What would we ever have done without Kenneth Tobey?
After all, he was the one who dealt with that plant man in the Arctic, that prehistoric beast in New York City, and the giant octopus in Los Angeles.
But there’s a new monster in town, so it’s time to call in Col. Patrick Hendry (Kenneth, of course, reprising an old role) out of his “retirement” in the state hospital to save us once more.
At any rate, that’s the general idea.
The directors, Wayne Berwick and Ted Newsom, took countless clips of Fifties Horror and Science Fiction films and combined them into a surprisingly coherent — and funny — film, which features appearances from a very familiar collection of old B-Movie stars and even legendary collector Bob Burns and Famous Monsters of Hollywood editor (and frequent cameo maker), Forrest J. Ackerman. We also get Scream Queen Brinke Stevens as a smart female scientist, who takes a long, sensuous shower which is entirely necessary to the plot (we’re told).
Okay, this is a very silly film, but it is a lot of fun to all the classic film clips and watch all the old hands — Like Les Tremayne, Robert Clarke, Ann Robinson, John Agar, and even Dr. Carrington himself, Robert Cornthwaite — back in action.
The monster itself? Well, it’s an appropriately silly guy in a rubber suit monster (apparently the original black and white rough cut, which circulated under the name Attack of the B-Movie Monster back in the late Eighties, featured a stop motion creature). Despite the huge flock of double entendres, the monster’s nakedness never becomes a major plot issue.
You have to give the two credit for an impressive edit job which allows them to “borrow” their monster mayhem from a whole bunch of other films. And yes, a big part of the fun is trying to identify the various pieces and where they came from.
So, if you love all those classic creature features of the Fifties, you’ll probably love this one even if it is a bit silly (after all, you’ve already seen so much of it!).
And those of you who aren’t in on the joke?
Well, it is a fun film in its own right, with a lot of pretty good bits (not all of which were filmed for this movie). And if you love monster movies, then there’s a good chance you’ll love it even if you haven’t seen all the old classics.
If you aren’t a fan, then it might just be what it takes to send you off in search of some of the greatest creature features of the Fifties, or the great early Godzilla films.
And you can bet I think that’s a very good thing…
rivets on the poster 