ABSTRACT
Invasion films, while not entirely tied to issues of atomic use, became the second most popular form of science fiction film during the 1950s. Andrew Tudor, in his genre analysis of Hollywood horror films, notes that 18 percent of all horror films produced between 1956 and 1960 were based upon alien invasion from space. Typically, the alien invasion scenario depicts technologically superior civilization that comes to Earth to invade the planet or use its resources, transforming humans into emotionless clones or taking control of unsuspecting minds. Sometimes serving only to offer explanations for the strange occurrences, scientist fall victim to the alien invaders as easily as any civilian members of the population. Although not the science fiction genre, the atomic espionage spy film proliferated "as the paranoia of the Cold War commenced with the suspicions over atomic secrets." By the late 1950s, the atomic espionage theme had diminished to where it only operated as subplot the science fiction monster genre.
