This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

A curious film. It starts off very much as a Quatermass-style mysterious-alien-object-lands-on-Earth science fiction tale, with a trio of likeable scientists trying to get on with their job of working out exactly what the strange meteorite is whilst being both helped and hindered by the military. Then, after about half an hour, the film suddenly does a volte-face and turns itself into a detective yarn as Scotland Yard's finest attempt to unravel the mysterious abductions of numerous young women. Along the way there's also a comedy interlude where the parents of one of the missing girls are interviewed by the investigators, an extended scene which feels somewhat out of place and serves to slightly undermine the drama of the whole piece.In spite of straddling different genres the overall narrative does hang together (just) and it is, of course, an alien visitor that is abducting the women. The purpose behind this has some logic but the methodology is rather ludicrous. And that's the main problem with this film: the script. For all its good intentions and, it has to be said, some bold thinking, it's very hit-and-miss with some ideas working well and catching the viewer off-guard, and other ideas so banal that they leave the viewer wondering how they could possibly have ever got off the drawing board.Usually a film based on such shaky foundations fails in most other respects too but this is a rare exception when everyone else helps pull it out of the mire: the direction (by John Gilling) is good, the lighting very considered, achieving a wonderfully gloomy atmosphere to key scenes, and the special effects, though cheap, are generally competent with glimpses of the visitor wisely kept indistinct for the most part. Best of all, the film boasts a stellar cast, drawing on the cream of British character actors of the day for both the major parts and the minor ones. True, the cast is headed by a token American, as was so often the case in order to help sell the film to overseas markets, but when the American happens to be the wonderful John Saxon that's not such a bad thing. And I'm pleased to report that his role doesn't suffer from the usual stereotypical failings of a dashing American hero being written in a manner of how British writers think a dashing American hero would speak and behave. It is Saxon's character Dr Costain who is initially involved in the recovery of investigation of the alien sphere who then goes on to advise the police investigation, thus being the constant through the film's duration. Maurice Denham gives one of his trademark authoritative performances as Costain's senior colleague, and Alfred Burke, just before his memorable ten-year stint playing Frank Marker in TV's Public Eye, excels as the dour but determined police superintendent. For me, the highlight was a scene where Burke's Superintendent Hartley questions a rather fey, effete character richly brought to life by Aubrey Morris, just for a glimpse of two great actors at the top of their game playing off one another superbly.In conclusion, this is a very ropey film that still has much to commend it, and is well worth a look. However, as a word of warning, when you have that look please make sure you avoid the ghastly colourised version. Unlike many purists I am not actually against the notion of adding colour to black and white films per se, but this is a film that carefully uses its monochrome medium to maximum advantage, so it is an odd choice to undergo such a process. Furthermore, the colouring job is surely the very worst I have seen applied to a film with everything painted in very flat, unnatural hues and some things, such as Alfred Burke's hair and jacket, not even coloured at all. So if this is the version that comes your way, do yourself a big favour and turn down the colour on your TV!

*Spoiler/plot- Night Caller from Outer Space (Blood Beast from Outer Space), 1965. A strange orb from space lands on Earth in the UK and the Govt takes charge. The orb seems to have special properties that coincides with the disappearance of young women from the area.*Special Stars- John Saxon, Patricia Haines.*Theme- War is dangerous for women and other living things.*Trivia/location/goofs- B & W, British. Made at Shepperton Studios in England.*Emotion- This film was interesting and had such suspenseful dramatic pacing that kept me fully involved in the script's plot. I enjoyed the weaving of the plot with the disappearing women idea. The end of the film is done very well and plausible. It was not preachy or insulting of the viewer's aesthetics. I give this film high makes and would recommend it to be seen, even though the film theme is very common in the film's of this Cold War era.

The Night Caller starts at 'Falsley Park, Government Radio & Electronic Research Establishment' where two scientists named Dr. Morley (Maurice Denham) & an American named Dr. Jack Costin (John Saxon) plus their assistant Ann Barlow (Patricia Haines) have detected an unidentified object in space heading for London at 10,000 mph. They assume that it is a meteorite but soon work out that this object is being guided down & has landed somewhere nearby, cue opening credits over Big Ben & the Houses of Parliment just to further prove that we are in fact in London! In no time whatsoever Doctors Costin & Morley are at the calculated crash site, however the army have beaten them to it. But Costin & Morley aren't going to let a little thing like the army stop them so after waving their ID's all over the place they're both giving out orders like they own the place. They speak to the Major (John Carson) in charge & establish the whereabouts of the object. Upon arrival they find a white sphere that appears to be slightly larger than a football, they load it into a jeep & head back to Falsley Park to examine it. Costin & Morley quickly discover that the sphere is alien to our planet & they theorise that it might be a transmitter for sending & receiving matter. Soon after Morley is killed while conducting an experiment on his own & the sphere is stolen, the only clue Costin has is a description by Ann who claims she was attacked by something with a claw for a hand & that 21 girls in under 3 weeks have disappeared & a man fitting the description Ann & some soldiers gave was seen by each girls house shortly before they went missing. Costin visits Scotland Yard & talks to Super Intendant Hartley (Alfred Burke) who is heading the investigation, together they quickly learn that the common factor between the missing girls is a magazine called 'Bikini Girls' which carried an advert to which they all replied. As more girls go missing Costin is convinced that it is connected to the sphere & the mysterious man with the claw, but how exactly...?Directed by John Gilling I thought The Night Caller was an OK Sci-Fi horror that's a decent enough way to spend 80 odd minutes. The script by Jim O'Connolly based on the novel 'The Night Callers' by Frank Crisp is not quite as predictable as I expected without the cliché of any monsters hiding out in nearby woods occasionally popping up to kill the odd disposable character & is basically split into two half's. The first half of The Night Caller is standard 60's Sci-Fi with the alien object falling form the sky, the army & scientist characters at odds with each other because the scientists see it as a possible way to learn & want to examine it while the army see it as a possible threat & want to destroy it & the monster which is only shown by it's rubbery claw to start with. But for the second half of it's running time The Night Caller switches to police thriller as the investigation into the missing girls come to the fore & the film concentrates on this aspect. Like a lot of other Sci-Fi from this period The Night Caller tries to end on a message as it asks who are the real aggressors & what are we doing to our world... It moves along at a reasonable pace & never becomes boring & I thought the dialogue wasn't quite as stiff & wooden as in most 50's/60's Sci-Fi films. It does seem a little strange that a highly intelligent being from another world capable of space flight & the transmitting of matter has to take an ad out in the back of a magazine called Bikini Girls to attract girls though! The Night Caller is a fairly modest effort & doesn't try to do too much, there is only one monster so don't expect a entire invasion & it's mostly only shown by it's claw hand while when it's face is eventually revealed it looks just like an ordinary man with a few lines on one side of his face. The special effects are kept to an absolute minimum as well, there are just a couple of optical effects throughout the entire film without a flying saucer in sight. There is no blood or gore & only two people die as our alien is revealed to be mostly peaceful at the end & basically means us no harm. The acting wasn't as bad as I had expected either but at the same time it ain't great & Saxon gives a very one dimensional performance. Technically the film is fine with the surprisingly nice sharp free flowing black & white photography being better than I expected, I mean I've seen a lot worse in films such as this. Overall I liked The Night Caller as far as 60' Sci-Fi goes, it didn't knock my socks off or change my life but it's an entertaining way to pass 80 odd minutes. Worth a watch especially if your a fan of this sort of thing.

"The Night Caller (from outer space)" is another clever British Sci-Fi gem from the sixties that incomprehensibly got neglected over the years. What are you waiting for, horror fans? This puppy is up for an urgent re-discovery as it is a rather intelligent, atmospheric and involving film. The premise is silly, sure, and can be summarized in one phrase: Medra is an alien from Jupiter's 3rd moon, capable of transporting matter through space, and he comes to earth to abduct young girls in order to repopulate his planet. I realize the plot sounds like a textbook example of cheap and cheesy 60's trash, but it really is worth watching! The script is filled with minor but ingenious little aspects and there's this constant haze of mysteriousness that keeps you fascinated at all times. The movie opens with three scientists (Denham, Saxon and Patricia Haines) investigating a strange alien cocoon that landed on the earth but it abruptly turns into an action-packed detective story in which cool cop-characters (like Stanley Meadows) and the remaining scientists try to solve the disappearing of over twenty girls, unquestionably linked to the arrival of the outer space visitor... The editing is a little rough at times, but the dialogues are wit and imaginative. There's some nice B-movie flavored acting as well, especially coming from the great John Saxon. Especially his 60's and 70's movies are terrific since it looks like he was still figuring out himself which type of roles fit him best.