Jack Arnold's The Space Children is one of those special 50s sci-fi flicks drenched in dread over the dangers of the Atomic age. When a bizarre alien organism arrives on earth near an American missile silo, it enlists the aid of the local children for protection so it can have enough time to try and destroy a brand new nuclear weapon. The whole idea of a group of possessed children leading an insurrection against the adults would later be revisited to much greater effect in Wolf Rilla's Village of the Damned (1960). But Arnold managed to create an effectively spooky atmosphere which helped the film's narrative survive. Occasionally the story will drag on into the realm of tedium. There are far too many scenes where the children will disappear, reappear, and then act bizarrely in response to their parents' inquiries. Some of the performances by the children are stilted and awkward. But the main three children, two brothers and a young girl that they meet when they first move to the silo, are blessed with competent actors. Unfortunately, the alien organism featured in the film is depicted as little more than a giant blob of jello. I can sympathize with the film-makers wanting to have an extraterrestrial that looked alien in nature instead of like a human in bizarre tights. But the effect nevertheless falls flat. I guess we should count our blessings that the alien only has a few minutes of screen-time.
6/10
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