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Dean Jagger, Leo McKern, William Lucas, & others.
1956 British sci-fi monster film set in Scotland recently aired on the American Movie Classics (AMC) channel. This is one of the notorious "Hammer Productions" made in the era of good spooky, eerie, monster movies.

The film opens with a military training exercise where military troops are learning to detect, find, and mark radioactive "targets". (Anyone remember the cold war?) The sample used in their training is "harmless" *cough*. Well during the final drill the officers become frustrated when the last recruit not only fails to find the hidden sample but seems to be tracking something else instead that is even more radioactive. (If monster films have taught us anything it is to never be the last one to do something. That and to announce you only have a few days before retirement.) Anyway, a fissure opens in the ground with a bizarre explosion leaving the recruit with extensive burns that turn out to be radiation in nature.

Next the elderly scientist hero is introduced who of course works at a nearby nuclear, er, um, I mean "atomic" (its the 1950’s remember?) experiment station. He is at odds with his superiors (just as all heroes should be).The police and military consult with him about the mysterious training accident.

The fissure is "sectioned off" in typical military style with bored, yawning, coffee drinking guards and such. (Another monster movie survival rule, never be bored when on guard, not to mention avoiding sex at all cost for contemporary slasher films.) Over the next few days a series of sightings of something strange in the woods is reported accompanied by radiation burns to those who investigate a little too closely. Of course the guards disappear as well while investigating a noise in the darkness. (Leave noises in the dark alone.)

The hero scientist concludes that a radioactive creature is roaming the country side consuming Radium this and Radium that and otherwise "zapping" anyone who is unfortunate enough to cross its path. The police and military express some reservation but the scientist is eventually proven right (it is a monster movie). Even though there is some dissension people actually work together for a common goal, something sadly lacking in modern scripts. (Perhaps modern stories are trying to warn us that inter-human conflict is worse than any outside threat.)

I will let you rent the movie and see the ending for yourself. (As if a 1950’s monster movie is not as predictable as contemporary ones even if the outcome is different.) "X the Unknown" is one of the good old fashion, plain meant to be scary, movies. There are a few scenes where it definitely succeeds. Plus it's a refreshing break from the anthropomorphic, guy in a rubber suit, monster. Definitely one to watch on a late Friday or Saturday night huddled on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and all the house lights turned off. Don’t forget the blanket (for hiding).

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