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S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

Directed by Gene Fowler Jr.
USA 1958

 

"Shuddery things from beyond the stars, here to breed with human women!"

For one reason or another I never put this in the same class of films true '50's sci-fi' icons like This Island Earth or  The Brain That Wouldn't Die . It does, however, have a lot of the imperfect elements that I do enjoy from this era - such as corny overacting and and limited budget for special effects. I always try to reflect on why I enjoy this genre of cinema so much. It borders on being identified as the primordial soup of exploitation films, which probably has a grain of truth. Perhaps it comes down to the irony of simplicity vs. allure. In attempting to capture audience dollars films like this try, with great naiveté, to employ some silly and comical gimmicks. In the case of "I Married a Monster From Outer Space" it is in the title itself, as well as the limited onscreen appearances of the "monster" visage. 

 

The "aliens from Outer Space are slowly switching places with real humans" plot can make for great cinema with all the possible corollaries of our own unsupported fears and idiosyncratic bigotries (see "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" or many "Twilight Zone" episodes as the keystone examples). All-in-all, this is still another fun way to spend a late Friday night, eating pizza and envisioning yourself as a teenager in a 1950's drive-in. It's superior fare for the genre with some deeper themes broached if not fully fleshed-out.

 

Posters

Theatrical Release: October 1958

Reviews                                                                                                       More Reviews                                                                                       DVD Reviews

 

Comparison:

Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Imprint - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover

 

  

  

Reissued, on Blu-ray, without the slipcase in February 2021:

Coming to Blu-ray in a May 2023 double-feature from Shout! Factory:

Bonus Captures:

Distribution Paramount Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC Imprint - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:17:45         1:17:53.210 
Video 1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 7.38 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s 

1.78:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 22,614,166,427 bytes

Feature: 22,066,157,568 bytes

Video Bitrate: 33.87 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate:

Bitrate Blu-ray:

Audio English (Dolby Digital mono)

LPCM Audio English 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
Commentary:

Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps

Subtitles English, None English (SDH), None
Features

Release Information:
Studio: Paramount Home Video

Aspect Ratio:
Original aspect Ratio 1.78:1

Edition Details:

• None

DVD Release Date: September 14th, 2004

Double Lock Keep Case
Chapters: 12

Release Information:
Studio:
Imprint

 

1.78:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 22,614,166,427 bytes

Feature: 22,066,157,568 bytes

Video Bitrate: 33.87 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:

• NEW Audio commentary by film critics Barry Forshaw & Kim Newman
• Theatrical Trailer (1:52 in SD)
• Gallery (2:15)
Limited Edition slipcase on the first 1000 copies


Blu-ray Release Date:
June 5th, 2020
Transparent Blu-ray Case inside cardboard sleeve (see below)

Chapters 10

 

 

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Imprint Blu-ray (June 2020): Newcomer 'Imprint' out of Australia (the disc starts with a ViaVison logo) have transferred Gene Fowler Jr.'s 1958 I Married a Monster from Outer Space to Blu-ray. It doesn't make the leap over SD that their The War of the Worlds 1080P transfer did. Like the DVD it has plenty of marks and a few frame-specific damage instances (see below.) At around the 39-minute mark - for about 60 seconds, the image looks decidedly worse (see samples below.) Generally, the contrast improves in the higher resolution and it shows more depth than the SD. Bottom like is that the 1.78:1 HD quality is a step-up from the DVD, but it's not a full film-level restoration which would make a far bigger improvement. It's on a single-layered disc with a high bitrate (over 4X that of the DVD.) I appreciated my viewing but there were inconsistencies - still the best I have seen it look for my home theatre to-date.

NOTE: We have added 68 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Imprint use a linear PCM dual-mono track (16-bit) in the original English language. It is another advancement in the film's audio mostly notable in the uncredited score using stock music and compositions from Daniele Amfitheatrof (The Last Hunt, (I'll Be Seeing You, Edge of Eternity, The Lost Moment, The Desperate Hours, Human Desire, Letter From An Unknown Woman), Hugo Friedhofer (Broken Arrow, Between Heaven and Hell, Man in the Attic, Ace in the Hole, Body and Soul, Gilda, The Bishop's Wife), Leith Stevens (Great Day in the Morning, The Gun Runners, Syncopation, World Without End, The Night of the Grizzly, 20 Million Miles to Earth, The Garment Jungle), Franz Waxman (Untamed, Rebecca, Dark Passage, Bride of Frankenstein, Rear Window, Sunset Boulevard) and Victor Young (I Walk Alone, Strategic Air Command, The Sun Shines Bright, The Accused, Johnny Guitar, China Gate etc.) This lossless rendering definitely adds to the film experience. Imprint offer optional English (SDH) subtitles (see sample below) on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

Aside from an SD trailer and image gallery the Imprint Blu-ray has a new audio commentary by film critics Barry Forshaw and Kim Newman who continue their enthusiasm from their The War of the Worlds pairing, bouncing off each other delving into a variety of topics in this genre and specifically for I Married a Monster from Outer Space - resemblance to The Outer Limits, homosexual subtexts, quite a bit on Tom Tryon, the extravagant title and inventive opening credit sequence, Gene Fowler Jr., the director's I Was a Teenage Werewolf and much more. It's wonderful. It handily beats the DVD that was bare-bones.  

Okay, so not the same raves as for Imprint's The War of the Worlds but still a bump ahead in a/v and the new commentary gives it essential value for fans of the 'Drive-In Monster flics'.  I Married a Monster from Outer Space with the Slipcase is limited to 1,000 copies on Blu-ray. A small, but devout, niche, will have to pick up this gem for their collections.

Gary Tooze

 


Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC

 

Imprint - Region FREE - Blu-ray


CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

1) Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC  TOP

2) Imprint - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


1) Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC  TOP

2) Imprint - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


1) Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC  TOP

2) Imprint - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


1) Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC  TOP

2) Imprint - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


1) Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC  TOP

2) Imprint - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


1) Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC  TOP

2) Imprint - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 


1) Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC  TOP

2) Imprint - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

Damage

 

(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

 

Drop in Quality (at 39-40 minutes)

(CLICK TO ENLARGE)


 

More full resolution (1920 X 1080) Blu-ray Captures for DVDBeaver Patreon Supporters HERE

 

 

 
Box Cover

 

  

  

Reissued, on Blu-ray, without the slipcase in February 2021:

Coming to Blu-ray in a May 2023 double-feature from Shout! Factory:

Bonus Captures:

Distribution Paramount Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC Imprint - Region FREE - Blu-ray


 


 

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