Rating: 
Summary: sympathetic monster steals the show
Review: Once you get past the schmaltzy beginning, this is an interesting bit of "mankind goes too far into the unknown and gets punished" sci-fi. It's hard not to feel for the poor guy, after you see what he becomes! The sequence with the "monster" being led through the corridors by the kindly scientist on the intercom, well, it moved me as a kid and it STILL gets me a bit misty! Also, the wacky pseudo-science is quite interesting... This isn't just nostalgia, it holds up pretty well... Like a good episode of DR. WHO, the conviction of the storytelling overcomes the low budget effects...
Rating:
Summary: sympathetic monster steals the show
Review: Once you get past the schmaltzy beginning, this is an interesting bit of "mankind goes too far into the unknown and gets punished" sci-fi. It's hard not to feel for the poor guy, after you see what he becomes! The sequence with the "monster" being led through the corridors by the kindly scientist on the intercom, well, it moved me as a kid and it STILL gets me a bit misty! Also, the wacky pseudo-science is quite interesting... This isn't just nostalgia, it holds up pretty well... Like a good episode of DR. WHO, the conviction of the storytelling overcomes the low budget effects...
Rating: 
Summary: B-Movie from the 1950's
Review: Pretty standard B-movie from the 1950's that finds an astronaut exposed to cosmic rays and returns to Earth as a blood sucking monster that kills people. Effects work and the script are all phooney and naturally the ending is sad.
Rating: 
Summary: Slept with the light on for a week!!!
Review: This film caused me nightmares when I was a child (after it was run on television). I have never forgotten seeing this movie -- nor have I forgotten sleeping with the lights on for a week -- even though I am now 50 years old. Several Internet movie database websites list this film as "suitable for children." I DON'T THINK SO; unless scaring the crap out of your children is your goal?
Rating: 
Summary: THE BEST
Review: THIS MOVIE SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME WHEN I SAW IT IN THE MOVIES IN THE BRONX NY ,WHEN I WAS EIGHT YRS OLD.I HAD NIGHTMARES FOR A WEEK. THE PART WHEN HE COMES THRU THE BUSHES I FELL OFF MY SEAT.BLACK AN WHITE FILMING MADE IT EVEN BETTER.THIS IS A MUST HAVE.
Rating:
Summary: One of those "You had to be there at the time" films
Review: This seemingly harmless, boilerplate fifties scifi "thriller" is of special significance to me, which is the reason I purchased the VHS version. When I was eight years old, I attended a double feature matinee at the Varsity Theater in Palo Alto, California. The main feature was Disney's "Darby O'Gill and the Little People," a decent, semi-comedic flick most well-known for being a showcase for a budding actor named Sean Connery. "Darby" included a few scary moments, however, in which an animated "banshee" was shown floating ominously in the evening sky. Perhaps because of these briefly frightening scenes, the geniuses in charge of putting together the double bill selected "First Man Into Space" as the second feature. The results were nothing short of disastrous. Although "First Man" seems cheesy and at times downright plodding by today's frenetic standards for scifi films, showing a movie that includes a mutated, cyclopic, blood-drinking murderous monster to a crowd of under-ten children resulted in pandemonium in the theater and countless youthful nightmares afterward. I was so scared by the "monster" (I was certain it was going to come bursting through my bedroom window) that I could not sleep alone for several nights. Since I never forget to just what extent "First Man" scared the bejibbers out of me was back in 1959, I eagerly anticipated seeing the movie again some forty-plus years later. Needless to say, it was a very different experience the second time around. The "monster," who actually was the "first man into space" deformed by some mysterious variety of cosmic radiation, still appeared slightly scary (the one staring eye was an inspired effect, truly). But overall, the film seemed slow, dull, and oh, so cheesy. As other reviewers have indicated, the plot line of the movie has some admirable elements, with its "pride goeth before a fall" morality and the compassion showed by the authorities in the final scenes. But the film definitely qualifies as fodder for ridicule and wisecracks a la the late (and much missed) series, "Mystery Science Theater 3000." In seeing the movie for the first time themselves, my own sons, far more jaded in terms of what qualifies as "frightening," politely commented that they "could see how the monster might be scary," but I confess they were so bored by the production overall that it was all they could do to keep from leaving the room prior to the conclusion. I guess to appreciate some of the virtues of this not-bad-but-not-great fifties scifi "thriller," you hadda be there, in the dark, on a Saturday afternoon with a hundred other terrified suburban kids.
Rating:
Summary: Decent 50's sci-fi....
Review: This was actually a pretty decent 50's sci-fi. Make up for the monster and space effects looked pretty good and the story was acceptable with a very sad ending. Nothing really great but at this price who can complain. You can even find a used copy for around five bucks. A great and inexpensive addition to your 50's sci-fi library. Darn those 'cosmic rays'.......
Rating:
Summary: Decent 50's sci-fi....
Review: This was actually a pretty decent 50's sci-fi. Make up for the monster and space effects looked pretty good and the story was acceptable with a very sad ending. Nothing really great but at this price who can complain. You can even find a used copy for around five bucks. A great and inexpensive addition to your 50's sci-fi library. Darn those 'cosmic rays'.......
Rating:
Summary: Works on a couple of levels
Review: When I saw this as a kid in a theater it gave me nightmares so when the DVD came out I had to buy it. Of course it is not scary & the effects are poor by today's standards but it's still a fairly good example of some of the '50's sci-fi. Back then most movies had dire consequeces for man "going too far" for science & glory. It also works for me as a film to make MST3k style comments with. A pal & I did that one weekend & had great fun.
Rating:
Summary: A must see for any sci-fi fan
Review: When it comes to B sci fi movies this one holds up. Despite what some reviewers say this movie has all the makings to be near a classic. You have monster chases people, and true to the time a man made tragedy transforms a normal human into a beast. Although it's some dust in space that transforms him it was inside a man made plane thus showing us the supposed dangers of space. It even tosses in a element of a soft side towards the ending, the ending kind of leaves you hanging but overall fulfilling. I suggest any fan of the 50's genre of sci fi fans to watch this one I think you won't be dissapointed.
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