Willinois

An American, John McLaren, is announced as the man to ride the first Atomic Rocket into space, leaving his wife for a six day mission. This is a joint effort by the Americans, Russians, and  English, which is good to see since this was at the height of the cold war.  So begins the Italian black and white adventure originally titled, La Morte viene dallo spazio, but also known as Death from Outer Space.

Directed by Paolo Heusch, he takes full advantage of stock footage but for the most part it works. Paolo directed a few films that made there way to American audiences such as, Diary of a Rebel (1968) and Werewolf in a Girls’ Dormitory (1961). The Cinematographer was famed cult director Mario Bava, who went on to directed some classics like Black Sunday (1960), Black Sabbath (1963) and Planet of the Vampires (1965).

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Now, Like I said, this is an Italian movies translated into English. The names for the two main characters, the pilot and his wife, were John and Mary! Really! The folks who translated couldn’t come up with two more original names than John and Mary. The overdubbing is done fairly well and I found it not to be as distracting as some badly dubbed files. For some, this might take some of the fun out of it.

It goes like this, John returns from space due to problems during his trip. On the way he shoots off some dangerous weapons that some how cause meteors to head for Earth (and absorb Earth’s magnetism). Most of the action for this film takes place in a mission control setting which can be a little slow at times. Oh, did I mention stock footage?

The film really picks up in the last 20 minutes with fire, destruction, panic and a crazy fanatic. It’s too bad this film couldn’t have had more of this stuff though out the picture. This film gets ripped apart much more that is deserves and at only 82 minutes, it’s worth a look considering you can see it for free and archive.org!

For the most part, The Day the Sky Exploded will entertain those that enjoy Cheesy Theater, although moments in the middle, when it’s just “scientist” talking with sheets of paper in hand, might bore a little. These are the moments that the true Cheesy Theater fans will put their MST3000 on, and make good from the bad.

This Film gets 3 out of 5 pieces of cheese.

Can the Earth be saved?