4. First Man Into Space (1959)
Another B-Movie hall of famer, Marshall Thompson, stars in First Man Into Space (aka Satellite of Blood) a post Sputnik tale of the anxiety and horror that awaits us in space. When Lt. Dan Milton Prescott (Bill Edwards) brazenly disregards orders from his brother and commanding officer Cmdr. Charles Ernest Prescott (Thompson) in order to be the first man into space, he looses control and ejects from a high altitude. He should have died but some sort of space dust encrusted all over his suit and body and deprived much of his blood of oxygen. To survive he needs blood and he gets it wherever he can.
Like most B-Movies it takes quite a bit of time for the monster to deliver. An hour in and the only glimpse of the creature we get is in the form of a shadow, an arm or leg here and there and the heavy wheezy breathing of Dan struggling for air but when we get the full monty, it's worth the wait. Space Dan is as grotesque as it gets, his only good eye is a mess and his other is melted over by his own flesh. Surely this would have been a treat if it had the luxury of colour.