SEPTEMBER 2026 EXTENDED SUMMER EDITION
SCIENCE FICTION IN SEPTEMBER
UPDATES: Yet another site overhaul. Autumn is late in New York City. It’s 83° right now. The future of Cinema Obscura is up in the air. My movie reviews and Star Trek articles are being listed (much to my surprise) at the iMDB and Rotten Tomatoes. My work at VHS Rewind was removed by the administrator, but much of it is still available here.
Added links to You Tube pages.
Science Fiction SEPTEMBER, 2026:
The Thing from Another World is a good head-scratching science fiction monster movie, inferior to the remake but still plenty entertaining. Notice Margaret Sheridan dominates the poster art. While the remake was a bit of a sausage-fest, there were two actresses in the diverse cast of the original.
THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD, 1951
The Day the Earth Stood Still was one of the first science fiction movies I ever saw as a child. I think it played on a UHF station in Ohio when I was four (this was right before Star Wars), and I remember Gort terrified me. Another girl on the poster, and she looks nothing like Patricia Neal.
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, 1951
Silly, goofy, but great science fiction. In color and 3D! The stunning expressionist production design by director William Cameron Menzies recalls the work of Dali as well as The Wizard of Oz. This is among the first of the new wave of paranoiac sci-fi films.
INVADERS FROM MARS, 1953
Another great (if goofy) sci-fi classic, this time with a story by Ray Bradbury (who makes his hero a writer as well). While the characters do not undergo subtle character changes as aliens duplicate them so that they can repair their damaged spacecraft, note the lovely Barbara Rush’s transformation from tasteful, light-colored clothing to a dark, sexy spider-like look when she is compromised. Directed by low-budget sci-fi veteran Jack Arnold.
IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, 1953
In Danse Macabre, Stephen King seemed to express disappointment when he pushed for a cold war analogy from Jack Finney in his book, The Body Snatchers. Finney, being an old-fashioned writer (and somewhat cantankerous) was only interested in telling a story. Nevertheless, many themes have been ascribed to this classic tale.
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, 1956
The Fly (1958), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Dark Star (1974), A Boy and His Dog (1975), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977-1980), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), John Carpenter’s Escape from New York (1981), Altered States (1981).
David Lawler, Sept. 16, 2026
ABOUT DAVID LAWLER
David Lawler has written for Film Threat, VHS Rewind, Second Union, and his own blog, Misadventures in BlissVille. Lawler has produced several podcasts including That Twilighty Show About That Zone, Two Davids Walk Into A Bar (with co-host David Anderson), EQ Lawler/Saltz (with Alex Saltz), and Upstairs at Froelich’s (with co-host John Froelich).
His work is now being featured in the iMDB and Rotten Tomatoes.
Misadventures in Blissville 