“Invasion of the Saucer Men” (or “Invasion of the Hell Creatures”) might seem like just another cheesy sci-fi film from the 1950s but it’s surprisingly better than movies such as “The Giant Claw” and “This Island Earth”.

In “Invasion of the Saucer Men”, some teenagers stumble upon a group of little green men. The aliens are hostile and the teenagers try to convince the local lawmen of what’s going on but they’re not buying it. It’s up to the teens to fight off the aliens themselves. The plot might seem overly simplistic but it’s a positive because it means the film doesn’t waste much time so there are plenty of scenes with the alien invaders.

The human characters in “Invasion of the Saucer Men” aren’t particularly interesting although they are better than ones in most 1950s sci-fi flicks. Watch out for Frank Gorshin, who would later go on to play the Riddler in the 1960s “Batman” tv series and “Batman: The Movie”. Even if you haven’t seen this picture, the aliens’ look will seem familiar as their design has been copied countless times in everything from “Futurama” to “Scooby-Doo”. The aliens look rather amusing and there is a terrific scene in which an alien gets into a fight with a bull. The aliens kill people by injecting them with alcohol, which is pretty unique.

Although films such as “The Thing from Another World” and the original “The Day Earth Stood Still” are probably better sci-fi outings, I still enjoyed “Invasion of the Saucer Men” because it was inventive for its era, it has gone on to inspire a lot imitators and it delivers a fun time. If you’re looking for a good old-fashioned sci-fi movie then this is worth seeing and if you’ve yet to get into the genre, this isn’t a bad place to start.