ajrg-17-381639 I was scared to death by this movie at 6 when it was 2 years old. Later I found it in a movie store marked as one of the worst science fiction movies of all time. I bought it. The movie no longer scares me but it is well written and can be watched again and again if you don't mind drinking,smoking and offering the same to others when you want to be polite. I liked the acting, writing and story which to me were not over the top and let me add I like movies but am not a huge fan of 1950s science fiction. I am not fond of classics from that era when we were fighting the cold war and the aliens represent evil. The special effects are not special but if that makes no difference to you, this is a good movie.

MARIO GAUCI One of the late Jimmy Sangster's 'extra-curricular activities', as it were, was taking some time off from Hammer Films and contributing scripts to other 'brand names': this, in fact, is among a handful he made for the movie-making team of Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman. While here he was dealing in science-fiction, he would also pen their JACK THE RIPPER (1959) and THE SIEGE OF SIDNEY STREET (1960), both of which attempted to recreate notorious real-life incidents and whose own viewing will follow presently.Like Hammer's own QUATERMASS titles (scripted by Nigel Kneale), which were the prototype of this subgenre, the film under review saw its origins as a TV serial: actually, Sangster had earlier been responsible for X–THE UNKNOWN (1956), the very first off-shoot of that classic franchise (again made by the famed British House Of Horror). Still, even if the writing is reasonably intelligent (feeding on the alien invasion/mind control themes then prevalent within the genre), the 'lower-berth' nature of the production does render the proceedings slightly less than persuasive: for one thing, the design of the creature (The Crawling Eye, as the U.S. moniker would have it, though there is actually more than one and it can perhaps best be described as an over-sized octopus!) is more silly than scary, their telepathic connection to Janet Munro's character never properly explained…nor, for that matter, just what kind of threat she was supposed to pose for them that they had to send 'zombies' – whose flesh literally disintegrates when exposed to extreme heat – in order to eliminate her, since she is mostly so distraught by these visions that she faints outright after each experience! Another illogical detail pertains to the walls of the fortress-like conservatory (to which the severely under-populated village retreats during the alien clampdown), which are shown as not able to withstand the sheer impact of the invaders' weight, yet we are asked to believe that the bombs fired away by the stock-footage planes that come to the rescue will not harm the edifice! This is not forgetting the monsters' victims, which are bafflingly left beheaded (though this may have been merely a way of incorporating gory effects, which were becoming fashionable around this time!).I cannot say whether it was done on purpose, but it seems to me that the Central European setting in this case was a direct nod to the Universal FRANKENSTEIN films (which had just been revived by none other than Hammer with the involvement of Sangster himself!), down to the iconic moment in which an innocent young girl comes face to face with the monster – though here she is saved by hero Forrest Tucker. Typically, an American lead (albeit hardly a star) was recruited to secure overseas commercial appeal: actually, he had already appeared in Hammer's fine THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN (1957; scripted by Kneale and co-starring company and genre icon Peter Cushing) and would also make the even less distinguished THE STRANGE WORLD OF PLANET X (1958; which I have yet to watch, even if I do have a TV-sourced copy of it somewhere!).Mind you, while I seem to have been rather harsh on the film, I enjoyed it a good deal: if anything, apart from the familiar suspense situations and exciting action sequences, it is well-enough cast – numbering among its other protagonists future Hammer alumni Jennifer Jayne (from KISS OF THE VAMPIRE {1963} and THE REPTILE {1966}) as Munro's elder sister and the other half of their clairvoyant stage-act, Laurence Payne (who had been the protagonist of the interesting Poe adaptation THE TELL-TALE HEART {1960}) as an initially suspicious figure who, revealed to be a scoop-seeking reporter, eventually turns heroic and Warren Mitchell as the obligatory eccentric scientist (who has summoned former colleague Tucker to Trollenberg after a similar 'radioactive cloud' occurrence – which the aliens utilize to travel in! – at another mountain-top setting, the Andes, some years before).

ferbs54 Monster fans, rejoice! This great-looking DVD from Image offers us the baby boomer favorite "The Trollenberg Terror," from 1958, with the original, NONspoiler British title that is so much more preferable to the American appellation: "The Crawling Eye." In the film, sturdy as always Forrest Tucker plays Alan Brooks, a U.N. physicist/investigator (or something on that order...after two recent viewings, I'm still not clear on that point) who comes to the Swiss village of Trollenberg to investigate a recent string of mysterious deaths, as well as the radioactive, stationary cloud that hovers over a nearby mountain. Viewers must wait a full hour before getting a look at the title creatures, during which time they should be amply entertained by the plight of Janet Munro's character--a pretty young woman who is in telepathic contact with the creatures--and by the zombie cat's-paw who is sent by the unseen foes to do their bidding. The viewer's patience is ultimately rewarded by some of the most memorable-looking monsters in screen history; creatures that are fondly remembered by all baby boomers who watched the classic '60s TV show "Supernatural Theatre," which showed the crawling eye expand each week during its opening credits. Though filmed on the cheap, these aliens look impressively yucky. The picture, on the whole, is uniformly well acted by all (Tucker, especially, underplays his role nicely), Stanley Black's subtle yet eerie score works wonders in ratcheting up the tension, and director Quentin Lawrence keeps things moving along briskly. I find this to be a quality example of horrific sci-fi, despite the lack of top-tier FX, and not at all campy (well, perhaps a bit cheesy!). And thanks to this great new print from Image, we may never see "The Trollenberg Terror" look any better. Reason to rejoice, indeed!

MartinHafer The film is set at the Trollenberg--a mountain in the Alps. It seems that several mountain climbers have been decapitated recently. Upon investigating, they discover that it's due to the presence of aliens. One way they know is that a lady among them seems to have psychic powers and she can sense these otherworldly creatures. The other is that they actually see the bizarre things. To try and describe the odd creatures is very hard--you really have to see it. It looks a bit like an octopus, a giant eyeball and a lot of pus all rolled into one.This is a decent 1950s horror/sci-fi film, though the monsters themselves are certainly NOT the highlight of the film. Another less than stellar aspect of the film is how incredibly easy these things turned out to be! What is decent is the rest of the story as well as the acting--led by veteran American actor, Forrest Tucker, in this British production. While far from great, the film is less silly than most (at least until you see the aliens) and the story (at least up until then) seems thoughtful and interesting.By the way, if you do watch the film, you'll see that in a rare case of actually accomplishing something, the UN comes to the rescue.