Director: Arnold Laven
Year: 1957
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Giant Monsters
Plot:
After a series of missing person incidents, the staff at a local military base near the Salton Sea decide to investigate the area that turns up a strange substance. The more they look into the substance, they discover it to belong to a species of sea mollusk that was said to have been in the area millions of years ago. After several attempts to stop the creatures from getting out to the community have failed, they band together to combat the massive creatures from getting further out of control.
Review:
There's quite a lot to like with this one. One of the better features here is the fun old-school monster movie setup that provides a fine build-up to the creatures appearing in the community. The loss of the bodies during the routine operation and subsequent search that reveals that strange substance on the boat where the bodies disappeared from is a harmless and innocuous enough start that becomes quite a bit more fun when the origins of the secretions are found. Operating as a fine parallel to the strange bodies that are discovered in the local area involving people being found drained of blood and water which produces a bizarre shriveling effect on the human body that has a lot to like about it.
As well, once the creature's presence is discovered, the series of reveals here involving the creatures and how they operate drives this one quite nicely. Trying to prove their existence using only the dead bodies, the eventual discovery of the nest, and the series of detailed investigations carried out helps to bring about more involving the way they operate and potential weaknesses making for a pretty intriguing if overall cliched setup where it goes on about the creatures just enough to figure out who they are. Playing into the rules and general confines of the genre rather nicely, this all comes together rather nicely. The atypical romance that develops here is given such fleeting hints of substance that it feels quite underwhelming as a result since it's obvious just going through the notions of such a story due to the period of the day. However, none of these are all that detrimental being that point, and don't hold it back too much.
As is to be expected here, the special effects are all quite goofy and generate a cheesy atmosphere more than anything. With the design of the creatures focused on the animated heads bobbing and weaving around to grab victims, there’s a wholly silly approach to the upper portion of their anatomy which is made all the more effective by the integration of the creature into its environment. Getting enough action here with the attacks taking place out at the lake, the series of traps trying to contain it inside the series of canals and aqueducts, and the big finale at the military base where the creatures are brought to play with an extended sequence that shows off the silliness of their design in grand fashion.
Generally, there's not much wrong here but its main drawback is the highly underwhelming and lackluster pacing that follows through in the second half where it features the threat of the creatures as a big part of this but never really features them all that much. Focusing on the plight of the military to determine the cause and general way to go about stopping the creatures, it's all about trying to carry out a complicated plan of stopping them that takes up quite a bit of time here with the strategic decisions and the search through the community trying to gather up the supplies necessary for the mission that it feels somewhat lackluster during this time. There's not much in the way of creature action as a result of them appearing in one or two brief bits until the finale where it gets several more impactful sequences.
Overview: ***.5/5
A really solid and enjoyable creature feature, this one has a lot to like as a cheesy monster movie from this time period and it remains quite enjoyable overall despite some minor drawbacks. Those who are fans of this particular era of the genre or enjoy this brand of cheesy style will have a lot to enjoy here while most others turned off by these aspects might want to heed caution.
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