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Having caught most of horror legend Corman’s more respectable early genre efforts – THE UNDEAD (1957), A BUCKET OF BLOOD (1959) and THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1960) – I had been aching to check this one out being, by all accounts, the most elusive of the bunch. Having now watched the film on the very same day I acquired it says a lot about my love of fantasy films – when many a renowned mainstream (and, for all intents and purposes, desirable) title still languishes in my collection and which, sometimes, I’ve owned for a good many years already...

Anyway, going back to that opening statement about Corman’s pre-color/Edgar Allan Poe output, NOT OF THE THIS EARTH emerges to be fully deserving of its considerable reputation; indeed, I’d say it’s probably the most satisfying of the four films mentioned above: the others had a tongue-in-cheek, even campy approach – present here only in some amusingly dated jive talk from the youngsters and a goofy mushroom-like floating object used at one point to dispatch a prominent character – whereas this is quite straightforward, and as stark and unrelenting as they come! Besides, the typical alien invasion theme here is ingeniously augmented by the topical concern of paranoia found in Charles B. Griffith and Mark Hanna’s intelligent script, via its allusions to Nuclear War (the fictional world from which the alien emanates, Davana, is succumbing to interplanetary war a' la THIS ISLAND EARTH [1955]’s Metaluna) and The Red Menace (hypnotized by the extraterrestrial creature, the human victims’ subsequent devotion to his cause is comparable to the emotionless doppelgangers from INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS [1956]); apart from this, the alien’s modus operandi – draining Earthlings of their blood – presents the film with a nice twist on the vampire myth! Incidentally, he uses the closet of his bedroom as a teleportation/communication machine between the two worlds, requires to wear sunglasses at all times (because one look into his creepy blank eyes can kill), but is himself vulnerable to loud noises (which proves to be his undoing in the climactic chase). Eventually, a second (female) visitor from outer-space arrives on the scene – but dies shortly thereafter, having unwittingly received a transfusion of infected blood! The film concludes, then, on a satisfactorily ironic note.

Despite the obviously modest budget at hand, the director has assembled a more than adequate cast to fill the main roles: Paul Birch is impressive and memorable as the ‘unearthly stranger’; Beverly Garland makes for one of the most engaging heroines in this type of film; Jonathan Haze’s character as Birch’s lackey is miles removed from his signature role of the geeky florist in THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS; Corman stalwart and cult favorite Dick Miller has a delightful bit as a hip but ill-fated vacuum-cleaner salesman. By the way, the atmospheric cinematography (evident even in the poor-quality 16mm print I watched) is by John Mescall – who, years before, had been responsible for nothing less than BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935)! Finally, it’s worth noting that NOT OF THIS EARTH was twice remade to much lesser effect – first in 1988 and again in 1995; curiously enough, on both of these, Corman himself would serve as executive producer!

I first saw this film in 1959 as a 7 year old while on holiday in Ireland. I remember feeling very scared watching it. It was part of a double bill with "The Attack of the Crab Monsters", another equally scary film for a child of such tender years. Both were rated "X certificate" by the UK censor.

The reason for my review is that I've just watched a doc on TV which deals with censorship in Ireland from 1923 to 1980 and one of the films discussed was "Casablanca", which in my opinion is the greatest film ever made. Though released in 1942, it was not shown until 1945. In those days, Ireland only had one certification, and any film that had content that was deemed "offensive", had to be cut, or was denied a certificate. The offending bit in this case was the portrayal of the Germans, quite rightly, as the villains.

At that time, they were treading a path of strict neutrality and they did not want to show the film in case it led to an anti-German backlash. To give some idea of how rigidly they stuck to this policy, when Hitler committed suicide, the then Irish Prime Minister, Eamonn De Valera, signed the book of condolence at the Germany Embassy in Dublin after Hitler's death

But I digress. Thinking about Irish censorship compared to the UK version and remembering how scared I was watching this X cert double bill, I wonder how scary the uncensored version must have been?

In case anyone is unaware, the film is considered a "Cold War allegory" with the invaders from Davanna representing an attempt by the Russians to take over the world.

What a great sci-fi gem from director Roger Corman! A man wearing dark glasses goes to a doctor and asks for a blood transfusion. From that point on, suspense builds as we go with Beverly Garland as she assumes the job of a live-in nurse to this "strange" man with the glasses. The man is no man at all, rather an alien presence studying earth and its inhabitants to see if his species can live on earth with human blood as a nourishing factor. The alien man is frightening in manner, abilities, and his coldness to seemingly everything. Paul Birch does an outstanding job playing Mr. Johnson. Garland is superb as the heroine and Jonathan Haze does a fine job as another curious household servant. Corman builds a great deal of suspense from a pretty good script. Highly recommended!

Now here's a fantastic hidden gem from the almighty B-movie emperor Roger Corman! Arguably even his finest directorial accomplishment of the 1950's, unless of course you fancy laughably inept monster movies like "Attack of the Crab Monsters" or "Creature from the Haunted Sea". "Not of this Earth" is an exceptionally atmospheric and solidly scripted Sci-Fi tale, with remarkably strong acting performances and even a handful of visuals and sequences that are genuinely shocking considering the time it was made. The eerily charismatic Paul Birch depicts an atypical alien ambassador from the planet Davana,on an attempted mission to rescue the population that is slowing dying following the results of a devastating nuclear war. He names himself Mr. Johnson and follows a 6-step program in order to fulfill his mission, which includes daily blood transfusions and selecting earthly specimens (like street bums and random Asian guys) to teleport across space through a closet door in his house. He hired the lovely Beverly Garland as a private nurse and also employs a lowlife thug as his servant/chauffeur. Johnson's deadliest weapons are hidden behind a thick pair of sunglasses and near the climax he suddenly also controls some kind of flying and bloodsucking jellyfish! Admittedly this all sounds like a bunch of campy nonsense, and it actually is, but it's the most entertaining type of campy nonsense imaginable! Traditionally these good old-fashioned fifties Sci-Fi flicks don't feature any redundant sequences or unnecessary sub plots, only straightforward action and relevant dialogs! Paul Birch and Beverly Garland are terrific in the lead roles, but also the supportive cast deserves some praise. Notably Corman's loyal buddy Dick Miller is memorable as a sly door-to-door salesman of vacuum cleaners. Roger Corman also produced a sleazy 80's update of his own gem in which contemporary porn star Traci Lords reprises the role of Beverly Garland. The plots are largely similar, but the 1988 version is more difficult to follow since the lead actress is parading around naked the entire time. Equally good fun, but go for the 50's original for sheer Sci-Fi nostalgia.

Not of This Earth (1957) is a fast-paced, entertaining low-budget sci-fi movie with a somewhat dark atmosphere.

The film does seem to raise some interesting ideas. For instance, does a creature not deserve our sympathy just because it is unable show sympathy itself? If it doesn't, what does that say about us? Should we only have sympathy or empathy for beings that can reciprocate?

Watch, enjoy and be prepared to embark on an "adventure into the dimension of the impossible."

Here's a 50's sci-fi/horror from Roger Corman. This was initially released as the b-feature in a double bill along with Corman's Attack of the Crab Monsters. Like so many from the period, it has humanoid aliens infiltrating society - it turns out they need our blood in order to save their dying civilisation. You know...the usual script. 50's scream queen Beverly Garland stars in this one and we also have Dick Miller pitch up in a cameo as the world's first beatnik vacuum salesman before becoming alien cannon fodder. Look out too for the appearance of a ridiculous jellyfish/lamp shade flying alien, who pitches up and attacks. All-in-all, worth a watch for 50's fans.

I gave this a 7, mainly because it was my favorite movie at seven years old. I was a fifties movie nut and we lived a couple blocks away from two theatres in my small Wisconsin hometown. My dad was gone most of the week away in Madison and I guess I would hound my mom to let me go to movies all the time, probably starting around six. She would relent but only if I would be home by nine. My friends and I liked to check out all the cool movie posters in front and in the nooks of the entrance ways of the theatres. We would spend hours spinning stories about the sci fi and horror and westerns and war movies especially but all really. It's just that those were the majority of flicks playing there. I was the only one who invariably got to check out the veracity of our storytelling. Oh, and double features were the name of the game at both the Time and The Palace. One standout duo of posters for us was NOTE and Attack of the Crab Monsters. Now most times I would miss much of the B feature (second, that is), creating obsessions for life. This time I just rebelled and stayed for both, probably getting a good spanking that Friday night when my dad got home from Madison. Man was it worth it. These two flicks are still personal favorites and I have no reservations recommending them if you can put aside modern ironic cynicism and try to imagine what a kid living in the 1950's would have experienced. Unless you are like me, an aging dreamer and can still separate yourself from this, let's say, less than scintillating time, although I'm still having fun, that may be pretty hard to do. In that case think of NOTE as a kind of surreal day=mare or a minimalist cinema haiku. I'm rambling and not being direct but I hate plot spoiling and this one is a humdinger. Plus it's got the coolest Beverly Garland performance and she was the underrated queen of fifties B cinema. And Jonathan Haze is hys-ter-ical!!! Paul Birch is chilling, and for some reason, I must have had friends who fenagled their way to this one because they nicknamed the movie white eyes and I think that was pretty clever and apt of us. Succinct. The legendary Paul Blaisdell, while lambasted by some, once again, if you can suspend a little disbelief and just embrace it as an alien created instant improv monster (just add water, like one astronaut said to the other holding the powdered water packet), it is ******* awesome. Put your 50's flashback glasses on and you will enjoy. Roger had nothing to be ashamed of, even if Paul Birch was replaced by a noticeable substitute in some scenes. Now where's the biopic about the making of this oddly obscure gem? The worst part of moving when I was eight was losing those two theatres down the street, at least, second worst, after all my many friends in that small Wisconsin town.

Classic and strange piece of imaginative science-fiction with primitive but enjoyable effects . An alien agent called Paul Johnson (Paul Birch) from the distant planet Davana is sent to Earth via a high-tech matter transporter. Paul apparently suffers from a rare condition and must have constant blood transfusions . Then he enters the hospital where he is greeted by Nurse Nadine Storey (Beverly Garland). There he has come for a transfusion of blood. Later on , he terrorizes Southern California in an attempt to acquire blood for his dying race, butthings go wrong , as the result of a devastating war. Somewhere in this world stalks a thing that is...

Acceptable Scifi movie about an alien invasion in which a nasty extraterrestrial shows up at a peaceable location in order to save his dying planet , as he needs major blood donations from unsuspected Earthlings ; as he results to be a vampire but of the space alien with-telepathic-powers variety who has a particular purpose for coming to Earth . It displays thrills , intricate plot , suspense , traditional special effects and strange aliens . This classic and rare Sci-Fi is considered to be the first serious film about interplanetary escapades .Mediocre interpretation by an average cast. Being starred by little known actors It stars the secondary actor , Paul Birch , Beverly Garland , Corman's regular and Morgan Jones . Furthermore, ordinary actors of the Corman factory as Dick Miller and Jonathan Haze . Rare musical score by Ronald Stein and evocative cinematography by John Mescall , both of whom are habitual of Roger Corman. It was shown in US drive-in on a double bill with other terror or Sci-Fi films . It had various remakes , such as : ¨Not of this Earth¨ 1988 by Jim Wynorski with the porn star Tracy Lords in her character as a nurse , Ace Mask , Michael Delano , Monique Gabrielle . And ¨Not of This Earth¨1996 by Terence Winkless with Michael York , Parker Stevenson , Elizabeth Barondes , Richard Belzer , this is Corman remake of his own 1957 cheapie , it's both sexy and camp . Although these versions not a match for the original rendition .

.This genuine and decently made science fiction was produced in low budget and professionally directed by Roger Corman. He's a prolific craftsman who made all kinds of genres as Sci-fi , exploitation, drama , gangster movie , monster movie , adventure and many others. After his period realizing poverty-budget horror movies as ¨Swamp woman, The beast with a million of eyes, Attack of the crab monsters , Undead¨, and this ¨Not of This Earth¨(1957) then came the cycle of tales of terror based on Poe as ¨ House of Usher, Pit and pendulum, The raven , Tales of terror, The masque of the red death ¨ , and Corman made this undisputed masterpiece , X , that won the Golden Asteroid in the Trieste Festival of Science Fiction Films in 1963. Rating : Acceptable and passable , definitively wholesome watching , Corman's achievement to have bent the Sci-Fi genre with splendid results . Rating : 6/10 , being an agreeable Science Fiction movie . Essential and indispensable watching for SciFi buffs . Well worth seeing.

Ever since I received my New York State driver's licence my weight began to increase. To this moment I've always had a pot belly. I would do things to conceal my protrusion. Wear a blazer or use one of those waist belts to hide my bulge. Here's movie where an man/alien is constantly wearing sun glasses to conceal the horror behind the darkened lenses. Another classic Sci-fi /Horror genre from the Fabulous Fifties. Roger Corman does it again by drawing curiosity into his audiences imagination. Our story begins with a twisted tale of a Bespectacled rap-around sun glassed Paul Birch as the Alien Mr. Johnson. Johnson has a problem Iron poor blood. How poor? VERY POOR!! Your imagination runs wild as you see the pupil less eyed Mr. Johnson sitting in his easy chair telepathically communicating to his superior on the wall. So many questions hit your mind and the opening credits didn't even appear on the TV. Off to the Doctor's office for some blood and company. Enter the young blonde and vivacious Beverly Garland as Nadine the inquiring Nurse. Johnson is evasive in his explanation of hemoglobin issues. The Nurse passes the buck to her employer Dr. Rochelle played by William Roerick. Johnson uses mind control to have the Doctor fill his every need discreetly. Nurse Nadine has her trepidation about working exclusively for Mr. Johnson at any price. Johnson minus his pupils(EYES), takes it upon himself to drive around town disobeying traffic rules mainly parking Philadelphia style (any direction). Nurse Nadine's boyfriend Harry (Morgan Jones) who happens to be a cop was ready to write out a summons or two to the ailing Mr. Alien but Nurse Nadine comes to his rescue and tells him,"To put the book away, "Mr. Johnson is a sick man." Off to the mansion enter the chauffeur Jeremy (Jonathan Haze)who at first appears uncomfortable in his uniform but questions his bosses strange habits. Nurse Nadine gets comfortable in her new dwelling taking a dip in the pool but notices smoke coming from the house chimney on a 90 degree day. Her curiosity draws her to the basement furnace. Little does she know that Johnson just cremated a Vacuum salesman moments earlier. Speaking of vacuum salesmen, (Dick Miller) does a fine job of acting. Loses the sale and his life but Johnson keeps the vacuum. Throughout this movie Johnson kills his victims and takes their blood. One more tidbit is the umbrella monster that flies through the neighborhood and lands on the poor Doctor. The rest is up to you. In my estimation Paul Birch gave a strong performance in his only leading role. Beverly Garland shows how she landed parts in Hollywood by flaunting her looks. Just a classic from the vault of 50's Horror schlock films.

One of Corman's most unusual and entertaining features from the 50s. Rubber monsters are totally extraneous to the menace of (the excellent) Paul Birch as the sunglass-wearing alien from Davana who puts a scare in sexy nurse Beverly Garland! Bev hams it up in a slick one-piece for John Haze's amusement and Dick Miller drops by in an excellent bit as a VERY annoying vacuum salesman. The audience mightn't have minded when he died, and here is one of the earliest examples of Corman's very influential use of comedy/horror. Very good script was adapted almost word for word in some scenes for the 80s version -- a tribute to Griffith's skill as a writer of such glib dialogue. A bit more effective production would have helped, but we all know how Corman likes to pinch a penny.

This is a truly great, almost unknown B-movie -- why doesn't someone get their hands on a print and put it out on DVD and video again? I had to go to the best video store in San Francisco to find it anywhere in the whole bay area. I don't think it's currently in circulation, and it's very hard to find a copy. Thus, not many people know about the original version of this great flick (which features vampire blood fetishism in the context of alien invaders! I mean, how could you go wrong?). The remake was good, but not as good as the original. I think Allied distributed this for Corman, so there should be prints floating around somewhere, so let's hope a nice one pops up on DVD soon.

Paul Birch shows up wearing big sunglasses and speaking in a monotone. He needs daily injections of blood, so he hypnotizes doctor F.W. Roerick, who assigns nurse Beverly Garland to lie besides a pool in a skimpy bathing suit, put up with the smutty comments of beatnik crook Jonathan Haze, and inject blood into Birch. For some reason she grows suspicious and it gradually dawns on her -- although almost immediately on the audience -- that Birch is an alien from a nuclear-war-devastated planet who want our blood.

Yes, it's Space Vampires From Somewhere Else, and this early Roger Corman flick proceeds at an excruciatingly slow pace, despite its 64-minute length. Apparently Birch got into a fight with Corman over the contact lenses he had to wear and the stupid lines he had to say, walked off and was replaced by someone else. It doesn't seem obvious in the movie.

You have to hand it to Roger Corman, he could not only stretch a dollar but our imaginations as well. In this one he put character actor Paul Birch in a black suit, stark white contact lenses and sunglasses. He's playing a blind man, right? Wrong! He's playing a space alien and if you look at his pupil-less eyes your brain burns right in your skull (could this be where David Cronenberg got the idea for SCANNERS?). Anyway, Birch has come to our world looking for blood. His own planet is worn out due to years of atomic war and only the uncontaminated blood of Earth people can save what is left of his race. Birch's superior intellect has made him extremely arrogant (he refers to Earthlings as "subhuman") yet his unfamiliarity with the simplest things on this world continually attracts attention to himself. He makes no attempt to cover his many killings, leaving bodies where they can easily be discovered. His contempt for Earth and its people mirrors that of THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD who brutally knocked Dr. Carrington aside when he dared to compare his feeble Earth brain to that of the alien. Also in the cast are Beverly Garland as the nurse who knows her patient is unusual but does not realise how much. Jonathan Haze as the former petty crook who is his chauffeur (Haze's last line is a classic!). Morgan Jones, the former "Green Hornet" in the 1940 Universal serial, is the cop in love with Garland who labels Birch "a creep"; and Dick Miller is a vacuum cleaner salesman who deserves some sort of award for using the word "purchase" the most times in a single sentence. Oh yes, there is a monster too, sort of. A briefly seen what-is-it designed by Paul Blaisdell that looks like an inverted umbrella. It kills the one person on Earth who knows who and what Birch really is and then (apparently) dies. Talk about thrifty, that isn't blood at the end of that scene, the actor who appears to have his head crushed by the monster just had a mouth full of grape juice and spit it out at the right moment. Roger has remade this film twice (what, will he keep doing it until he gets it right?) but the original is still the most fun.

An alien civilisation dying of a radiation-induced, blood-destroying disease sends a vampiric agent with lethal, glowing eyes to Earth to determine if our blood could be harvested as a fixative. The film is one of Roger Corman's better sci-fi cheapies, with a creepy vibe, reasonable script, imaginative (if bargain-basement) special effects, and pretty good acting from the director's regulars (including Paul Birch, Beverly Garland, Jonathan Haze, Dick Miller). The story really doesn't make much sense and there is little explanation of the alien blood-sucker's ability to burn out victim's brains at a glance, communicate telepathically, or hypnotise people into doing his will (nor is it explained why he doesn't do the latter more often). There is also an unexpected bonus monster (courtesy of Paul Blaisdell), when Johnson (Birch) unfurls some kind of flying, killer, umbrella-creature that bloodily extirpates an interfering doctor. Birch does a good job playing the stiff and stilted alien and there is an amusing sequence in which a smarmy vacuum cleaner salesman (Miller) encounters a sucker of another sort. All in all, a fun film from the master of frugal shocks with an unusually subtle title, considering it's a 'vampires-from-outer-space' movie.

Just got done watching NOT OF THIS EARTH (1957) and while I liked the story, the film suffers from extremely poor lighting, even for outdoor scenes you can't make out what's going on or who's walking up to the door, or the running scene towards the end with Mr. Johnson, I clearly can't tell what's happening. It's too dark on the screen.

I wonder if Ed Wood's films are like this? I love these older sci-fi cheap B movies, but if you can't see a lot of the action...what's the point? Yet I did sit through the whole thing because I enjoy the simplicity of these older, low budget mystery/sci-fi movies from a different era.

On a brighter note, no pun intended, I really enjoyed Paul Birch as the alien Mr. Johnson, Beverly Garland as the nurse Nadine Storey and everybody else in the film. It may have been cheap and dated, but it was fun. None of the players in this movie have I seen anywhere else.

This is my first viewing of this movie but about 25 years prior I saw a remake from 1988 practically following the same script as the original only updated to fit modern times back then. With Roger Corman producing this time as he was director for the 1957 version. I also understand there is a third film, second remake from 1995 which I look forward to.

So to cap it off, great story, terrible lighting and cinematography, so that leaves me giving this film 5 STARS, but still a delightful little film. GREAT FOR LATE NIGHT VIEWING, after 12 midnight viewing as well.

Not of This Earth is like a sci-fi throwback party. It's got that cool vintage vibe with its classic sci-fi look and feel, fishing line special effects included.

This is classic vintage B movie sci fi.

Paul Birch rocks the mysterious alien role with his robot presentation. He is quite awesome as he glides through the picture.

The whole cast adds to the fun.

Sure, the story's a bit on the familiar side, and sometimes it takes its sweet time , but it's a relaxed watch for sci-fi fans. If you're into the old-school charm with a sprinkle of today, give it a go but maybe have a strong coffee to keep you awake :)

An alien vampire, with blank eyes, who usually wears sun glasses and business suit, (shades of Carpenter's They Live) needs blood injections to stay alive and send some lower class specimens of earth life to his home planet via his matter transformation machine.

Oh it's all great fun with a Corman who's who cast that includes the future star of Little Shop of Horror Jonathan Haze, the future star of Bucket of Blood, Dick Miller, the future ex girlfriend of Corman Beverly Garland, and Paul Birch as the dapper alien. The special effects are by the reliable Paul Blaisdell.

The film was originally co-billed with Attack of the Crab Monsters.

Campy, fun from start to finish.

An alien from another world, who goes by the name of "Paul Johnson" (Paul Birch) has come to Earth because his race needs blood. But prior to invading Earth and subjugating the human race, the aliens need more data from him on whether human blood can sustain them and for how long. His mission then is to stay alive long enough to collect this information and in order to do that he needs blood as well. After acquiring some from a nearby clinic, he hires a nurse named "Nadine Storey" (Beverly Garland) to administer blood to him on a daily basis and to keep him healthy for as much time as possible. In the meantime, he continues to kill people and send their blood through a portal to his home world of "Devana". At any rate, rather than divulging what happens next I will stop right here. However, I think it's only fair to say that this film is definitely a bit dated. Further, the film quality wasn't good and neither was the dialogue for the most part. Likewise, other than Beverly Garland, none of the actors really stood out in my opinion. Even so, I still enjoyed this movie and I think most people who are able to take films of this nature and from this time period into account will be able to do so as well.