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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Mars in Cinemagic

 

THE ANGRY RED PLANET-1959-A manned Mars space probe that was thought to have crashed landed turns up 60 days later floating in space. When it's retrieved only one of the four person crew is conscious, the one female member Iris (Nora Hayden) who begins to relate the story of how she, Prof. Gettell (Les Tremayne), chief officer Sam Jacobs (Jack Kruschen) and Col. Tom O'Bannion (Gerald Mohr) travel to Mars and land on its red surface. When Iris sees an alien at a window she can't remember the rest of her story so the doctor gives her a drug and she continues. The group goes out to explore. It really is red. They have a ray gun that freezes things which comes in handy when Iris is attacked by a giant carnivorous plant! 

On their second outing they encounter a scary creature sometimes referred to as the rat bat spider which almost crushes the professor. Over a ridge they discover huge lake and something is watching them. Sensing danger they decide to return to the ship and go back to Earth but are held there by a force field. With nothing else to do, the decide to cross the lake when they spy a city in the distance. They head for it but turn around when a giant fish blob emerges and chases them. It kills Sam. The blob covers the ship. They use electricity to get rid of it, then get a Martian message but Iris faints. After they take off Gettell dies of a heart attack and Tom's condition worsens (he has a fungus). Poor Iris is on her own. Back in the present Iris concocts a cure to save Tom. They find a warning message on one of tapes. The voice (Ted Cassidy) warns Earth to stay away or be destroyed....

It has been said that THE ANGRY RED PLANET was made in 9 days on a budget of $200,000 by director Ib Melchior who co-wrote the screenplay with co-producer Sid Pink. Co-producer Norman Maurer reluctantly used the quick Cinemagic process to depict the Mars surface and the monsters. It was a very tacky looking but weird effect and he employed it again on THE THREE STOOGES IN ORBIT (co-starring his father in law Moe Howard). 

Melchior and Pink later worked together on REPTILICUS.

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AIP Remake

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CREATURE OF DESTRUCTION-1967-In another made for TV disaster, an over long silent, music only pre-credits kind of chase takes place with a very phony rubbery creature (the same one in Buchanan’s IT’S ALIVE) follows an old guy (Neil Fletcher; the father in IN THE YEAR 2889) to his boat and kills him. 

Dr. John Basso (Les Tremayne) does a hypnotism/prediction act with the help of Doreena (Pat Delaney) who he regresses into the funny “prehistoric” monster shown earlier. A dumb pompous army psychologist Lt. Blake (Roger Ready) doesn't like it. 

Of course this is a remake of THE SHE CREATURE (1956) which featured a very memorable and well known monster. I was never a big fan of the origina (directed by the great Edward L. Cahn) but this bore-fest with bad sound makes the original seem like BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN!  

Pat Delaney and Les Tremayne give ok performances but everyone else is pretty bad. Lead actor Aron  Kincad was forced into the role due to an out of court settlement with AIP and was on the picture for two weeks before leaving. 

Filmed in Texas. Buchanan also made IN THE YEAR 2889 around the same time.

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Some Buchanan remakes you might have missed:

https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2019/09/buchanan.html

https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2011/06/before-larry-cohens-killer-babies.html

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/4609335177952045780/7914412282512488747

Space Rocks

THE MONOLITH MONSTERS-1957-Space rocks fall on a small town and become giant sized when exposed to water. Geologist Dave Miller (Grant Williams; he starred in THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN the same year) tries to figure out why townsfolk are turning into carbon. Naturally Miller's girlfriend Cathy (Lola Albright; mainly a TV actress who died in 2017) takes kids on a rock hunt with disastrous results. Miller and the sheriff (William Flaherty) team up to find a solution and a frustrated newspaper publisher Cochrane (busy radio and character actor Les Tremayne) tries to assist them. They bring in Prof. Flanders (Trevor Bardette). A little girl in shock (Linda Scheley) helps them find a cure for the carbon crisis but the monoliths still threaten the town.

 John Sherwood directed this unusual low budget '50's sci-fi film (a year after making THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US) which features no “bug eyed monsters” and a lot of talk about silica. Paul Frees narrates, William Schallert (as a weatherman) and Troy Donahue have un-billed roles.. Co-screenwriter Robert M. Freaco penned TARANTULA in 1955. Jack Arnold has a story credit.

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'50's Science Fiction

WAR OF THE WORLDS-1953-In this classic science fiction film based on the HG Wells novel Earth is invaded by the inhabitants of the planet Mars. An off screen narrator (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) tells us why the Martians chose our planet. When one of their ships lands on Earth residents (who think it's a meteor) of a small town investigate. Vacationing scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) investigates. He meets up with Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson) and her uncle Dr. Collins (Lewis Martin), the pastor of the local church. After Forrester decides to stay for a while they all go to a square dance. Meanwhile three locals (Paul Burich, Jack Kruschen (as a Mexican) and William Phipps) check out the object when it opens it's hatch. Armed with a white flag they decide to approach the ship and be friends. They are promptly obliterated and the whole town is thrown into a blackout.

 The army is called in along with General Mann (Les Tremayne). Martian ships eventually show themselves and for some reason Collins sacrifices himself in a last ditch attempt to reason with them. He's killed and the army throws everything they have at the invaders to no avail. Forrester and Sylvia escape in a plane and spend some time evading the invaders but the doc manages to get one of the tri-color laser “eyes”. The Martians themselves are revealed to be little guys with long arms the same tri-color “eyes”. (The martians in the original novel are much more frightening) Meanwhile the Martians devastate the world and despite the US's best efforts including dropping an A-bomb they learn: “guns,tanks, bombs! They're like toys against them!”. After looters steal his truckload of scientific equipment Forrester searches the the devastated city for Sylvia who he finds in a church. Just when it looks like all hope is lost the Martian ships crash and burn and the aliens die (“We were all praying for a miracle”) due to germs in our atmosphere. 

This Sc-Fi/cold war classic was produced by George Pal, who originally planned it to be in 3-D and directed by Byron Haskin, who also worked as a special effects technician on many films which may have helped since WAR OF THE WORLDS 's SFX won an Academy Awa

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