Hitchcoc Here we have Forrest Tucker in the middle of a group of British scientists who are doing experiments with magnetism. The experiments seem safe to them, but to the locals, they are reaping havoc on their TV sets and other devices. In the opening scenes a man is injured by a discharge from a console and is replaced by a pretty young French woman. What ultimately happens is that an alien presence appears, a man who comes up with the unimaginative name of "Smith." He is there on a mission of some kind, but we don't know whether to fear him or embrace him. Meanwhile, one of the original scientists becomes overwhelmed with power and start to take over the mission. It seems that what they are doing is causing insects to attain enormous size and attack people in the countryside. While it was a bit stuffy, it's not bad.

Theo Robertson Some people have criticised this British science fiction movie as being too talkative almost like " illustrated radio " and you can see their point . It's interesting to note that it's the big screen version of an ITV serial from the 1950s and it wasn't unknown for that regional station to make sci-fi teleplays like THE TROLLENBERG TERROR and NIGHT OF THE BIG HEAT to cash in on the success of the BBC QUATERMASS serials . There is a difference however and that Nigel Kneale could take the most ludicrous scenario and make it totally thought provoking and convincing . This is where X falls down - there's little credibility to it and is entirely implausible I read John Bronson's excellent critique of movie science fiction Future Tense at an impressionable age and he points out that due to an ants psysilogy if it grew to the size of a dog it wouldn't be able to breathe due to its respiratory system being dependent upon holes in its side and air pressure . I also learned this in O Grade biology classes . THEM did manage to suspend my disbelief but this movie didn't and we're mistreated to implausible scenarios involving a mad scientist , electro magnetics , giant bugs and a visitor from space who refers to insects as including spiders . An insect has six legs where as a spider is eight which means it doesn't qualify as an insect and is classed as an arachnid . When an on screen child knows the difference but a visitor from outer space doesn't it makes you wonder how advanced this alien character might be . You wouldn't get simple mistakes like this with Nigel Kneale who'd also develop a scene with two people talking in a room o its most dramatic potential The film is rather dated but in some ways this might be a saving grace as to how we compare attitudes from the 1950s to today in 2013 . A scene in a public bar lets us know that 18 pounds sterling was a large amount of money and pubs closed at 10.30 . People smoked like chimneys and worst of all women had little career advancement unless they were young , pretty and French with the implication being that the only reason they got the job was because they're ... well I think the phrase might be " Ooh la la " so I'm guessing we might be living in more enlightened times

preppy-3 I saw this under the title "The Cosmic Monsters". Silly movie about a scientist named Dr. Laird (Alec Mango), his assistant Gil Graham (Forrest Tucker) and obligatory love interest Michele Dupont (Gaby Andre) developing a machine that makes metal bend...or something like that (I was too bored to pay attention). Because of this machine they unwittingly open a hole in the ionosphere covering the Earth that lets in rays that turn humans into maniacs and makes small animals larger.Very dull with virtually nothing happening until the final 20 minutes when the animals attack. All talk, talk, talk full of boring science dialogue and pretty bad acting too. The special effects are terrible too--the scenes with the large insects are laughably fake. One purportedly gruesome scene--an insect biting off some of the face of a dead soldier--doesn't work at all because the soldier is so obviously a dummy! Boring, by the numbers, low budget sci-fi movie. You can safely skip this one.

carflo I saw this movie once - over 40 years ago - and I still remember it very well. Even as a kid, very few movie really scared me, but this one did. The resident mad scientist does something that let in lots of bad cosmic rays and the local insects become giants. The school is a one room affair set in the middle of a forest. The giant insects attack the school trapping the teacher & the kids. Most horror movie monsters looked hokey - but the monsters in this were extreme close-ups of real insects. It wasn't until Alien that I saw a movie monster as scary as those giant bugs.