Indestructible Man (1956)

Directed by Jack Pollexfen [Other horror films: Monstrosity (1963)]

I’m not sure why, but I’ve always felt an affinity toward this movie. The story is at least a decade out of time, and certainly it’s not an easy case to make that the movie’s actually good, but I’ve seen this four times or so, and have always had a fun time with it.

The idea of a man being brought back to life only to seek revenge on those who’ve wronged him has been done before, in films like The Walking Dead and The Man They Could Not Hang. It’s not an original idea, but I liked the execution here. To be sure, the story in The Walking Dead was far more emotional, but again, this had a good sense of fun to it.

Part of that may be the Dragnet-type style. The film’s narrated by Max Showalter’s character, and though it’s not really a big thing, it does give the film a different vibe, almost like a crime documentary of sorts, reminding me of later films like The Town That Dreaded Sundown and Drive-In Massacre.

You also have the Los Angeles setting, which, despite being in black-and-white, comes across as vibrant and alive. You even have an appearance of the Angels Flight railway (and I have to admit, the first three times I watched this movie, I had absolutely no idea what that was), which just adds to a regional flavor.

Lon Chaney Jr. (Pillow of Death, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Bride of the Gorilla, The Haunted Palace) wasn’t given the most interesting material to work with, but I still thought it did a solid job as a threatening antagonist. Max Showalter (The Monster That Challenged the World) felt sort of generic, but he’s also a police detective in a 50’s movie, so who could blame him? Ross Elliott (Tarantula) had a solid, slimy feel to him, and Marian Carr was okay in the limited capacity she was given.

As one could imagine, special effects here aren’t that relevant, but there were two scenes in the last handful of minutes that were pretty solid. Most of the time, though, it felt pretty simple, and most of the people who were killed died either by strangling or being picked up and thrown (which was always fun, admittedly).

There’s little that’s really special in Indestructible Man, but I enjoy it, perhaps in a similar way to how I deeply enjoy The Monster Walks despite its rather negative reception. Indestructible Man is a fun movie, though, and one that I’d not hesitate to watch again in the future.

7.5/10