Rating: 
Summary: Robot Rampage!
Review: Considering what a shoestring budget Herman Cohen's first production was made on, it's almost a masterpiece.Sci-fi mainstay Richard Denning awakens one morning in the city, to find there's no city. Everyone in it is gone - almost. He runs into frightened Kathleen Crowley, and eventually into another couple, Virginia Grey and Richard Reeves, who aren't sure whether the world's ended or not (and aren't frankly too worried about it, if it has), and so celebrate with champagne just in case. In time, an on-the-lam hood joins the group, making them all wonder what is worse: invaders from beyond, or their own next door neighbors. And what's come from beyond are alien robots - clunky tin-can jobs, with a single cyclopean eye that fires a killer heat-ray - intent, for whatever reason, on eliminating the local populace. The military has the city cordoned off, and is busy studying the single robot they've captured. They theorize it was sent by a humanoid race, probably from Venus, as a vanguard for invasion. Can they find the robots' weakness, and exploit it in time? Will the abandoned city's survivors manage to find a way to survive each other, let alone the invading metal men? This movie succeeds despite its remarkable cheapness - only one robot was made, recycled to represent an army of them - but its script is fairly trite. It's still worth watching, though, for the performances and the end-of-the-world fun with killer robots.
Rating: 
Summary: Classic 50s Sci Fi - A must for fans of the genre.
Review: I found the audio commentary by producer Herman Cohen to be very informative as well as entertaining. It's a shame he passed away last year, it would have been great to hear him speak about his other projects. ONE COMPLAINT although listed as widescreen it is in fact full frame and even the credits are half missing from the opening titles!
Rating: 
Summary: Dryer hose Legs and Arms!!!
Review: I had memories of this Film since I was 5 yeats old. Dreams of giant robots terrorizing people left behind in a city deserted. I found the DVD on Amazon and after viewing it for the second time in 48 years I enjoyed it as much the second time around.
Rating:
Summary: Raw Panic The Screen Never Dared Reveal!
Review: I recently saw this movie, and I have to admit it was pretty fun. Yeah, it was fairly cheap and cheesy, but a good, solid sci-fi b-movie. The story revolves around a group of individuals who find themselves trapped in recently evacuated city. Not knowing why the city is empty, they start looking for answers and find that the city has been taken over by an army of killer robots from space. (Well, for budgetary reasons, there is only one robot, but they use it again and again to create the illusion of many.) And the space robot looks pretty hokey, but whatever....did anyone else notice the sort of misogynic treatment of the women in this movie? Maybe this was par back in 1954, I don't know, but it seemed almost comical they way the men ordered the women around, telling them to keep quiet or to shut up and such. I also thought it was funny how Mort Marshalls' character, Charles Otis, was introduced, provided some exposition, and then was efficiently eliminated. Don't get me wrong, as his character was highly annoying, and a quick departure was welcome, but it all seemed a little to convienent. The story moves along, and there is a side story with the army trying to find a weakness in the alien invaders, devise a method to overcome them before they have to use atomic weapons on the city. The picture and sound are pretty good, and there are a few extras, including a sort of video homage and biography to the producer, Herman Cohen, who also made movies like I Was A Teenage Werewolf, I Was A Teenage Frankenstein, and Horrors Of The Black Museum. There is also a commentary track by either the producer or the director, I can't remember which.
Rating:
Summary: Raw Panic The Screen Never Dared Reveal!
Review: I recently saw this movie, and I have to admit it was pretty fun. Yeah, it was fairly cheap and cheesy, but a good, solid sci-fi b-movie. The story revolves around a group of individuals who find themselves trapped in recently evacuated city. Not knowing why the city is empty, they start looking for answers and find that the city has been taken over by an army of killer robots from space. (Well, for budgetary reasons, there is only one robot, but they use it again and again to create the illusion of many.) And the space robot looks pretty hokey, but whatever....did anyone else notice the sort of misogynic treatment of the women in this movie? Maybe this was par back in 1954, I don't know, but it seemed almost comical they way the men ordered the women around, telling them to keep quiet or to shut up and such. I also thought it was funny how Mort Marshalls' character, Charles Otis, was introduced, provided some exposition, and then was efficiently eliminated. Don't get me wrong, as his character was highly annoying, and a quick departure was welcome, but it all seemed a little to convienent. The story moves along, and there is a side story with the army trying to find a weakness in the alien invaders, devise a method to overcome them before they have to use atomic weapons on the city. The picture and sound are pretty good, and there are a few extras, including a sort of video homage and biography to the producer, Herman Cohen, who also made movies like I Was A Teenage Werewolf, I Was A Teenage Frankenstein, and Horrors Of The Black Museum. There is also a commentary track by either the producer or the director, I can't remember which.
Rating:
Summary: Great Theater Movie
Review: I was lucky to see this fantastic movie at the Fox Theater in the 1950's. I was in the 3rd grade and remember this film...several of my buddies and I couldn't wait to see this film. In those days you only new about a new movie a week or two before it came to your theater. We were so scared, the military looked so up to date, and they were helpless. The movie was set to modern times, so we felt like we could be attacked next. Made for many many sleepless nights. a young boys delight!
Rating:
Summary: Desperate couple threatened by a Venusian robot
Review: On the surface this 1954 movie appears to pretty bare-bones in comparison to other 1950s sci-fi epics. Richard Denning (Frank) and Kathleen Crowley (Nora), along with two others, are holed-up in a deserted hotel in a large American city (probably Chicago). The city's inhabitants have been evacuated, but these four have been overlooked. The menacing Venusian robot force (actually one robot), while a bit clunky and one dimensional, presents a threating, underlying presence throughout the movie. When will it strike with its death-ray? Can anyone survive its monomaniac pursuit? The movie's director, Herman Cohen, deftly explores the theme of lonliness and isolation among the crew's cast. Nora's failed suicide attempt and Franks's stoic acceptance of his being "rolled outside a bar after flashing a big roll" the night before seem to create a credible chemistry that bonds the characters' fates together. If misery loves company, Frank and Nora want no part of the company that waits outside the flimsy boundries of their hotel room. Black and white movies occasionally intensify austerity in a way that color films do not. The seeming hopeless of Frank and Nora's situation, the desertion of the city, and unblinking, unnerving robot presence raise the emotional level of "Target Earth" up a couple of notches. Viewers will like movie's ending too. The "science" portion of "Target Earth" gets the viewer to a stong visual climax as military scientists race against time to develop an ultrasonic sound wave generator that will defeat the invading menace. Will they get to Frank and Nora in time? Or will the lurking robot(s) find them first? Kudos must also go to supporting actors Virginia Grey (Vicky) and Richard Reeves (Jim) as a pair of champagne guzzling reprobates who vow to drink their way from one end of the city to the other. As down-and-outers in their own isoated existence, their being trapped with Frank and Nora aptly points out that they have something more to live for than imbibing and gambling on the "daily double." The acting is first rate and the story's plot comes from a nice short story called "The Deadly City" by Paul Fairman.
Rating:
Summary: What If There Was An Invasion, And Nobody showed up?
Review: TARGET EARTH is basically a zero-budget War Of The Worlds. There are no alien ships. There are no spectacular special effects. No deep messages or insights into the human condition. Nope, this is sci-fi stripped down to it's basic elements. A small band of people, led by Frank (Richard Denning), have awakened to find the city of Los Angeles deserted except for themselves and a small army of killer robots from Venus. Due to financial constraints, there is only one robot. It is basically an old furnace with flexible dryer-duct legs. Sadly, the robot is only seen about 4-5 times, as it was fairly entertaining to watch while it lumbered along. The rest of the film has our not-so-merry bunch trying to stay out of the robot's way. A couple of them are hit by it's death-ray, and it does come crashing through a plate-glass window at one point. Otherwise, it's just vacant street scenes and discussions among the survivors about an invasion and devastation we never actually get to see. Of course, there's plenty of grainy old military stock footage as well. TARGET EARTH is not a bad movie, it's just not a classic. I still recommend it for diehard sci-fi maniacs...
Rating:
Summary: Minimal and Great
Review: This has always been a favorite of mine. The low budget keeps things simple but very atmospheric. This is a very good DVD! The commentary is from the Roan laserdisc from a few years ago (which I still have). The picture is fine and this IS a widescreen disc! Around 1.85 to 1. The viewers who claim that it isn't are watching another disc! This is the real McCoy.
Rating: 
Summary: FINE MOVIE, LOUSY DVD
Review: This is a wonderful film from the 1950s, with a harder, noirish edge lacking in bigger budget studio films of this period. However, this so-called "widescreen" movie is actually presented in full screen, and very bad full screen at that. I tried to change the settings in my DVD player but all I got was a smaller picture, with the right and left side of the credits still cut off. Nice menu and extras--but where the heck is the widescreen?
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