Missile to the Moon (1958)

Director: Richard E. Cunha

Starring: Ricahrd Travis, Cathy Downs, K.T. Stevens, Tommy Cook, Nina Bara, Gary Clarke, Michael Whalen, Laurie Mitchell, Leslie Parrish, Henry Hunter, Lee Roberts

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Man reaches Moon...a strange and forbidding race...a giant fiendish creature.

Plot: Escaped convicts Gary and Lon are caught hiding in a rocket by scientist Dirk Green, who forces them to pilot the ship to the moon. Dirk's partner Steve Dayton and his fiancé June stowaway on the ship by accident. On the Moon they discover a race of space-women who want to inhabit Earth.  Will they all make it back safely?

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? Maybe.

I love these low budget sci-fi cheesefests.  It's a loose remake of the superior CAT-WOMEN OF THE MOON (1953) and it's not as fun but it's still worth watching.  It's got everything you love from these types of pictures from the 1950s - earnest acting, cliches all over the place, stock characters, cornball dialogue and creature effects that wouldn't fool a four year old (I'm looking at you, giant spider hanging from a rope!).  The funny thing is, it works for what it is, light entertainment.  I love it in movies when we travel anywhere in outer space only to find the joint is colonized by hot babes.  Talk about your male fantasy realized.  The queen is always bad news and wants to do harm to the men who come from Earth but there are always a few horndogs in the bunch that want some Earth man action.  PROMETHEUS (2012) didn't invent stupidity, it just capitalized on it at every turn.

This picture gets it right.  I love the enthusiasm here!  I was surprised to see such a low score on IMDb.  It's a lot more fun that what most people will lead you to believe.  It's only 78 minutes.  It's not gonna kill ya.

It just occurred to me that PROMETHEUS is nothing more than a 50's low budget sci-fi flick trapped in a bloated 21st Century Hollywood budget. Now it makes much more sense.  It's dumb on every level except for special effects but it's nothing more than expensive cheese.