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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.
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Posters
Theatrical Release: October 1958
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
Comparison:
Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Imprint - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Box Cover |
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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: |
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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-rayDisc Size: 22,614,166,427 bytesFeature: 22,066,157,568 bytes Video Bitrate: 3 3.87 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video |
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate: |
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Bitrate Blu-ray: |
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Audio | English (Dolby Digital mono) |
LPCM Audio English
1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps |
Subtitles | English, None | English (SDH), None |
Features |
Release Information:
Edition Details: • None |
Release Information: Studio: Imprint
1. 78:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 22,614,166,427 bytesFeature: 22,066,157,568 bytes Video Bitrate: 3 3.87 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Edition Details:
• NEW Audio commentary by film critics Barry Forshaw & Kim Newman
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' |
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 TOP2) Imprint - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
1) Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC TOP2) Imprint - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
1) Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC TOP2) Imprint - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
1) Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC TOP2) Imprint - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
More full resolution (1920 X 1080) Blu-ray Captures for DVDBeaver Patreon Supporters HERE
Box Cover |
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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 |
Search DVDBeaver |
S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |