ctomvelu1 Of all the giant insects flicks of the 1950s, this is probably the worst. But as a low-budget sci-fi flick with a modest mystery, it's not so bad. First, the good news: Forrest Tucker and others are conducting magnetic experiments, which leads to a problem: the experiments allow cosmic rays to bombard the land, resulting in giant insects, reptiles and spiders. And they're all very hungry. A strange individual (Michael Benson) shows up to help. He's from another planet, naturally. Now for the bad news: the giant insects and reptiles and whatnot are simply regular creepy crawlies poorly enlarged through the camera lens. The one exception is a spider that tries to eat the obligatory helpless heroine (Gaby Andre). There's a bit of gore, but not enough to keep the kiddies away. Tucker is solid, as always, and Benson is oddly believable as the friendly alien. It has been suggested his performance was based on Michael Rennie's alien visitor in "The Day The Earth Stood Still."

thinker1691 In England, they produced many a B-Picture which if deemed suitable was shipped to America to entertain American Audiences. Among the more interesting is this entertaining Science Fiction movie entitled " The Strange World of Planet X, " in America it was renamed " Cosmic Monsters. " Whatever it was remembered as, it became a notable movie and a B-Picture Classic, primarily because of American Actor Forest Tucker. He plays Gil Graham a Electronic physicist working with a deranged Scientist who creates a powerful electromagnetic machine capable of upsetting not only the Earth's delicate magnetic field, it's insect population, but also the inter-galactic space-ships from Planet X. One notable star is Martin Benson who plays 'Smith' better remembered as the nervous gangster 'Mr.Solo' from the famous 'Goldfinger' movie. Despite it's modest budget and low-tech special effects, the story remains interesting and Tucker carries it through to a satisfying conclusion. A fun film for all. ***

email2amh I enjoyed Cosmic Monsters on DVD recently, and Forrest Tucker has never disappointed in such films (The Crawling Eye; Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas). It has those British science aspects that I really, really like in black & white films from the 1950's (Professor Quatermass comes to mind). The science of the plot is believable to a point, and the UFO Planet X elements work for me. Special effects are limited, and I did not care for the insects near the end, nor was I impressed with the numerous scenes of soldiers shooting bugs. However, the titular "spider in the web" scene is quite effective. Simplistic, well-paced, and enjoyable. Two points off for special effects & ending.

carflo I saw this movie once - over 40 years ago - and I still remember it very well. Even as a kid, very few movie really scared me, but this one did. The resident mad scientist does something that let in lots of bad cosmic rays and the local insects become giants. The school is a one room affair set in the middle of a forest. The giant insects attack the school trapping the teacher & the kids. Most horror movie monsters looked hokey - but the monsters in this were extreme close-ups of real insects. It wasn't until Alien that I saw a movie monster as scary as those giant bugs.