StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Nonureva Really Surprised!

BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Leofwine_draca Strong technical production values highlight this passable science fiction offering from the '50s, which is good because it lacks both action and excitement. The budget is a big hindrance in that the special effects of the space-fungus going on a rampage really are dire; a moving sheet with some lumps of rubber stuck to it does not make a threatening menace in my opinion, nor does the sight of a pizza coming out of someone's suitcase. Despite the flaws and lack of any worthwhile B-movie thrills, the film is watchable thanks to a strong cast and their well-developed characters. For once in a '50s film we grow to like and have an interest in the characters involved, whether it be Lyn Thomas's "Typhoid Mary" character, a woman who unknowingly carries the extraterrestrial bacteria upon her, or Robert Ellis as the driver-turned-hero. Strong character turns from Bill Williams - as the stern, deadly serious John Hand - and Paul Frees as the angry and love-struck scientist highlight the rest of the supporting cast to good effect.Unfortunately the title is something of a misnomer, seeing as this is a purely earthbound thriller with little in the way of sci-fi elements. Instead, much of the film opts for a hard-boiled detective story approach with only a few moments in dingy laboratories or with rampaging monsters. The pacing is fast and the music under worked but effective and the dialogue sharp. Never does the film become boring or outstay its welcome, as the short running means the film is compacted down into a series of short, often gripping scenes. The military investigation into the fungus is kept interesting thanks to the aforementioned characters and events culminate in a thrilling episode on a plane, where the virus gets loose. Sadly this is followed by an unexplained conclusion; one moment we see the fungus covering the plane, the next it has disappeared and everyone is walking away into the sunset happily. What?! I guess they really did run out of budget at the end of the film and just had to tie it up as quickly as possible, no matter how unsatisfactory that might be. Otherwise, SPACE MASTER X-7 is an intelligent, non-campy and effective '50s thriller surprising in its maturity considering the cheesy theme.

vsteimle I saw this movie in a drive-in when I was less than ten years old, and for the last forty years, I have been more concerned about the destruction of mankind than about the deaths of just a few people. The special effects and dialog might be old, but the plot is something that could actually happen. It still scares me now. I would pay to see it in a theater if it were showing. I used to think that I liked this movie so much because I grew up loving science fiction. Now I realize that it's movies like this one that made me love science fiction. It isn't some silly fantasy about unicorns and elves. It's a realistic story of science and scientists, and their importance as the only ones who can save us all. It made me want to grow up to be a scientist while my friends all wanted to be doctors and lawyers. For me, it was a life-altering movie.

kc5arb I figure I saw this gem when I was about 11, back when I lived in Queens NY.My memories are similar to the other notations on this flic, except that I was too young to form an opinion about its artistic merits. My real memory was the term blood rust, and the memory of a scene where detectives were finding it in a boxcar. (Ok, its possible I mixed that one up with a scene from "Them". I remembered it as the b part running with This Island Earth, but it may well have been playing with the Fly, as others indicated. The long and this short of it was that this one bugged me, as I could until recently find no movies referenced to "blood Rust". None of the printed compendiums of Sci-Fi movies helped. A recent call for help on another web site finally gave me the Space Master title, which did the trick! A 45 year mystery solved!Now I need to find a copy!

philipa As a child I spent the summers with my grandparents in northern New Jersey. In the summer of 1959 the parents of a friend of mine were taking him to see a movie at a drive-in and I was invited,which movie didn't matter to me, just a chance to see a movie was great. The movie was Space Master X-7 and as child of 11 it scared the heck out of me (my mental film vault still has a has a clip of the scientist being absorbed by the fungus). That was the 1950's, cold war, Castro and all, traveling to outerspace was still a dream. A child of 11 today would find the movie laughable and the effects lame, but in the dark of a summer night in 1959 the movie had its effect.