Top 10 1950s Horror Movies

The 1950s brought with it a new form of filmmaking that catered to teenagers and Drive-In theaters. WWII was at an end and people were craving a way to forget the horrors of wartime. Film makers concentrated on movie plots dealing with science fiction, technology, and mutant creatures. Some of the most popular movies of the 50's were science fiction and horror films.

The following list describes the top ten horror movies of the 1950s:

The War of the Worlds was adapted from the H.G. Wells novel. The movie was released in the USA on August 26, 1953. War of the Worlds tells the story of a Martian invasion of Earth. The Martians plan on bringing a new war to humankind. Rather than man fighting man, the war will be world against world. The aliens want the earth for themselves because of its rich natural resources. In the end, the aliens die from the germs that all humans are immune to.

The War of the Worlds won an Oscar in 1954 for best effects and special effects. The film also received the Hugo Award in 1953 for the Best Dramatic Presentation and in 1954; it won the Motion Picture Sound Editor's, Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing in a Feature Film.

Godzilla, also called Gojira, the Japanese sci-fi movie was released on November 3, 1954 in Japan. The film was directed by Ishiro Honda. In 1955, an edited version of Godzilla was released in the USA. It was the first creature feature of its kind and produced many other Godzilla films.

The original Godzilla had everything that horror fans loved from a fire-breathing monster, flaming cities, battling armies, terrified humans, and scientific mutations. The film presents a scene showing the testing of the atomic bomb which is how Godzilla became a rampaging mutated creature. Although Godzilla, the giant, fire-breathing creature is killed in the end, the characters in the film fear that weapons of mass destruction will bring about more mutant creatures.

The Day the Earth Stood Still was released in the USA on September 28, 1951. The film was a science fiction thriller that tells of the alien, Klaatu, and Gort, his robot. They come to earth after WWII as peacekeepers but are attacked on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Klaatu warns the human race that there will be dire consequences if their history of violence continues.

The Day the Earth Stood Still won a Golden Globe Award in 1952 for the Best Film Promoting International Understanding and was nominated for the Best Motion Picture Score. The movie also won the National Film Registry Award by the National Film Preservation Board in 1995.

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms was the top grossing film of 1953. The story was written by Ray Bradbury and Fred Freiberger. The plot centers on a Godzilla type beast that comes to life after a nuclear test in the Arctic. The beast goes on to bring death and destruction upon the citizens of New York and the East Coast.
This film was nominated for the Hugo Award for the Best Dramatic Presentation in 1953.

The Fly was originally released in Norway in 1958. It stars the great science fiction and horror actor of the 1950's, Vincent Price. The plot of the film revolves around a teleportation experiment that goes awry. The scientist, Andre Delambre decides to use himself as a human guinea pig and enters the transporter, not knowing there is a fly is also in the device. The scientist's atoms fuse with the fly's atoms and Delambre is mutated into a creature with the head and arm of a fly.
The Fly was nominated for the Hugo Award in 1959 for the Best Dramatic Presentation.

The Incredible Shrinking Man was a science fiction thriller released in April, 1957 in the USA. The main character, Scott Carey becomes exposed to a strange mist that covers his body while he is sailing. A few days later, he is sprayed by an insecticide while driving in his car. The combination of these two events causes Scott to begin shrinking. His doctor theorizes that the mist must have been radioactive particles and the addition of the insecticide caused a chemical reaction that caused Scott to shrink. There are no medical cures for his condition. As he gets smaller, Scott is attacked by the household cat and a spider.

The Incredible Shrinking Man won the Hugo Award in 1958 for the Best Dramatic Presentation.

The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman was released in the USA on May 19, 1958. The sci-fi film has become a cult classic through the years. The plot involves a woman who encounters aliens, becoming exposed to radiation. The radiation causes her to grow to fifty feet tall. She takes advantage of her height and picks up her cheating husband, walking away with him. The sheriff tries to stop her but his bullet misses and hits an electric transformer. The transformer falls, electrocuting Nancy, the 50 foot woman. She falls and crushes her husband.

The budget for this film was only $88,000 but it brought in $480,000.

It Came from Beneath the Sea was released by Columbia Pictures in July, 1955. This 50's sci-fi film revolves around a nuclear submarine cruising in the Pacific Ocean. The sub collides with a giant octopus but manages to port at Pearl Harbor. Two scientists determine that the octopus mutated into its giant size due to a nuclear bomb test in its habitat. Eventually, the mutant octopus makes its way to San Francisco, destroying the Golden Gate Bridge. The creature is eventually blown up by a torpedo.

The Blob, starring Steve McQueen was released in 1958 by an independent film company. The setting for the film was Downingtown, Pennsylvania where the innocent citizens are terrorized by a massive, gelatinous blob. As it turns out, the blog is an alien creature that envelops and eats people. The main character, Steve Andrews discovers that the blob is repelled by the cold. The creature is frozen by the army and dropped into the Arctic at the end of the movie.

The Blob was a huge hit for drive-in movie goers and also made Steve McQueen a star. The Blob would return fourteen years later to terrorize Los Angeles in Beware, the Blob.

The Mummy starred two of the most popular horror actors of the 1950's, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. The British film was released on December 16, 1959, in the USA by Universal Pictures. The plot involves a group of archaeologists who are looking for the tomb of an Egyptian princess in 1895. While searching for the tomb, the archeologist, Stephen Banning becomes catatonic after reading an ancient scroll. The storyline picks up three years later when Banning awakens from his catatonic state. He explains that when he read the scroll, an ancient, evil priest named Kharis was brought to life. The mummy of the priest wreaks havoc in Engerfield, England before drowning in a swamp.

These horror movies are a few of the best science fiction thrillers out of the hundreds that were produced in the 1950s.