Tag: 1957

Directed by Edward L. Cahn [Other horror films: Creature with the Atom Brain (1955), The She-Creature (1956), Voodoo Woman (1957), Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957), It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958), Curse of the Faceless Man (1958), The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959), Invisible Invaders (1959), Beauty and the Beast (1962)]

I’ve seen this late 50’s zombie movie once before, and while I remember enjoying it a bit more that first time around, I still think it’s a decent little movie. Nothing stellar, and nothing to upend what we all consider the pre-Night of the Living Dead zombie classics, but a perfectly fine film.

Zombies of Mora Tau follows a group of people going after diamonds, but these diamonds have some undead protectors. Naturally, many in this group are largely skeptical, and if there’s one thing in the movie that bothered me, it’s how long many of these people just disbelieved the claims of those who’ve lived in this area for years out of hand, even after experiencing astonishing events, such as a man being stabbed without showing any pain.

That type of disbelief isn’t uncommon in horror, but after a few experiences, you’d think that something would give. Here, though, even the granddaughter (or great-granddaughter, I forget) of an older woman who’s known of zombies most of her life doesn’t seem to take her great-grandmother’s words seriously until the very end. It’s slightly off-putting.

The aquatic zombies here (for the diamonds are on a coast in a shipwreck) are fun, though I have to say that none of the underwater scenes really thrilled me. To be sure, few of the scenes that took place on land thrilled me either, but we’re talking about a pretty old zombie movie, and one that doesn’t exactly move with a brisk pace.

Something also has to be said about how weak the zombies were. Sure, if they get their hands on you, you might be screwed (though if you’re underwater, evidence shows that you’ll survive 90% of the time), but all you need is an open flame or a flare gun, and you’ll be golden. These mothas move slowly, and they’re not exactly what I would label as threatening.

Both Gregg Palmer (The Creature Walks Among Us) and Autumn Russell were fine, if not generic. Speaking of generic, Allison Hayes (The Unearthly, The Hypnotic Eye, The Disembodied, The Undead) had that annoying trait of fainting whenever she was scared. I don’t blame Hayes’ for it, and she did get one of my favorite lines in the film (“You’re already dead, you just don’t have the decency to lie down”), but neither of the women in this movie have the chance to give it their all.

Well, young women, that is, because I really liked Marjorie Eaton (Monstrosity, The Attic, Night Tide) here. She was a feisty woman, and pretty much in the right about everything. I would have liked to see her have a bit more to do, but in a way, she’s like the oracle who warns people off a path, only to know that they’ll do exactly what she says they shouldn’t. Morris Ankrum (Half Human: The Story of the Abominable Snowman, Giant from the Unknown, Beginning of the End, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, The Giant Claw) and Joel Ashley both appeared, Ankrum being the more interesting of the two, but neither one really stood out that well to me.

I mean, Zombies of Mora Tau can be a bit sluggish, and I don’t think any part of the film comes close to being as enchanting as portions of I Walked with a Zombie did, but it’s not a bad way to spend an hour and ten minutes. It’s a digestible zombie movie that follows the expected path, and if you want a taste of some pre-Romero zombies, giving this a go isn’t likely to ruin your life.

7/10

Directed by Arnold Laven [Other horror films: N/A]

Though sometimes heralded as one of the many solid giant-animal movies of the late 1950’s, I have to say that The Monster That Challenged the World didn’t do much for me. The movie’s not bad, or anything, but the more and more I see these types of movies, the more I lose interest in them.

Some of them, of course, do have something special – The Giant Claw had a lot of science going on, Earth vs the Spider has been a mild favorite for a while, and Attack of the Giant leeches has hokey charm – but I’m widely disinterested in this particular portion of the genre. Giant monsters causing havoc just isn’t my thing.

Taking place around the Salton Sea in southern California (which I never heard of before this movie), we have a mollusk-like thing that entertains some people, and by ‘entertain,’ I mean suck their blood out entirely and kill them. Of course, it’s not just one – the thing laid eggs, so there’s a potential of hundreds, though we only see three or so others, and as the film focuses around a Navy Base, I can’t say there was much character in the characters we got.

Tim Holt plays a generic, gruff military guy. Because a monster movie isn’t complete without romance, Audrey Dalton (Mr. Sardonicus) plays a young woman who falls head over heels for him, and he saves her from the monster at the end, and I don’t have the words to describe how uninterested I was in their romance. Hans Conried didn’t really do that much, but he did later voice the Grinch in Halloween is Grinch Night, so that’s something.

Honestly, I don’t know what more to say. The special effects were iffy, the finale somewhat underwhelming, the monsters were monstering. I don’t know – these types of movies just often don’t interest me, but they can work for others, so if this sounds like your type of thing, give it a watch. I just may not be the exact audience to enjoy it.

6/10

Directed by Fred F. Sears [Other horror films: The Werewolf (1956), Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)]

I’ve only heard the vaguest notions about this giant monster movie, but that doesn’t really matter, as many of those late ’50’s giant monster movies aren’t really that different. This one certainly possesses some charm, and I think the science used in the film went all out, but boy, what a regrettable monster design.

I mean, that design looks so, so bad, the main problem being that the face that they use for the close-up doesn’t look threatening in the least, but extraordinarily goofy. It doesn’t do the movie any good when the main focus, the monster, just looks so ridiculous.

Aside from that admittedly large issue, though, The Giant Claw is okay.

The scientific explanation for this giant bird was certainly detailed. I got the whole matter/anti-matter stuff (you’re reading a guy who’s read Angels & Demons by Dan Brown multiple times), but once they got into mesa and stuff, I got as lost as that general. They could have just stuck with a giant bird, but whoever worked on the science in this film just went all out with an explanation I didn’t follow in the least, so I appreciate that.

Really, the only two performances that matter are those of Jeff Morrow (This Island Earth and The Creature Walks Among Us) and Mara Corday (Tarantula and The Black Scorpion), and I have no complaints with their characters. Their growing romance is sort of cute, and their plane banter was fun. I thought the two worked well with each other, and that helped make them feel not so stereotypical.

Oh, I guess you could count the Rod Sterling-esque narrator as another character. Seriously, as the narrator (who probably has a name, but I can’t find him credited) speaks at the beginning, it sounds legit just like the beginning of a Twilight Zone episode, almost hilariously so. And this is before Twilight Zone started, so it makes me wonder if this was more influential than we knew.

The Giant Claw isn’t a great movie, but I didn’t have a terrible time with it, and it’s not like it takes a lot of time to get through either. Also, as horrible as the bird looked, seeing it destroy building or just pick up whole trains like a boss was sort of cool. And that science – some in-depth stuff.

6.5/10

Directed by Dan Milner [Other horror films: The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues (1955)]

So a member of an island tribe is killed, and he comes back for revenge as a murderous tree? Good stuff, good stuff.

To be honest, while the monster itself is beyond goofy (the design for the tree creature just looks incredibly silly), I thought a good portion of this was at least enjoyable, and I definitely didn’t have a poor time with it.

Some of this is due to the setting, being a small island filled with restless natives while American scientists are trying to research a localized plague. To be fair, the plague doesn’t really play into the story at all, but I did like the idea of the scientists being worried about being overtaken by the natives, given that there’s only three of them and God knows how many members of the island tribe. It gives off almost a tense vibe at points (though I noted that those poison darts also never came into play).

None of the leads were particularly impressive, though. I think John McNamara was the most interesting, as Tod Andrews’ character rubbed me the wrong way with some sexist remarks and Tina Carver, despite being a scientist, still came across as second best to the other doctors. At least we got some humor from Linda Watkins, who’s British commentary cracked me up (and worth mentioning that Watkins was born in Massachusetts, so I wonder if she spent some time abroad to get that accent).

I can understand why this movie’s gotten rather negative reception, but I found much of it more charming than disappointing. I don’t think by any means From Hell It Came was a good movie – it’s still below average in my eyes – but I did personally have fun with it at times, if only for it’s ludicrous story, so take that for what you will.

6/10