50's Horror

MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS-1958-A college professor Donald Blake (Arthur Franz) cuts his hand on the tooth of a 1000 year old fish treated with gamma rays. He becomes a rubbery faced caveman-monster and kills a nurse (Helen Wescott ) and a cop (Ross Elliot). Since the cops find unusual hand and foot prints at the scenes of the crimes Blake is not a suspect but he begins to suspect himself! His work in proving the fish is somehow responsible makes everyone think he's crazy. His future father in law (Alexander Lockwood) and doctor (Whit Bissell) suggest he go to a mountain retreat to relax. He tries to experiment on himself and turns into the monster just as Madeline, his fiance' arrives at the cabin. She wrecks her car and he carries her off, then chases her through the woods. Blake manages to get a picture of himself  as the monster but Madeline can't understand why the monster is wearing Blake's clothes! At the end Blake injects himself with some of the fish's blood and becomes a monster getting shot to death by a police lieutenant (Judson Pratt) in the process.

MOTC also features a German shepherd with fangs, a giant dragonfly and Troy Donahue (later on the TV shows SURFSIDE 6 and HAWAIIAN EYE) and Nancy Walters (later acted with Elvis in BLUE HAWAII) as some students who try to help. Perennial '50's character Hank Patterson (later Arnold the Pig's "father" on TV's GREEN ACRES) also appears.

CAMPUS is an ok low budget horror film but considering Jack Arnold directed it I thought it could have been better. Of course it was one of four movies he directed in 1958 so maybe he had to rush it a little! Screenwriter David Duncan wrote several other low budget horror films (THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD, THE LEECH WOMAN, and others).

Though Franz is shown in two transformation scenes stuntman Eddie Parker played the monster. Parker had played the Mr. Hyde role in the earlier ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (which also featured Wescott). And if the Mr. Hyde monster in that movie reminds of the cave-monster in CAMPUS well, Bud Westmore and Jack Kevan did the make-up on both! Other Abbott & Costello related notes: Franz starred with "the boys" in A & C MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN and Parker played the mummy in A & C MEET THE MUMMY!

Lead actress Joanna Moore (mother of Tatum O'Neal) had a role in Orson Welles' TOUCH OF EVIL the same year.

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