Mutiny in Outer Space

Mutiny in Outer Space is a 1965 black-and-white independent American science fiction action film, written, produced, and directed by Hugo Grimaldi and Arthur C. Pierce, although Pierce was not credited as directing. It stars William Leslie, Dolores Faith, Pamela Curran, and Richard Garland.

Space Station X-7 is overrun by a previously unknown but deadly alien fungus that originated in ice caves on the Moon and was inadvertently brought back by astronauts returning with lunar samples. In order to save the space station from destruction, members of the crew are forced to mutiny against X-7's commander, who is not in his right mind because of "space raptures".

In the US, Mutiny in Outer Space was theatrically released as the second film of a double feature with The Human Duplicators.

Maj. Gordon Towers and Capt. Dan Webber are returning to Space Station X-7 after collecting geological samples and ice from newly-discovered ice caves on the Moon. Upon arrival, Dan collapses and is taken to the infirmary by Dr. Hoffman and Gordon is reunited with his girlfriend, Dr. Faith Montaine, a civilian biochemist.

Hoffman has difficulty diagnosing Dan, ruling out "space raptures" because they cause hallucinations and not the high fever that Dan is running. Faith notices that a small welt on Dan's leg is growing rapidly into a large fungus. She says that the spores causing the fungus must have come from the Moon's ice caves. They put Dan into isolation.

Meanwhile, the commander of X-7, Col. Frank Cromwell, is behaving oddly. As a swarm of meteors approaches the space station, Cromwell is unable to give the order to take evasive action until prodded to do so by X-7's communications officer, Lt. Connie Engstrom.

Dan dies, his body horribly disfigured by the fungus. But when Cromwell looks at the body in the isolation chamber, he calmly says, "There's nothing unusual in there" and refuses to report to Gen. Knowland at Earth Control Center that the fungus has killed Dan. He insists that Dan's demise was caused by "pressure shock" and warns Gordon, Faith, and Hoffman to say nothing about the fungus because it might panic X-7's crew. Hoffman says that Cromwell is "on the verge of space raptures" and very sick.

Gordon decides that the situation is serious enough to remove Cromwell from command. But Gordon fails in his attempt, which Cromwell says is "mutiny". Cromwell orders Connie to send a message to Knowland about the mutiny and to say in it that Gordon held the crew at gunpoint until he was overpowered. Connie seemingly agrees, but Cromwell does not know that she has surreptitiously recorded the order. She transmits it to Knowland, who is immediately aware that something is amiss because weapons were outlawed in space in 1970, more than 20 years earlier. Connie also reports that the entire space station is being overrun by the fungus. Knowland tries to reply to X-7 but gets no response. He says that X-7 may have to be destroyed to prevent the fungus from reaching Earth.