I never got to see the original movie as a child, so I don't have those nostalgic memories. Hell, I even missed the remake in theaters, though I saw it a few years later and didn't like it. Many years later, I revisited the remake and rather enjoyed it as the campy nonsense it is. Hell, I am a fan of it. After that, I ordered a VHS copy of the original film and I didn't really care for it. Maybe I was expecting more? I don't know. I think you make some great points about how it was very shocking and scary for its time. I wish I would have seen the film when I was a kid!

I am not a fan. I just happen to enjoy movies. Fans are embarrassing.

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I agree with you. The remake is nowhere near as good.

The original '53 version is by far the better.

I agree about the original! It still has some startling moments, including when David's alien-controlled father slaps him! In the Fifties, that was absolutely shocking! This is a gentle, sweet giant of a father (Leif Erickson) now cold and heartlessly striking his son. WOW!
For a related moment, I think of the abusive father in "The Space Children". When he attacks his son, the alien entity kills him (as I recall). For a little, low-budget film about children befriending an alien, it had some very dark moments.
The Fifties and Sixties had some harsh moments unexpected in the movies they appear in, yet people often think of the old movies as fluffy and friendly. I always say they have a short memory about such TV series as "Leave It to Beaver", in which Ward sometimes spoke of a "spare the rod, spoil the child" type father and the boys weren't above lying and other less-than-admirable behavior. After all, this was the era that yielded "Old Yeller"!
MystMoonstruck

I saw the remake before the original, but I caught the original on TV years back. I didn't like it as much as the remake.
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