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Writer's pictureAl Timberlane

Timberlane Spotlight: Creative script ideas from Sci-fi B-movies from the 50s and the 60s



B-movie rose to popularity in the 1950s, and Sci-fi B-movies from the 50s and the 60; all of them, whether they were masterpieces or not, are worth watching. Sci-fi B-movies from the 50s and the 60s are a great way to bring people together and begin the film creation and writing process of your 1st short film. These low-budget flicks offer many entertaining alternatives to blockbusters, creative scenes, and production ideas. Invite fellow filmmakers and writers together for popcorn and view some of the classics. From here, put together a writer's block to begin the process. Here is a short list of the top 10 50s b movies.

10. Fiend Without A Face (1958)



Fiend Without a Face contains all the quintessential B-movie elements, a cheaply-made British creature feature. This film, about a brain-eating monster that attacks people in and around a US military base in Canada, employs excellent sound effects and ghoulish kill scenes.

Fiend Without a Face makes up for what it lacks in a cohesive plot with immersive action sequences. The movie ends with an unforgettable climax that won't disappoint fans of the genre.


9. Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954)



This shoestring budget Universal Monster movie highlights its gorgeous underwater sequences wherein the title creature swims in his natural habitat. Shot in Florida, Creature from the Black Lagoon follows a group of scientists as they track down an ancient, amphibious being living in the Amazon River.

As the creature called, Gill-Man starts to fight back against those who want to study and imprison him. Relying on practical effects, real stunts, and off-the-wall costuming, The Creature from the Black Lagoon is a B-movie whose look and plot have been recycled repeatedly by subsequent directors.

8. Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)



Directed by Ed Wood, the king of schlock, Plan 9 From Outer Space is a thrashing, bombastic satire that incorporates zombies, aliens, and doomsday bombs into its plot. The film centers around extraterrestrials who travel to Earth hoping to halt humankind's efforts to make a universe-destroying weapon of mass destruction.


7. Kronos (1957)



From sci-fi filmmaker Kurt Neumann.Paranoia, massive robots, and UFOs reign supreme in this cult classic. In Kronos, a meteor that lands off the coast of Mexico turn out to contain a gigantic machine sent from another galaxy to drain Earth's natural resources.

This skyscraper-tall apparatus harnesses the planet's energy, including any weaponry or force used to destroy it. Kronos melds wartime hostilities, scary environmental horror, and giant monster movie vibes to present a well-developed and elevated B-movie story.

6. Godzilla, King Of The Monsters! (1956)



Not to be confused with the original 1954 kaiju film directed solely by Ishirō Honda, Godzilla, King of the Monsters! is an Americanized adaptation that combines footage from the original film with new scenes managed by the filmmaker Terry O. Morse. It's this 1956 film that introduced Godzilla to the world.

5. The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953)




In a Warner Bros. monster movie, the eponymous entity in The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms is a scaly, hungry dinosaur woken up after centuries spent trapped in Arctic ice. What's responsible for thawing this beast out? An atomic bomb test, of course.

The angry behemoth makes its way to New York City, its home long before Homo sapiens arrived. Creature effects maverick Ray Harryhausen worked on the film, and his towering lizard later influenced Ishirō Honda's Godzilla.

4. House On Haunted Hill (1959)



William Castle's House On Haunted Hill doesn't take itself too seriously. This campy, entertaining caper stars Vincent Price as a mysterious and affluent man who pays a group of disparate people $100,000 each to spend the night in a haunted house. Audiences ride with the houseguests and experience the many terrors within the old mansion. Whoever survives the night will find their pockets lined with dough come morning.

3. Not Of This Earth (1957)



There's a moral agency for the main character in Roger Corman's silly, spectacular alien invasion flick. The humanoid ET in Not of this Earth has embedded himself within Earth's population for one important reason: he needs human blood.

The alien, who adopts the pseudonym Mr. Johnson, is on assignment from his home planet — which is being devastated by a fatal blood disease. Using mind-control powers, special weapons, and an interstellar transmitter, the Martian hunts down one earthling after another to save his species.

2. The Blob (1958)



Yes, The Blob is literally about a giant, gelatinous blob from another planet that grows larger as it consumes everything in its path. After arriving via a meteor, the ball of jelly rolls its way around a small town in rural Pennsylvania, where a few teenagers must convince locals they are dealing with a deadly invader.

Steve McQueen stars in this "late-night at the drive-in" romp, which was made independently for $110,000. With its colorful effects, hokey one-liners, and car chase scenes, The Blob turned out to be a surprising success when it was released.

1 It Came From Beneath The Sea (1955)



Columbia Pictures hired Robert Gordon to make It Came From Beneath The Sea, hoping to capitalize on the cornball creature features doing well with younger audiences. One in a long line of Cold War movies about normal animals that become savage, giant monsters when exposed to radiation, this flick centers around the escapades of a giant octopus off the coast of California.

Impressed with his work on The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, producers hired Ray Harryhausen to create the stop-motion techniques used to animate the creature. Watching the tentacled sea beast ascend San Francisco's recognizable Golden Gate Bridge is the climax of this B-movie.




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