bugs, actually)? And what about this invader from Planet X? There have been a ton of films like this before and after, as giant bugs caused by radiation is a VERY common theme during this era. In fact, giant ANYTHING was a typical theme. The difference is that this version has particularly bad special effects. Most of the bugs are just closeup shots of tiny bugs and they are clumsily inserted into the shots. A few times they are a bit cool (such as the one eating the guy's face), but for the most part they are pretty limp. In addition, the film gets low marks for choppy edits and sexism. The sexism occurs early in the film. When a professor gets a female assistant, all the guys complain about how stupid women are! And, when she arrives and is relatively hot (at least in 50s British cinema standards), they all quickly change their tune and the staff take turns trying to seduce her. Ultimately she chooses Tucker--showing that the pickins' were indeed slim! The only interesting element was the alien coming to help out as well as the insane professor--I sure didn't see that coming! Not terrible but not one of the better examples of the giant radioactive bug genre.

Michael_Elliott Strange World of Planet X, The (1958) * 1/2 (out of 4) Released in America as THE COSMIC MONSTER, this British flick is best remembered for being the country's only "giant bug" movie and we should all be thankful that they didn't make others. Dr. Laird (Alec Mango) and his assistant Gil Graham (Forrest Tucker) are experimenting with cosmic rays when they accidentally rip a hole in the ionosphere. Their mistake causes a hobo to turn into a raving maniac and we also get some insects who grow to large sizes and start attacking. Actually trying to think of the various logic problems in this film would be pointless but I was curious why only the hobo became a raging maniac considering countless people saw the "issue" that caused his transformation. I was also curious why the British thought it would be a good idea to make a "giant bug" movie and keep the bugs away until the 60-minute mark, which meant the viewer only gets fifteen-minutes worth of actual monster footage. There's really not much that makes sense here and perhaps that's a good thing because the film is so deadly dull and boring that we should all be thankful that they didn't try to explain anything else because that would have meant a longer running time. There's really not too many good things you could say about this dud because everything is bad, bad, bad. We can start off with the performances, which are beyond horrible and they're just as bad as anything you've seen in an Ed Wood or Al Adamson picture. The truly horrible performance goes to Gaby Andre who plays the love interest. She is suppose to be playing a French girl but her accent is constantly going in and out and there were several times where it seemed like we got three or four accents in one little sentence. Another problem is that her acting range isn't all that high and especially when she struggles to get through a single line. Mango plays the mad scientist who never goes mad and just comes off as boring. Tucker, who showed how good he could be in the genre film THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN, sleepwalks through this film and it really does appear as if he's embarrassed by this thing. The special effects are just as bad as any of the American "bug" movies and not for a second will you believe anything you're seeing. The giant lizard is probably the funniest of the bunch and it's certainly not good when you're laughing at the things that are suppose to be scaring you.

preppy-3 I saw this under the title "The Cosmic Monsters". Silly movie about a scientist named Dr. Laird (Alec Mango), his assistant Gil Graham (Forrest Tucker) and obligatory love interest Michele Dupont (Gaby Andre) developing a machine that makes metal bend...or something like that (I was too bored to pay attention). Because of this machine they unwittingly open a hole in the ionosphere covering the Earth that lets in rays that turn humans into maniacs and makes small animals larger.Very dull with virtually nothing happening until the final 20 minutes when the animals attack. All talk, talk, talk full of boring science dialogue and pretty bad acting too. The special effects are terrible too--the scenes with the large insects are laughably fake. One purportedly gruesome scene--an insect biting off some of the face of a dead soldier--doesn't work at all because the soldier is so obviously a dummy! Boring, by the numbers, low budget sci-fi movie. You can safely skip this one.

faridalva I saw this movie recently on VHS. I was surprised at how compelling this film was. It took a while for the monsters to show but that's because great character development and a good plot outline was being established first. But when the monsters to show, there are some shocking scenes for even today.The effects were very good as well as the acting, especially Forrest Tucker. They even managed to fit in a believable love triangle between the main characters. The logic of the plot pans out very well and was impressive. The movie flowed smoothly and the script well written. Overall it was a great 50s SF film.