Killers From Space (1954)

Combine Cold War paranoia with a pinch of speculative pseudo-science and a dash of radiation anxiety, shake it in a cheap sci-fi tumbler for 70-minutes and you get KILLERS FROM SPACE.
A very young Peter Graves plays the desert scientist studying nuclear blasts and counting the radiation. When his plane crashes after one blast and he’s missing for a few days things change. A big, ugly cautery scar over his heart doesn’t explain much, either. Of course, nobody believes him when he tells them there’s a troop of ping pong ball-eyed aliens living in the caverns in Yucca Flats, poaching our electricity and growing gigantic beetles and rock lizards….
KILLERS FROM SPACE is goofy, and for all of its campy charm pretty slow moving. Graves plays "astonishment" in every key in his repertoire. The alien outfits and makeup aren’t very convincing, but they look comfortable. The big bugs look like… well, they look like rear-screen projections with amplified sound (probably amplified to drown out the sound of the director shouting "Now look surprised, Peter!", "Now look astonished and disgusted, Peter!")
Anyway, it’s no sillier than most science fiction.  It’s directed by master director Billy Wilder’s brother W. Lee.  Cult fans should get a kick out of this.