1950s: Horror & Suspense Throughout the Decades
The 1950s, the atomic age of horror! Giant Monsters, Extraterrestrial Invasions, Science Gone Wrong and more. A list brought to you by Eric Myford, author of The Encyclopedia of Horror & Suspense Movies book series...
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- DirectorDon SiegelStarsKevin McCarthyDana WynterLarry GatesA small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.
- DirectorAndré De TothStarsVincent PriceFrank LovejoyPhyllis KirkAn associate burns down a wax museum with the owner inside, but he survives only to become vengeful and murderous.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartKim NovakBarbara Bel GeddesA former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsNancy KellyPatty McCormackGage ClarkeRhoda Penmark seems like your average, sweet eight-year-old girl. After her rival at school dies in mysterious circumstances at the school picnic, her mother starts to suspect that Rhoda was responsible.
- DirectorWilliam CastleStarsVincent PriceCarol OhmartRichard LongA millionaire offers $10,000 to five people who agree to be locked in a large, spooky, rented house overnight with him and his wife.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartGrace KellyWendell CoreyA wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his Greenwich Village courtyard apartment window and, despite the skepticism of his fashion-model girlfriend, becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.
- DirectorChristian NybyHoward HawksStarsKenneth TobeyMargaret SheridanJames ArnessScientists and American Air Force officials fend off a bloodthirsty alien organism while at a remote arctic outpost.
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsRichard CarlsonJulie AdamsRichard DenningA strange prehistoric beast lurks in the depths of the Amazonian jungle. A group of scientists try to capture the animal and bring it back to civilization for study.
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsJohn AgarLori NelsonJohn BromfieldMen capture the Creature from the Black Lagoon and make him an aquarium attraction, from which he escapes.
- DirectorJohn SherwoodStarsJeff MorrowRex ReasonLeigh SnowdenA scientist captures the Creature and turns him into an air-breather, only for him to escape and start killing.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsTakashi ShimuraAkihiko HirataAkira TakaradaAmerican nuclear weapons testing results in the creation of a seemingly unstoppable dinosaur-like beast.
- DirectorMotoyoshi OdaIshirô HondaStarsHiroshi KoizumiSetsuko WakayamaMinoru ChiakiScout pilots for a fishing fleet are startled to discover a new monster named Anguirus alongside a second Godzilla. The monsters make their way toward Osaka as Japan can only brace for tragedy and relive the horror of Godzilla once more.
- DirectorIshirô HondaTerry O. MorseStarsRaymond BurrTakashi ShimuraMomoko KôchiA 400-foot (122-meter) dinosaur-like beast, awoken from undersea hibernation off the Japanese coast by atomic-bomb testing, attacks Tokyo.
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsRichard CarlsonBarbara RushCharles DrakeA spaceship from another world crashes in the Arizona desert and only an amateur stargazer and a schoolteacher suspect alien influence when the local townsfolk begin to act strangely.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsMichael RenniePatricia NealHugh MarloweAn alien lands in Washington, D.C. and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.
- DirectorWilliam Cameron MenziesStarsHelena CarterArthur FranzJimmy HuntA young boy learns that space aliens are taking over the minds of earthlings.
- DirectorEdward BerndsStarsHugh MarloweNancy GatesNelson LeighAstronauts returning from a voyage to Mars are caught in a time warp and are propelled into a post-Apocalyptic Earth populated by mutants.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsJames WhitmoreEdmund GwennJoan WeldonThe earliest atomic tests in New Mexico cause common ants to mutate into giant man-eating monsters that threaten civilization.
- DirectorEugène LouriéStarsPaul HubschmidPaula RaymondCecil KellawayA ferocious dinosaur awakened by an Arctic atomic test terrorizes the North Atlantic and, ultimately, New York City.
- DirectorKurt NeumannStarsDavid HedisonPatricia OwensVincent PriceA scientist has a horrific accident when he tries to use his newly invented teleportation device.
- DirectorEdward BerndsStarsVincent PriceBrett HalseyDavid FrankhamPhilippe Delambre, the now-adult son of "The Fly", does some transportation experimentation of his own.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingHazel CourtRobert UrquhartWhile awaiting execution for murder, Baron Victor Frankenstein tells the story of a creature he built and brought to life - only for it to behave not as he intended.
- DirectorAlbert BandStarsRichard BooneTheodore BikelPeggy MaurerCemetery director Robert Kraft discovers that by arbitrarily changing the status of plots from empty to occupied on the planogram causes the death of the plots' owners.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingChristopher LeeMichael GoughWhen Jonathan Harker rouses the ire of Count Dracula for accepting a job at the vampire's castle under false pretenses, his friend Dr. Van Helsing pursues the predatory villain.
- DirectorEdward L. CahnStarsEduard FranzValerie FrenchGrant RichardsAnthropologist Jonathan Drake believes that the men of his family have been cursed for generations by the native South American tribe he studies. Shortly after his brother, discovers one of the tribe's shrunken heads, he's found murdered.
- DirectorReginald Le BorgStarsBoris KarloffBeverly TylerMurvyn VyeA scholarly type is asked to investigate the possible island site for a large resort hotel--an island rumored to be infested with zombies.
- DirectorAlex NicolStarsJohn HudsonPeggy WebberRuss ConwayA newly married couple arrives at the home of the husband's late wife, where the gardens have been maintained by a gardener faithful to the dead woman's memory. Soon, eerie events lead the new wife to think she's losing her mind.
- DirectorVal GuestStarsForrest TuckerPeter CushingMaureen ConnellA kindly English botanist and a gruff American scientist lead an expedition to the Himalayas in search of the legendary Yeti.
- DirectorEdward L. CahnStarsJohn AgarJean ByronPhilip TongeInvisible aliens from the Moon invade the Earth by occupying the bodies of recently deceased humans but a scientist, his daughter and an army Major, try to fight them.
- DirectorIrvin S. Yeaworth Jr.Russell S. Doughten Jr.StarsSteve McQueenAneta CorsautEarl RoweAn alien lifeform consumes everything in its path as it grows and grows.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingChristopher LeeYvonne FurneauxIn 1895, British archaeologists find and open the tomb of Egyptian Princess Ananka with nefarious consequences.
- DirectorQuentin LawrenceStarsForrest TuckerLaurence PayneJennifer JayneA series of decapitations on a Swiss mountainside appear to be connected to a mysterious radioactive cloud.
- DirectorEdward D. Wood Jr.StarsKenne DuncanDuke MooreTor JohnsonA phony spiritualist raises the dead.
- DirectorWilliam CastleStarsVincent PriceJudith EvelynDarryl HickmanAn obsessed pathologist discovers and captures a parasitic creature that grows when fear grips its host.
- DirectorVal GuestStarsBrian DonlevyJack WarnerRichard WordsworthProfessor Bernard Quatermass' manned rocket ship returns to Earth, but two of the astronauts are missing and the survivor seems ill and unable to communicate.
- DirectorVal GuestStarsBrian DonlevyJohn LongdenSidney JamesProfessor Quatermass, trying to gather support for his Lunar colonisation project, is intrigued by mysterious traces that have been showing up.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsSusan CabotAnthony EisleyBarboura MorrisThe head of a major cosmetics company experiments on herself with a youth formula made from royal jelly extracted from wasps, but the formula's side effects have deadly consequences.
- DirectorPaul LandresStarsFrancis LedererNorma EberhardtRay StricklynAfter a vampire leaves his native Balkans, he murders a Czech artist, assumes his identity, and moves in with the dead man's American cousins.
- DirectorRoy Del RuthStarsBeverly GarlandBruce BennettLon Chaney Jr.A woman in a hypnotic state recounts to two doctors the details of a horrific experience from her past life that began with the mysterious and sudden disappearance of her husband.
- DirectorEdward L. CahnStarsMarshall ThompsonShirley PattersonKim SpaldingThe first manned expedition to Mars is invaded by an unknown life form, which stows away on the rescue ship.
- DirectorEdward D. Wood Jr.StarsGregory WalcottTom KeeneMona McKinnonEvil aliens attack Earth and set their terrible "Plan 9" into action. As the aliens resurrect the dead of the Earth, the lives of the living are in danger.
- DirectorBernard L. KowalskiStarsMichael EmmetAngela GreeneJohn BaerAn astronaut is killed on reentry to Earth, but his body is seeded with rapidly gestating aliens.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsDick MillerBarboura MorrisAntony CarboneA dimwitted busboy at a beatnik cafe passes off a cat he accidentally killed and covered in plaster as a sculpture, prompting a demand for more art that compels him to commit murders.
- DirectorBernard L. KowalskiStarsKen ClarkYvette VickersJan ShepardA backwoods game warden and a local doctor discover that giant leeches are responsible for disappearances and deaths in a local swamp, but the local police don't believe them.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingFrancis MatthewsEunice GaysonHaving escaped execution and assumed an alias, Baron Frankenstein transplants his deformed underling's brain into a perfect body, but the result proves to be mortally perilous.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsAnton DiffringHazel CourtChristopher LeeA centenarian artist and scientist in 1890 Paris maintains his youth and health by periodically replacing a gland with that of a living person.
- DirectorBert I. GordonStarsEd KemmerJune KenneyEugene PerssonTeenagers from a rural community and their high school science teacher join forces to battle a giant mutant spider.
- DirectorCurt SiodmakStarsBarbara PaytonLon Chaney Jr.Raymond BurrThe owner of a plantation in the jungle marries a beautiful woman. Shortly afterward, he is plagued by a strange voodoo curse which transforms him into a gorilla.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsSimone SignoretVéra ClouzotPaul MeurisseThe wife and mistress of a loathed school principal plan to murder him with what they believe is the perfect alibi.
- DirectorHugo FregoneseStarsJack PalanceConstance SmithByron PalmerAfter an enigmatic, self-described pathologist rents the attic room of a Victorian house, his landlady begins to suspect her lodger is Jack the Ripper.
- DirectorArnold LavenStarsTim HoltAudrey DaltonHans Conried"The Monster That Challenged the World" is a 1957 horror / science fiction movie of when horde of prehistoric mollusk monsters enter the canal system of the California's Imperial Valley and terrorize the populace.
- DirectorW. Lee WilderStarsEric FlemingNancy MaloneFrank MarthA woman believes herself to be the reincarnated spirit of an ancient prince's lover. Meanwhile, a murderer turns out to be the reincarnated spirit of the prince himself.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsFarley GrangerRobert WalkerRuth RomanA psychopathic man tries to forcibly persuade a tennis star to agree to his theory that two strangers can get away with murder by submitting to his plan to kill the other's most-hated person.
- DirectorEdward D. Wood Jr.StarsBela LugosiTor JohnsonTony McCoyA mad doctor attempts to create atomic supermen.
- DirectorPaul LandresStarsJohn BealColeen GrayKenneth TobeyA kind, small-town doctor mistakenly ingests pills made from vampire bat blood and they turn him into a dangerous fanged creature.
- DirectorAndrew L. StoneStarsJoseph CottenJean PetersGary MerrillWhitney Cameron suspects his sister-in-law has poisoned his brother and niece, but without proof how does he prevent the murder of his nephew?
- DirectorJerry WarrenStarsJohn CarradineRobert ClarkePhyllis CoatesWhen the cable breaks on their diving bell four people find themselves trapped in a hidden underwater world.
- DirectorByron HaskinStarsGene BarryAnn RobinsonLes TremayneA small town in California is attacked by Martians, beginning a worldwide invasion.
- DirectorArthur CrabtreeStarsMarshall ThompsonTerry KilburnMichael BalfourA scientist's thoughts materialize as an army of invisible brain-shaped monsters (complete with spinal-cord tails!) who terrorize an American military base in this nightmarish chiller.
- DirectorNathan JuranStarsRichard GreeneBoris KarloffStephen McNallyMan investigates the disappearance of two of his friends who were the guests of a sinister Austrian count.
- DirectorLászló KardosStarsVictor JoryWilliam HudsonCharlotte AustinJory and his followers stay immortal by siphoning off the life forces of others. If they don't get renewed, they petrify.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsRay MillandGrace KellyRobert CummingsA former tennis star arranges the murder of his adulterous wife.
- DirectorCharles LamontStarsBud AbbottLou CostelloNancy GuildTwo bumbling private eyes help a man, wrongly accused of murder who has become invisible, to clear his name.
- DirectorCharles LamontStarsBud AbbottLou CostelloBoris KarloffTwo bumbling American cops hunt for the mysterious Mr. Hyde in London, England.
- DirectorCharles LamontStarsBud AbbottLou CostelloMarie WindsorTwo bumbling Americans stumble on the discovery of a lifetime when their search for a mummy leads them to a sacred medallion that holds the key to buried treasure.
- DirectorNathan JuranStarsAllison HayesWilliam HudsonYvette VickersWhen an abused socialite grows to giant size because of an alien encounter and an aborted murder attempt, she goes after her cheating husband with revenge on her mind.
- DirectorJohn BrahmStarsVincent PriceMary MurphyEva GaborAn illusionist becomes homicidal when his best kept magic secrets are stolen by his rival.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsMax von SydowGunnar BjörnstrandBengt EkerotA knight returning to Sweden after the Crusades seeks answers about life, death, and the existence of God as he plays chess against the Grim Reaper during the Black Plague.
- DirectorRon OrmondHerbert TevosStarsJackie CooganAllan NixonRichard TravisA mad scientist named Arana is creating giant spiders and dwarfs in his lab on Zarpa Mesa in Mexico. He wants to create a master race of superwomen by injecting his female subjects with spider venom.
- DirectorBert I. GordonStarsSally FraserRoger PaceDuncan 'Dean' ParkinGlenn Manning, "The Amazing Colosasal Man," believed dead after falling from the Hoover Dam, reemerges in rural Mexico, brain damaged, disfigured, and very hungry.
- DirectorCharles LaughtonStarsRobert MitchumShelley WintersLillian GishA self-proclaimed preacher marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real dad hid the $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsDana AndrewsPeggy CumminsNiall MacGinnisAmerican professor John Holden arrives in London for a parapsychology conference, only to find himself investigating the mysterious actions of Devil-worshipper Julian Karswell.
- DirectorJoseph M. NewmanJack ArnoldStarsJeff MorrowFaith DomergueRex ReasonAliens come to Earth seeking scientists to help them in their war.
- DirectorArch ObolerStarsWilliam PhippsSusan Douglas RubesJames AndersonThe world is destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. Only five Americans survive, including a pregnant woman, a neo-Nazi, a black man and a bank clerk.
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsJohn AgarMara CordayLeo G. CarrollA spider escapes from an isolated Arizona desert laboratory experimenting in gigantism and grows to tremendous size as it wreaks havoc on the local inhabitants.
- DirectorTerry O. MorseStarsBruce KelloggOtto WaldisJim BannonScientists use a gigantic drilling machine for an expedition to the center of the earth.
- DirectorJoseph PevneyStarsCharles LaughtonBoris KarloffSally ForrestNoble-born cad Denis (Stapley) has been tricked into a forced stay at the eerie manor of the Sire de Maletroit (Laughton), an evil madman who can't get over the death of his beloved, 20 years after she married his brother (Cavanagh) instead, then passed away during childbirth. Maletroit is determined to have his revenge: the brother has been stowed away in the dungeon for two decades, while he's convinced his disreputable house guest will make a suitably hellish husband for his niece. As luck would have it, the young couple manage to fall in love, and with the help of manservant Voltan (Karloff), they try to make their escape, but not before a final confrontation with Maletroit in the dungeon's crushing deathtrap.
- DirectorNathan JuranStarsWilliam HopperJoan TaylorThomas Browne HenryThe first U.S. spaceship to Venus crash-lands off the coast of Sicily on its return trip. A dangerous, lizard-like creature comes with it and quickly grows gigantic.
- DirectorVictor TrivasStarsHorst FrankKarin KernkeHelmut SchmidA scientist invents a serum that keeps a dog's head alive after its body dies.
- DirectorRobert GordonStarsKenneth TobeyFaith DomergueDonald CurtisA giant, radioactive octopus rises from the Philippine Trench to terrorize the North American Pacific Coast.
- DirectorRichard E. CunhaStarsIrish McCallaTod GriffinVictor Sen YungHeroic, but dull, Fred Maklin and beautiful, but spoiled, Jerrie Turner wash up on an uncharted tropical island. They are soon captured by ex-Nazi Colonel Osler, who also has imprisoned a bevy of beauty contest winners whom he allows to be whipped by his slavering Nazi storm troopers. He has, you see, been extracting some glandular substance from the girls to inject into his wife Mona, who suffered terrible facial disfigurement, in efforts to restore her beauty. Things get worse as the island is used for test bombing by the US Air Force.
- DirectorFred F. SearsStarsJeff MorrowMara CordayMorris AnkrumGlobal panic ensues when it is revealed that a mysterious UFO is actually a giant bird that flies at supersonic speed and has no regard for life or architecture.
- DirectorGeorge P. BreakstonKenneth G. CraneStarsPeter DyneleyJane HyltonTetsu NakamuraAn American journalist stationed in Japan is given a mysterious injection by a mad scientist, turning him into a murderous, two-headed monster.
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsGrant WilliamsRandy StuartApril KentAfter Scott Carey begins to shrink because of exposure to a combination of radiation and insecticide, medical science is powerless to help him.
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsArthur FranzJoanna MooreJudson PrattThe blood of a primitive fish exposed to gamma rays causes a benign research professor to regress to an ape-like, bloodthirsty prehistoric hominid.
- DirectorFernando MéndezStarsGastón SantosMaría DuvalPedro de AguillónA cowboy and his sidekick meet a ranching family that is haunted by spirits and vampires.
- DirectorVirgil W. VogelStarsJohn AgarCynthia PatrickHugh BeaumontA party of archaeologists discovers the remnants of a mutant five-millennia-old Sumerian civilization living beneath a glacier atop a mountain in Mesopotamia.
- DirectorJohn SherwoodStarsGrant WilliamsLola AlbrightLes TremayneRocks from a meteor which grow when in contact with water threaten a sleepy Southwestern desert community.
- DirectorNathan JuranStarsCraig StevensWilliam HopperAlix TaltonA giant prehistoric praying mantis, recently freed from the Arctic ice, voraciously preys on American military at the DEW Line and works its way south.
- DirectorVirgil W. VogelStarsJock MahoneyShirley PattersonWilliam ReynoldsThree men and a woman crash-land in a deep crater in Antarctica, where they find a prehistoric world.
- DirectorDavid KramarskyRoger CormanLou PlaceStarsPaul BirchLorna ThayerDona ColeA dysfunctional family operating an isolated date farm in the California desert is threatened by the arrival of an extra-terrestrial.
- DirectorDan MilnerStarsKent TaylorCathy DownsMichael WhalenA seaside community is terrorized by a hideous sea monster, which has been created by experiments in atomic radiation.
- DirectorFrancis D. LyonStarsFaith DomergueRichard LongMarshall ThompsonAmerican G.I.s who trespass on a Hindu ceremony are hunted down by a beautiful woman who has the power to transform herself into a cobra.
- DirectorBert I. GordonStarsGlenn LanganCathy DownsWilliam HudsonA military officer survives a nuclear blast, only to begin to uncontrollably grow into an increasingly unstable giant.
- DirectorSid SmithEd SobolStarsSonja HenieBud AbbottLou CostelloGene Wesson hosts with guests Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, skater Sonja Henie, comic/singer Keefe Brasselle, with Carolyn Jones, Joyce Jameson, Michael Ross, Will J. White, Jud Conlon Singers, Norman Abbott, Glen Stangle, and announcer Hal Sawyer. Wesson and Brasselle perform dueling impressions, a sketch depicts a mob-run coffee shop, and Abbott and Costello encounter the Frankenstein Monster and the Gill Man in the Universal Studios' prop room.
- DirectorBert I. GordonStarsJohn AgarJohn HoytJune KenneyLonely, deranged puppet-master designs a machine that shrinks people.
- DirectorGuy GreenStarsPeter van EyckBetta St. JohnMandy MillerAlthough the police have termed her mother's death a suicide, a teenage girl believes her step-father murdered her.
- DirectorJohn GillingStarsPaul DouglasEva BartokLeslie PhillipsAn American reporter smells a story when he is stranded in an Iron Curtain country where the local dictator is using gamma rays to transform children into mutated henchmen.
- DirectorEdward LudwigStarsRichard DenningMara CordayCarlos RivasVolcanic activity frees giant scorpions from the earth who wreak havoc in the rural countryside and eventually threaten Mexico City.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsCary GrantEva Marie SaintJames MasonA New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and falls for a woman whose loyalties he begins to doubt.