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X: The Unknown

X: The Unknown

Horror · Science Fiction · Mystery · 1956

Army radiation experiments awaken a subterranean monster from a fissure that feeds on energy and proceeds to terrorise a remote Scottish village. An American research scientist at a nearby nuclear plant joins with a British investigator to discover why the victims were radioactively burned and why, shortly thereafter, a series of radiation-related incidents are occurring in an ever-growing straight line away from the fissure.

Movie details

X: The Unknown

“It rises from 2000 miles below the earth to melt everything in its path!”

1956 Horror · Science Fiction · Mystery 1h 21m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.1 / 10

Community rating

Army radiation experiments awaken a subterranean monster from a fissure that feeds on energy and proceeds to terrorise a remote Scottish village. An American research scientist at a nearby nuclear plant joins with a British investigator to discover why the victims were radioactively burned and why, shortly thereafter, a series of radiation-related incidents are occurring in an ever-growing straight line away from the fissure.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over X: The Unknown?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Return of the Fly

Return of the Fly

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Fifteen years after his father's experiments with matter transmission fail, Philippe Delambre and his uncle François attempt to create a matter transmission device on their own. However, their experiments have disastrous results, turning Philippe into a horrible half-man, half-fly creature.

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The Davises are expecting a baby, which turns out to be a monster with a nasty habit of killing people whenever scared. And it's easily scared.

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The Curse of Frankenstein

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The Giant Behemoth

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Leslie Norman

Written by

Jimmy Sangster

Dean Jagger

Dean Jagger

Dr. Adam Royston

Leo McKern

Leo McKern

Inspector McGill

William Lucas

William Lucas

Peter Elliott

Edward Chapman

Edward Chapman

John Elliott

John Harvey

John Harvey

Maj. Cartwright

Michael Ripper

Michael Ripper

Sgt. Harry Grimsdyke

Anthony Newley

Anthony Newley

LCpl. 'Spider' Webb

Court is in session

Put X: The Unknown on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Arthouse Gremlin

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.