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Awix (3310 KP) rated Unearthly Stranger (1964) in Movies

Nov 9, 2018

Unearthly Stranger (1964)

1964 | Romance, Sci-Fi

5.0

(2 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Slightly bonkers British sci-fi B-movie isn't quite as good as some people would have you believe, but scores heavily for sheer weirdness, ingenuity, and the cult credentials of its cast. A project to achieve spaceship-free space-travel by unlocking the hidden powers of the human brain is being hampered by the fact that anyone who makes a breakthrough turns up dead with their brain exploded from the inside - could there possibly be foul play involved? Top boffins Davidson and Lancaster think so, but their investigations lead them to Davidson's beautiful new wife, who is a whizz in the kitchen but has no pulse, never blinks, and scares off small children at a hundred paces...

Dingbat attempt at knocking off Quatermass and Village of the Damned; may be a very distant ancestor of films like Under the Skin, but not the kind they talk about. Once you get past all the silliness, which is actually delivered with impressive conviction ('May I come to your house and anaesthetise your wife, so we can see if she is real or an illusion?'), there are a few reasonably eerie moments and curious insights into 60s gender politics - the viewpoint throughout is that of middle-aged white guys, with the women all wives or secretaries. The film is too daft for its sexist overtones to be really offensive. By no means a great movie but fun to watch if you're in the right mood.