Giant from the Unknown (1958)

Apparently, if a scientist tells us something, it must be true.

At least, that appears to be the message of this odd little film.  We are shown a (supposedly) extinct lizard and told that the hero found it in a chunk of rock millions of years old.

Sleeping.

Yep, a living lizard which, thanks to some barely specified form of suspended animation just woke up and stretched a little when he broke the rock open.

The basic idea is that a giant Conquistador did exactly the same thing, and woke up 500 years later.  He then goes on a murder spree for no particularly discernible reason, other than that he is the monster in a monster movie.

What makes this odder is that:

1.) this is a remarkably well-made film for the fifties, with good sound and film quality, reasonably good acting and even some well staged action; and

2.) that for some reason, in an otherwise sane and sensible script, the giant starts murdering people BEFORE the scene in which we see him wake up (complete with references to the reviving influence of lightning).

Maybe he was just taking a dirt nap between killings.

Oh well.  Who knows what to make of a film like this?  It’s just too good to be this bad.