Piedras Blancas

 

 

 (imdb)

THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS-1959-After a huge claw appears from behind a rock, lighthouse keeper Sturges (John Harmon) warns some locals to stay away from his place. After the credits the headless bodies of two brothers are found on the beach of the California coastal town Piedras Blancas. Constable Matson (Forrest Lewis) is stumped but locals think Sturgis might have something to do with it. Sturgis gets upset when talkative grocer Kochek (Frank Arvidson) didn't save him any meat scraps. Strugis' daughter Lucy (Jeanne Carmen) works at the local cafe and hangs around Fred (Don Sullivan from THE GIANT GILA MONSTER). The local doc (Les Tremayne) says both corpses were drained of blood and he's puzzled. While Fred and Lucy frolic on the beach, Sturgis puts a pail full of fish on the rocks. At night Lucy decides to go for a swim and the creature's claw appears again. The creature kills Kochek (we only see its shadow) and a little boy Jimmy (the director's son) discovers the headless body while they are burying the brothers. Later after Sturgis is found unconscious on the rocks, a little girl is murdered. When the constable goes to investigate Kochek's meat locker, he gets a big surprise. The monster was hiding in there and emerges carrying a severed head! The constable is wounded but not too badly. While Sturgis is convalescing, he tells Lucy there really is a monster and he's been feeding it for years! 

This  great low budget horror film has a memorable scary monster and a great cast of likable characters. Great climax! 

This was the first film directed by Irvin Berwick, formerly a dialogue coach working with William Castle and Jack Arnold. He and make-up artist Jack Kevan (the film's pro-ducer) decided to make their own movie and formed their own production company. Berwick's son Wayne later made MICROWAVE MASSACRE (1979).

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It's Like Beat, Man

THE REBEL SET-1959-Mr. Tucker (Ed Platt), the too sure of himself phony hip owner of a beat club hires 3 losers to help him and his partner Sidney (Ned Glass) rob an armored car. Down on his luck actor Johnny (Gregg Palmer; ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU), law breaking spoiled rich kid George Leland (Don Sullivan) who's mother is a movie star and deadbeat writer Ray Miller (John Lupton; a busy TV actor at the time). His plan involves the fact that there is a 4 hour layover in Chicago while taking the train from LA to NY. They all agree and board a train. Johnny has no choice but to bring his wife Jeanne (Kathleen Crowley; in CURSE OF THE UNDEAD the same year) which doesn't go over well with the others. The robbery goes as planned and the trio re-board the train with Tucker now dressed as a priest. First Leland goes a little nuts and wants to keep the 5 mil to himself. Johnny knocks him out. Later Leland winds up shot in the head. Then Tucker kills Ray and throws his body off the train. Guilt ridden Johnny confesses to Jeanne that he helped in the robbery and plans to give himself up. He tells the police chief in charge (Robert Shayne) about the money but Tucker has already absconded with it. Johnny escapes the police and gives chase. He and Tucker have several fights and chases until Tucker is electrocuted leading to the macabre ironic ending featuring Leland’s mom. Gene Roth is also featured as the train conductor and I. Stanford Jolley is a beat poet. 

This is a moody kind of film norish little drama with a beatnik backdrop by director Gene Fowler Jr. a year after he made I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE. It was a big year for co-star Sullivan who was also in two ultra cool low budget horror classics :THE GIANT GILA MONSTER and THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS. Oh yeah..and the not so cool TEENAGE ZOMBIES. You dig?

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Teen Age Zombies/Moronic Adults

TEENAGE ZOMBIES-1957/59-Ok, now be warned: THIS IS ANOTHER MOVIE BY JERRY WARREN! I admit I never expected to see this teenage horror obscurity on video and here it is on DVD!! The print is jumping and damaged, the sound isn’t great and it seems to be missing part of a scene so I can’t really recommend it but if you thought Warren’s other non-paste up jobs (like THE INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD) were bad you owe it to yourself to see one that’s worse!

Four teenagers led by Don Sullivan (the likable hero of MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS and THE GIANT GILA MONSTER) decide to have lunch on a remote island after water skiing. They stumble upon (Warren regular) Katherine Victor her “army” of home made zombies. In a very dark scene near the beginning she seems to be overseeing a bunch of them but later on there’s only one! When their boat disappears (it’s never actually shown anyway) they are taken prisoner and locked in a dungeon. Two other teens come looking and seek help from the crooked local sheriff. His office is a riot. It looks like he’s in a framed painting!

Eventually we learn that Victor is a foreign spy working on a gas that will turn everyone into mindless slaves. Some “3 Stooges” like scenes erupt and a man in a gorilla suit shows up too!

"The stars are matter. We're matter. But it doesn't matter"-Don Van Vliet

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The Gila Monster Strikes!

THE GIANT GILA MONSTER-1959-Whoa! They don’t make ‘em like this anymore! Suped up hot rods, rock and roll and a real lizard traipsing through matchbox cars and train sets all figure in this unintentionally funny 50’s teen horror flick!

Don Sullivan (from MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS and TEENAGE ZOMBIES) stars as Chase Winstead, a singing-hot rodding-mechanic/tow truck driver. He also manages to take a college correspondence course while supporting his mom and semi-crippled little sister. He has a French girlfriend (Lisa Simone, also in MISSILE TO THE MOON) whose accent makes most of her dialogue incomprehensible (yeah, like her dialogue really matters!). He’s buddy-buddy with the local sheriff (character actor and stuntman Fred Graham who had many un-credited film roles) and it’s a good thing! If it weren’t for Chase and his jive talking gang the scaly star of this epic would still be stalking the woods! A grumpy old mine owner (who looks like a tall skinny Lionel Barrymore) thinks Chase is responsible for the disappear-ance of his son but of course the title reptile is really munching locals.



Don sings a couple of songs including the very bad “Laugh Children Laugh”. It’s so bad he sings it twice! A local DJ named Steamroller (real Texas DJ Ken Knox) records him and plays the track at a town sock hop just before old Gila Gills busts in. A hot rod filled with Nitro spells the end for our hero, I mean the monster after it destroys a train and parts of a toy town. There’s also a comic relief town drunk (Shug Fisher) that you should keep an eye on. In a scene of him driving his pick up truck you can glimpse the hand of the director or some other hapless crewmember in the reflection of the windshield!

GGM is no classic even in a bad movie sense but it’s still fun. It was produced in Texas by Western actor (and future TV GUNSMOKE co-star) Ken Curtis who in the same year would also serve in the same capacity on THE KILLER SHREWS which GILA’s director Ray Kellogg would also helm. Curtis would even take a role in that one! Kellogg usually a second unit director and SFX cameraman (and sometimes actor) would later co-direct John Wayne’s reverse magna opus THE GREEN BERETS! Screenplay writer Jay Simms later wrote PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO and CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS and many TV shows (including THRILLER and THE MAN FROM UNCLE).



I wonder what happened to Sullivan? His last film credit was in 1962 ‘s PARADISE ALLEY. Did he ever make records? The guy was in a Jerry Warren movie; he must have a nice story to tell. Don if you’re out there the public wants your story. Hey! Even Arch Hall Jr. has re-surfaced!

Anyway, like The Giant Gila Monster, I’m gone daddio!

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