Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

The Space Children Blu-ray Movie Review

Parents, it's 10 o'clock. Do you know where your alien controlled children are?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 30, 2012

The Space Children is one of those films that a whole generation (and perhaps even more than only one generation) knows from its skewering on Mystery Science Theater 3000. The film hasn't really been regularly broadcast much (if at all), and there has been a concomitant dearth of home video releases for what remains one of the lesser known films of this ilk from the fifties. The Space Children plays almost like a flip side to a film that would come along a couple of years later, but which would have a much greater impact, Village of the Damned. In that later film, aliens spawn a horde of glowing eyed children who are obviously the first wave of what will no doubt be an invasion leading to the decimation of Mankind. In The Space Children, kids are once again receptacles for an alien intelligence, but this time, they're used for good, not evil (well, kind of, depending on your point of view). This ultra lo-fi 1958 outing was directed by Jack Arnold, who actually started his film career in documentaries (including receiving an Academy Award nomination in 1951 for In These Hands), but who would forever be linked with some of the most fondly remembered science fiction films of the fifties, including Creature from the Black Lagoon and It Came From Outer Space. It's kind of odd that The Space Children hasn't achieved more of a cult status, for it is chock full of actors who would go on to television fame (and/or infamy) in a number of roles and it also has the sort of portentous anti-nuke message that has made The Day the Earth Stood Still such an iconic film from more or less that same era. But it must be admitted that The Space Children has none of the gravitas of the Robert Wise movie, and in fact is sort of a silly little outing that spends as much time weaving in and out of some patently odd family dysfunctions as it does addressing the actual alien influence of several kids who live in a beachside trailer park (no, that's not a misprint) next to a top secret United States missile base.

Before we actually discuss the plot mechanics of The Space Children, let's spend just a minute reviewing the cast, concentrating on a number of people whose names might not be instantly recognizable, but whose television characters are, well, unforgettable. Chief among these is Jackie Coogan, one time child star phenomenon who at this point in his career was probably thanking his lucky stars just to be picking up a paycheck, but who in just a few years would become immortalized as none other than The Addams Family's Uncle Fester. A really interesting and unusual performance is given by Russell Johnson, one that may at least partially erase the collective imprinted memory he achieved as that "coconut technician" Professor on Gilligan's Island. Lovers of late fifties and early sixties television Westerns may recognize little Johnny Crawford, who would go on to play Chuck Connors' son on The Rifleman. And also on hand is Raymond Bailey, playing a somewhat similar sort of role to the officious bank president Mr. Drysdale he would forever be linked with from the long running sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies. With a pop cultural campfest like this, what's not to love about The Space Children? (We won't even get into some of the other actors who have long horror and sci-fi credits to their name, or even some of the bit players like Ty Hardin).

Bud (Michel Ray) and Ken (Johnny Crawford) Brewster are the young sons of aerospace worker Dave (Adam Williams) and Anne (Peggy Webber), and the opening scenes of The Space Children find the family driving to their new digs, a beachside aggregation of mobile homes. As they near their destination the kids (and only the kids) hear a weird low frequency hum and also notice a glowing light descending from the heavens. Their parents are not only unaware of these phenomena, they're a little perturbed at how much noise the kids are making, especially since the car just stops right there in the middle of the road for no reason. That is the children's first clue that there's something strange afoot at their new home.

When they do arrive, the kids head off to the beach and quickly find a cave, where they end up meeting the rest of the kids of the missile base employees, all of whom have similarly been mysteriously drawn to the enclosure. Soon the reason for that becomes clear: there's a pulsating amoeba like presence in the cave which is communicating telepathically with the children (especially Bud) and which is urging them to prevent a hydrogen bomb warhead armed missile from being launched from the base.

That's basically the sum total of the plot of The Space Children, although it's mixed in with some rather odd and frankly unseemly family dysfunction to varying degrees on the part of several of the kids and their parents. As the parents become more and more suspicious of what their kids are up to, the alien amoeba grows in size and power, ultimately managing to make several adults pass out or become otherwise infirm. (There's also one kind of gruesome and disturbing death along the way.)

The film is brisk (barely over an hour) and suffers from a lack of development, as well as some fairly risible dialogue along the way. It is an interesting take on the anti-war (or at least anti-nuke) territory that was trod by several films in that era, in that it is told mostly from a child's point of view (albeit a child telepathically in touch with an alien consciousness). There's a passing Biblical reference that ties up the film and seeks to make it "oh so meaningful", something that probably played more sympathetically to fifties' audiences. It, like quite a bit of The Space Children, comes off as almost willful parody to more cynical modern sensitivities, and may in fact be one reason this film is largely remembered nowadays as fodder for those wags at Mystery Science Theater 3000.

The Space Children Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Space Children is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. While the elements of this Paramount catalog release are in at least decent shape, this high definition transfer is one of the less stellar we've been offered by Olive, mostly due to some inconsistent contrast. A lot of the film is slightly blown out, with whites bleeding into grays and differentiation between the two scales minimal at times. The image is decently sharp, but not at the level of some of the other Paramount releases Olive has licensed. There are a few opticals in the film that suffer from the expected increased softness and graininess. There's also a minimal amount of age related wear and tear that crops up from time to time, but never in completely distracting amounts. While this isn't a horrible transfer by any stretch, it's not at the relative top tier that some of the other Olive releases have been.

The Space Children Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Space Children's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track suffices surprisingly well for this little feature. Low frequency ranges are quite impressive throughout the film, but all frequencies are rendered really rather well, and the copious sound effects are all convincing, at least given the decidedly lo-fi context of the film. Dialogue is cleanly and clearly presented and Van Cleave's kind of goofy score also sounds great. Fidelity is very good to excellent throughout and there is no damage to report on this track.

The Space Children Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As with most Olive Films Blu-ray releases, there are no supplements of any kind included.

The Space Children Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Space Children is probably going to be most appreciated by those with a certain appreciation for camp. The film is too haphazard and underdeveloped to ever really work up any momentum, but there's a certain charm to seeing The Professor catatonic in a mobile home or Uncle Fester running panicked along a beach in little more than his skivvies. For those wanting a serious science fiction treatment of many of these same themes, there's a much more adroit handling in Robert Wise's wonderful The Day the Earth Stood Still. But even Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal can't really compete with Milburn Drysdale chatting earnestly with a pulsating pile of alien goo in a cave.