I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958)

 I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958)

A very limited group of alien body snatchers scouting for (what they hope will be) an eventual full-scale invasion of Earth encounter problems when, by taking human shape, begin to be unexpectedly contaminated by human feelings.

By now this plot should hardly raise an eyebrow, what with many other cheapies exploring similar themes (i.e., 1967's Mars Needs Women,) and virtually all Science Fiction and Horror movies about alien invasion dealing with either alien reproduction, or human/alien hybridization (Alien, Species, etc.)
Even a recent alien POV-shot movie like Under the Skin (2013) which, for most of its length, is quite an off-putting experience can find itself warmly embraced by its conclusion when it finally reveals its, by now, quite familiar-feeling premise.

But there was a point in time, despite lurid titles when the idea might have still caught audiences unprepared.

That's only half of it, though.

The other half deals with the unfortunate female who marries one of these invaders when it takes the shape of her fiancé the night before their wedding vows. On the surface, this same universal suspicion and paranoia is very much what Kevin McCarthy's character must deal with in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956); so even that is a theme that had already been explored (where the subject can't rely on family, friends, neighbors, much less on the authorities.)

What is never explicitly stated but is easily understood by an adult audience is that for more than a year, (which is the time span we are dealing with,) this newlywed bride and her alien groom have an ongoing, though still sterile, sex life in addition to a mutually unsatisfactory emotional relationship.

The subtext is easy: One never knows someone else till they live together.
It's the text which is utterly bonkers.

It makes one wonder what censors had to say about it, even when there is an actual wedding ceremony performed between a human and an alien being. The alien does not replace a husband, it replaces a fiancé. On the surface, the marriage is legitimate.
Despite its sensationalistic nature, the title is not only appropriate but also perfectly descriptive of the plot.

There is an additional human/alien marriage. The filmmakers are careful about keeping things nice and legal.

Much is made of the dreamlike atmosphere of Invaders from Mars (1953) but, for some reason, equally surreal elements or events here are not noted quite as often.
The aliens here are of a non-human, but still humanoid shape which one might easily construe as their actual alien body.
I feel, though, that the shape we see is better construed as an organic-looking space suit; since they have, after all, a certain aversion to oxygen. This interpretation just works better, IMO.
Other alien characteristics consist of being able to see in the dark; their faces being unmasked when lightning strikes; their inability to drink alcohol; carnivores reacting violently in their presence, (did they have problems with coyotes and mountain lions in the span of that year, I wonder); they can't swim; their human 'body-suits' are artificial constructs projected long-distance along with their victim's memories, (though with a few gaps) via their alien technology and while their human 'hosts' are in suspended animation; for the most part their 'suits' are bulletproof, but hoses (for fluids and gases) are made of a more delicate material; and when killed, their bodies disintegrate into Jell-O salad.

As I've mentioned, the invaders have active sex lives with their victims, but their alien gene-plasm is not compatible with that of homo sapiens, at least so far. They are working on solving the problem and, if they don't succeed, they are doomed to extinction.

Most human male characters complain about marriage and see it as a trap, and most females are presented as either getting married, desperate to get married, or bar hussies intent on getting a man. The introduction has a couple passionately necking in a convertible and unable to get distracted even by a passerby hitting the car, a scene which ends in the male getting slapped by the female. What could the guy have done to deserve it? The film is never explicit, but it's also not afraid to make things quite clear.

Yes, this could have been just another well-made, fairly standard, low-budget Sci-Fi thriller, but its details get stranger and stranger the more you think about them, and because of that it's become regarded as a bone-fide Cult Film.

With Tom Tryon and Gloria Talbott.