OMAR AZIMI

The world was still reeling from the effects and aftermath of World War II, and the Cold War was well underway. As a result, the horror and thriller films of the decade reflected the mood of the times and introduced plots with atomic beings and monster movies filled with all sorts of plot twists.

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Filmmakers experimented with advancing special effects and photography and were emboldened by the films they were able to make with this new technology. This resulted in horror films that had never been seen by audiences before.

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The Thing From Another World (1951)

A journalist (Doug Spencer) visits the Alaskan Air Command officer’s club in Anchorage, AK looking for a story. Several of the men are ordered to fly out to the North Pole at the request of lead scientist Dr. Carrington (Robert Cornthwaite), who reports that an aircraft has crashed. At the site, the men discover that the aircraft is a flying saucer and find a body frozen in a block of ice near the crash site. The body is brought back to Alaskan Air Command where the ice thaws and the creature makes its escape.

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Like the 1982 film directed by John Carpenter, The Thing From Another World was based on the 1938 novella titled “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell. The film borrowed elements from the current atmosphere in the U.S. about science and the idea that things are better left alone. The ending of the film ultimately has U.S. armed forces prevail against the Thing.

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The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)

In The Day The Earth Stood Still, a UFO lands in the middle of Washington, D.C. and is quickly surrounded by the U.S. Army. When a humanoid named Klaatu emerges from the UFO, he is quickly shot when he opens a small device. Klaatu (Michael Rennie) is taken to the hospital and insists that he has a message to be delivered to the President and other world leaders, but his request is denied. Klaatu escapes the hospital and moves into a boarding house under the alias “Mr. Carpenter,” and befriends residents Helen (Patricia Neal) and her son Bobby (Billy Gray). Bobby eventually discovers that Klaatu isn’t human, and Klaatu also reveals himself to Helen. He instructs that if anything should happen to him, Helen should go to the UFO and the robot onboard named Gort (Lock Martin) and recite “Klaatu barada nikto”

 

The film’s documentary style earned accolades and was chosen for preservation in the U.S. Library of Congress, in addition to recognition from the American Film Institute. The phrase “Klaatu barada nikto” has been recognized as “one of the most famous commands in science fiction.”

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House of Wax (1953)

In New York City in the early 1900s, Professor Henry Jarrod (Vincent Price), in a chilling performance, runs a wax museum and is renowned for his sculpting prowess. His business partner, frustrated with the museum, sets it on fire and leaves Jarrod for dead. Later, Jarrod murders his former partner and opens a brand-new wax museum focused on the macabre. Meanwhile, Jarrod also murders Cathy Gray (Carolyn Jones), whose body mysteriously disappears, and sets his sights on Cathy’s friend Sue Allen (Phyllis Kirk).

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House of Wax was a huge box-office hit and earned over $5 million. The film was shot in 3-D; which Warner Bros. produced in response to Bwana Devil(1952), which had premiered the previous year and had also been filmed in 3-D too much success. The film also reinvigorated Price’s career which had been stagnating since the 1930s.

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Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954)

In director Jack Arnold’s film, Creature From The Black Lagoon follows a geology expedition in the Amazon who stumble across a fossilized skeletal hand with webbed fingers. Soon after, a creature who shares the fossil’s hand reveals himself. The creature is half man, half-amphibious, and resists the team’s efforts to capture him, ultimately getting killed.

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Ben Chapman portrayed the creature in much of the film, with scenes shot at Universal City, CA. Underwater scenes with the creature were portrayed by Ricou Browning, with stunning cinematography masterfully done by underwater director James C. Havens. Reviews of the film described it as “…Still entertaining, with juicy atmosphere and luminous underwater photography sequences.” Creature From The Black Lagoon was followed by two sequels and inspired the 2017 The Shape of Water, directed by Guillermo del Toro.

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Godzilla (1954)

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The “King of Monsters” is born! Godzilla follows residents in Tokyo who are startled when a freighter is capsized off the coast. Other boats investigating the cause of the capsizing are destroyed as well. One night, a vicious storm crosses over Tokyo, and Godzilla makes its first appearance, destroying 17 homes and killing nine people. To stop Godzilla from crossing into the city, the city constructs an electrical fence. However, Godzilla resurfaces and easily breaks through the fence using his atomic breath. That night, Godzilla causes catastrophic damage, with attempts to kill it failing.

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Less than ten years prior, the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki experienced the detonation of atomic bombs. The film represents the nuclear holocaust and contained many political undertones due to what had been experienced in World War II.

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House On Haunted Hill (1959)

Millionaire Frederick Loren (Price) invites five people to a party in a haunted mansion. The party is in celebration of his wife Annabelle (Carol Ohmart). Frederick stipulates that his guests stay the night in the house, with the doors being locked at midnight, windows locked, and no access to phones or radio. When Annabelle is discovered dead, allegedly having hanged herself, Frederick becomes the prime suspect.

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Most of the film was shot on sound stages, with exterior shots taking place at the Ennis House in Los Feliz, CA, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. House on Haunted Hill is most known for a promotional gimmick which was utilized in its original theatrical release, called “Emergo.” The gimmick involved a pulley system near the movie screen which was set up to have a plastic skeleton to be flown around the theater. Alfred Hitchcock, inspired by the film, decided to produce his own low-budget film which would go on to become the legendary Psycho (1960).