Don't Open That Door! X the Unknown

Hey kids, the ninth--can it really be the ninth, already?--installment of my PopMatters column, Don't Open That Door!, is up and running. This week sees us visiting a nicely crafted little piece of pre-Dracula Hammer Horror called X the Unknown, released in 1956 and characterized by typical British finesse and aplomb. To quote myself:

"When a platoon of British soldiers discovers a subterranean source of radiation somewhere in a desolate Scottish moor—hey, what the hell is a moor, anyway? I can never remember—it’s different from a down, right? What about a glen? Man, this British landscape stuff just kills me. It’s not a loch, though, I know that much. Lochs are watery, I’m pretty sure—anyway, things get ugly fast. But not nearly as ugly as the soldier who discovers the thing, and the guy who tries to save him, both of whom come out of the experience suffering varying degrees of burns and, um, death."

And so on. There's much more, as usual, including the best line of dialogue, a suitable party game, and the moral of the story ("Radiation doesn't kill people. People with radiation kill people.") You can read the whole column here. And as always, Facebook Likes and Tweets are appreciated.