Critic's Corner Thursday: TCM unleashes a double "Drive In Double Feature"

By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

?There are movies that improve with age, movies that don't and movies we just appreciate differently as we and they get older. Now matter how you look at these films, you're in for an entertaining night as TCM doubles its Drive In Double Feature fun with four sci-fi treasures. No fan will want to miss Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (8 ET/5 PT), Village of the Giants (9:30 ET/6:30 PT) ? with Ron Howard, Tommy Kirk, Beau Bridges, Johnny Crawford and Toni Basil? or Mars Needs Women (12:30 am ET/9:30 pm PT). But the real gem is one of the best bad movies ever, Queen of Outer Space (11 ET/8 PT), a constant delight starring Eric Fleming as an astronaut who lands on a planet of women, and Zsa Zsa Gabor as a rebellious scientist eager to add a few men. To see a seething Zsa Zsa snarl out "I hate her; I hate that Queen" in a thick, entirely out-of-place-on-the-planet Hungarian accent is to be immersed head-first in the essence of camp.

?There are movies that improve with age, movies that don't and movies we just appreciate differently as we and they get older. Now matter how you look at these films, you're in for an entertaining night as TCM doubles its Drive In Double Feature fun with four sci-fi treasures.

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  Warner Home Video

  Tall tale: Allison Hayes is the 50 Foot Woman.

Warner Home Video

Tall tale: Allison Hayes is the 50 Foot Woman.

?Younger viewers might prefer a newer movie, one aimed at their age group: The Truth Below (10 ET/PT), a made-for-MTV thriller about four college friends whose car is buried under an avalanche.

No fan will want to miss Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (8 ET/5 PT), Village of the Giants (9:30 ET/6:30 PT) ? with Ron Howard, Tommy Kirk, Beau Bridges, Johnny Crawford and Toni Basil ? or Mars Needs Women (12:30 am ET/9:30 pm PT).

But for those who collect classic movie howlers, the real gem is one of the best bad movies ever, Queen of Outer Space (11 ET/8 PT), a constant delight starring Eric Fleming as an astronaut who lands on a planet of women, and Zsa Zsa Gabor as a rebellious scientist eager to add a few men.

To see a seething Zsa Zsa snarl out "I hate her; I hate that Queen" in a thick, entirely out-of-place-on-the-planet Hungarian accent is to be immersed head-first in the essence of camp.

?Younger viewers might prefer a newer movie, particularly one aimed at their age group: The Truth Below (10 ET/PT), a made-for-MTV thriller about four college friends whose car is buried under an avalanche.

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