- A fungus brought from space threatens to grow and spread, devouring everyone in its path.
- A space probe returns to Earth covered with a strange fungus. The fungus is accidentally tinged with human blood and is transformed into an ever-growing pile of space rust, dubbed "Blood Rust". It is up to John Hand and Joe Rattigan to find the one woman who can stop the rust from spreading and taking over the world.—Paul White <pdwhite@ibm.net>
- Laura Greeling arrives at her ex-husband's home to discuss the custody of their son, a meeting which proves to be very confrontational. While she is returning to her home in Honolulu, she sees a newspaper headline stating that she is wanted in connection with her ex-husband's death! She goes into hiding, thinking that she is wanted on a charge of murder. She doesn't know that she is really being sought because she is the carrier of an extremely deadly virus, which is what actually killed her ex-husband.—Alfred Jingle
- The movie opens with title and credits running over a black background, followed by a man at a desk explaining the satellite Space Master X-7 and its mission. There is a lot of stock footage, narration and voiceover in this picture. We are introduced to some of the men on the program, including John Hand (Bill Williams), Army Private Joe Rattigan (Robert Ellis), Dr. Charles T. Pommer (Paul Frees) and Professor West (Thomas Browne Henry). Pommer explains to Hand that he is convinced there is life in space, "...I'm convinced there is life out there, but in a form so strange as to be beyond anything you can imagine." The satellite returned to earth, on the desert floor somewhere in New Mexico. The craft included a canister used to collect microscopic life from outer space. Pvt. Rattigan drove Pommer to his home/laboratory to study any samples collected. Rattigan expresses interest in seeing the lab, but Pommer puts him off when he sees that someone is in his house. We learn later that Rattigan was both a student and assistant to Pommer when he was in college. Pommer is immediately confronted by Laura Greeling (Lyn Thomas). Theirs is a frosty relationship, the flame having gone out long ago. She has come to see their son, but learns he is in boarding school. She wants him back, but hasn't told her husband about Pommer or her son. Her home is in Hawaii. Pommer returns to his lab to work on the space samples. He examines the sample and concludes it is a Martian fungus. He calls the organism Bloodrust. The spores are easily transported on clothing or skin. Laura bursts into his lab to settle the matter with their son. Hand calls on the telephone to check on progress. Pommer insists that there is life in outer space.
Hand is curious about the work and discovers that Pvt. Rattigan was Pommer's student in college and worked as his assistant while working on his Master's degree, all of this prior to being drafted into the Army. He tells Hand that Pommer is a brilliant man with a streak of cruelty. By now the fungus has grown to a basketball sized mass in a glass container. Laura isn't leaving until things are settled and she drives Pommer to distraction. After a brief discussion, Pommer agrees to relinquish custody of the boy to Laura. He tries to get frisky, for old times sake, and gets clocked in the head for his trouble. He staggers back to his lab. Gotten what she wants, Laura takes a cab back into town. The cab is driven by Retlinger (Moe Howard-yes of Three Stooges fame). Laura tips the driver to "forget you ever saw me." It is 2 a.m. and Hand gets ready to leave the office when the phone rings. Pommer calls to tell Hand, "This place must be completely destroyed. Burn every stick of it. Burn it to the ground." Hand and Rattigan hurry out to Pommer's house. They find Pommer dead, the Bloodrust, and the lab a shambles. They retrieve Pommer's Dictaphone taped notes. They pour gasoline in the lab and around the house and burn the house to the ground. The two men, and the retrieved tape were decontaminated thoroughly. The Army, FBI and New Mexico State Police were called to assist in containing the spread of the Bloodrust. The Army told Hand that they felt the fire was insufficient, so Pommer's property and surrounding area were decontaminated. Their next concern is whether Pommer had any contacts that could spread the fungus. The group reviews Pommer's taped notes and discover Pommer did have a woman present in his lab, but they do not know anything about her. They are concerned about panic but they must locate this woman. They decide she must have come and gone by taxi cab. Hand and Rattigan go see the cab driver, but he denies any knowledge of the woman or Pommer's house. When told the woman was contaminated, the cab driver changes his tune and spills his guts. He tells the men that she took a train to Los Angeles. Hand and Rattigan take the cab driver in for decontamination.
Laura arrives at the train station in Los Angeles. While waiting for her luggage, she buys a newspaper at the gift shop. She sees the headline, "Dr. Pommer, Noted Scientist, Dies in Fire...Mystery Woman Sought." She mistakenly concludes that the authorities think she killed the man. She quickly goes to baggage claim and sees it swarming with police. She plans to take an airplane to Hawaii that evening. She telephones the house and tells a woman by the name of Jodi her plans to return home. Her major concern is her husband, away on business, returning before she has a chance to get home first. She starts to make another call, but spots two policemen approaching, and leaves the phone booth. She exits the train station and walks to another phone booth on the street. She hears a motorcycle cop's radio describing her and flees the scene. Hand and Rattigan arrive in the train yard by helicopter. Hand meets Hendry, the Battalion Fire Chief (Court Shepard) and tells him Rattigan will be going aboard the train car. He learns that the Bloodrust was discovered about 3 a.m. outside of Barstow. The conductor is still on the train car, "or what's left of him." Rattigan goes aboard the train car, now in his decontamination suit with a flamethrower. He burns the Bloodrust and retrieves Laura's suitcase. As a precaution the baggage car is burned. The suitcase is decontaminated and examined for clues as to the woman's identity. They find an airplane ticket.
The cab driver is brought out to Los Angeles to provide a detailed description to a police artist. Now armed with a sketch of the woman, the search begins. Laura calls from a café to get a reservation for a return flight to Hawaii. She has coffee while waiting for a return call from the airline, and sees a bulletin with her likeness on a television broadcast. She checks into a hotel, under an assumed name, to wait. She again calls Trans Orient Airways to check seat availability. Again she sees the bulletin now on the hotel television and decides a change of wardrobe and hair might help with a disguise. Hand gets a phone tip from the hotel manager, Mr. Morse (Fred Sherman). Laura, now a brunet, gets the call she's been expecting-a seat has opened on the 11 p.m. flight to Honolulu. Morse tells Hand and Rattigan that the woman went on a buying spree and was planning a flight to Honolulu. Hand sends Rattigan to the airport, but before they have a chance to leave, they see a blob of Bloodrust in the room. Hand stays behind to deal with the menace. Laura takes a cab to the airport, checks in and is the last to board the airplane. Rattigan arrives too late to catch Laura at the gate, but now knows her name thanks to the ticket agent. Before the plane can depart, Rattigan gets on board. The airplane takes off. Rattigan makes arrangements with the flight attendant, Archer (Rhoda Williams) to clear the lounge so he can interview all the brunet passengers, including Jean Meyers (Joan Barry).
Hand arrives at the airport and makes arrangements to contact Rattigan via the airport control tower. The flight crew, including Captain Vaccarino (Jess Kirkpatrick) and the Flight Engineer, Jim Dale (Gregg Martel), get Rattigan and relay the message. Rattigan tells the captain about Laura and the danger she poses. Rattigan interviews Jean Meyers, meanwhile the fungus is growing on the airplane. Next he interviews Laura. She lies about her whereabouts. He interviews Elaine Frohman (Carol Varga) and asks to see her coat. While the Bloodrust grows in the cargo compartment, Rattigan is again called to the flight deck. He re-interviews Jean Meyers. She claims her identification is in her other purse in her luggage. Jim Dale takes Rattigan through the emergency hatch into the cargo hold below. Laura talks to Jean, who explains the story of Rattigan's interest in talking to all the female brunets on board. Laura runs back to tell Rattigan she is the woman he is looking for. Rattigan tells Jim Dale to tell the captain to turn back for Los Angeles. Rattigan looks into the cargo hold and sees the Bloodrust. Hand tells Captain Vaccarino to head for the nearest airport with decontamination equipment, namely Oxnard Air Force Base.
Laura tells Rattigan her story. Rattigan notices the Bloodrust bubbling up through the cargo hold access door in the floor of the passenger compartment. He orders the compartment cleared of passengers and uses a CO2 fire extinguisher to control the fungus. With an outside baggage door compromised the airplane begins to loose cabin pressure. The Bloodrust enters the passenger compartment and panic ensues. The fungus has damaged the hydraulic system and the landing gear cannot be deployed. The airplane makes a wheels-up belly landing at the airport. The passengers are directed to a pair of buses for decontamination. The movie ends with police cars and buses driving away from the runway area.
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