User reviews

Conflating the Western, horror and teenage movie genres as it does, "Teenage Monster" (1957) is a unique experience indeed. It also features the most frightening monster in a late 1800s Western setting since Mercedes McCambridge stalked through the plains of "Johnny Guitar" (1954). In this film, a meteor that looks like a July 4th sparkler crashes near the mine of the Cannon family, killing Paw and turning young Charles into a mutant of sorts. Seven years later, Charles is the eponymous teenage monster, killing cattle and the occasional passerby, while his Maw must hide him from the townsfolk and deal with her new blackmailing hussy of a housekeeper. Charles, as a teenager, looks like nothing more than a long-haired and long-bearded hippie with bad teeth (I've seen worse walking the streets of the East Village!), despite the makeup work by Jack "Frankenstein" Pierce. His garbled, whining attempts at speech are reminiscent of a constipated canine and are quite pathetic, but still had me cracking up somehow. Anne Gwynne, who was featured in any number of 1940s Universal horror films, is fine as Charles' sacrificing mother, and, actually, their relationship is kinda sweet. Still, the film, fun as it is, is patently ridiculous, and with a very rushed ending to boot. Even my revered "Psychotronic Encyclopedia" calls it "awful." My tastes must be getting more and more dubious, though, because I did have a good time with this unique little quickie.

TEENAGE MONSTER was originally produced under the title MONSTER ON THE HILL, and was also known as METEOR MONSTER. Heading the cast is the former 1940s Universal star Anne Gwynne, trapped into a role she probably needed to meet some bills. The pretty Gwynne was known for such Karloff, Lugosi, and Chaney Jr. oldies like BLACK Friday, WEIRD WOMAN, and HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Here she starts out as a typical mother and housewife in the Old West whose life is thrown into turmoil when a cheap Fourth Of July sparkler in the sky (it's supposed to be a deadly meteor!) crashes down and kills her husband. Worse still is the handicap it leaves upon her little boy Charles: he's now a scarred and brain damaged brute.

Zooming ahead several years later, we see the "teenaged" boy as he now exists since the tragedy: a six-foot-something hairy dimwit with bad teeth and shaggy hair. The boy was portrayed by stuntman Gil Perkins, well over age fifty and who himself was a former Wolf Man and Frankenstein monster double from the Universal classics of the 40s! For TEENAGE MONSTER he was made up by the once great Jack Pierce, whose new '50s get-ups were starting to look kind of crappy and rushed, leaving him looking like a cross between Glenn Strange in THE MAD MONSTER and John Bloom in THE INCREDIBLE TWO-HEADED TRANSPLANT.

Gwynne tries to keep her mutant son hidden from the townsfolk, but junior tends to get into mischief by killing someone or something every so often anyway. Mom has also become wealthy in the aftermath of her husband's demise, and once a young waitress gets wind of the shady goings-on, she blackmails Gwynne by threatening to expose Charles unless she receives a steady chunk of change on a regular basis. She gradually gains control over the mangy halfwit too, sending her pawn out to dispatch people she doesn't much care for in the bargain.

AIP actress Gloria Castillo (REFORM SCHOOL GIRL, INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN) gives the best performance of the show as the greedy waitress. But Anne Gwynne also seems to rise above the material herself, given that she thought the film was the worst thing she ever did and even caused her to stop making movies (this was her final film). Indeed, there are some unintentional laughs here, the best example being the dubbed voice of the teenage monster. It was initially felt that Charles sounded way too articulate for a mentally challenged moron, so the decision was made to have Gil Perkins loop in some hysterically stupid whimpers and whines that never match the filmed lip movements. Even funnier is the fact that Anne Gwynne and Gloria Castillo still appear to be able to make sense of every grunt he mumbles! ** out of ****

This movie came out in the late 1950's when science fiction/monster/teenager movies were all the rage, so I guess the producers of this picture decided to try and combine all three, plus throw in a western setting to come up with 1957's "Teenage Monster". This movie is cheesy, but is actually not bad, if you can get past the "monster", who is not scary looking at all, but instead looks like a 50 year old half man, half ape in cowboy boots and jeans. It's unintentionally hilarious.

The premise of the movie is that a teenager turns into a hairy beast after being exposed to a meteor that fell to earth and killed his father when he was a little boy. The movie never explains why the father was killed and the boy survived, and why being exposed would turn him into a cross between the incredible hulk and an ape who mumbles when he speaks and is several sandwiches shy of a picnic.

Ann Gwynne plays the monster's mother. She is a good actress, but she is pretty much reduced to scolding the teenage monster and crying throughout most of the movie. Despite these flaws, this movie really a hoot. I love cheesy 1950 drive in movies, and this is one of the better ones in my opinion.

In June of 1880, the Cannon family is mining for gold. A meteor explodes nearby, killing the father, Jim (McCullough), and injuring his young son, Charles (Parker). Now a widow, Ruth Cannon (Gwynne) vows to continue working the mine. Seven years later, Charles (now played by Gilbert Perkins) is nearly an adult, but has mutated into a terrifying wildman. Ruth controls him most of the time, but occasionally he leaves the mine to kill people and livestock. When they finally strike it rich, the secret becomes even harder to keep.

"Teenage Monster" is one of a number of films of the 1950s and 1960s that combined the classic western with the horror genre. Make-up artist Jack P. Pierce (better known for work for Universal on such films as "Frankenstein" (1931) and its sequels) provided the make-up for the grown-up Charles. Okay, so the budget was low and the cast wasn't particularly good. I try to make allowances for such factors and give a lot of leeway to films of this vintage. Unfortunately, this one has little to commend it. Viewers who survived films like "Billy the Kid versus Dracula" (1966) with their sanity intact might want to check this one out. Most others should not subject their VCRs to the taint.

"It could have happened..." is the catchphrase of this movie. According to "legend", back in June of 1880 (somewhere in the Old West) a sparkler, I mean meteor, crashed near the mine of the Cannon family. Because of the crash, Jim Cannon (father/husband) dies and his son Charles gets a severe case of dirty face.

So apparently Charles, becomes a giant yeti-like creature (I guess due to the meteor) who goes around killing indiscriminately (due to the fact that he is a child in a monster's body - think of Viktor from the Bride except with a worse vocabulary, diction and his jaw locked shut). During this time his mother has Charles continue to mine for gold, as she hides him in the basement. When gold is discovered, everything unravels (is there a greed destroys us all theme hiding in there somewhere??). Everyone in this movie seems to use Charles in one way or another, for their own schemes (even mom). You end up empathizing with Charles, simply because everyone around him is conniving and he is after all still a small boy (on the inside).

I'm not sure what the merits of this movie are, except to a hospital ward full of insomniacs. It is quite dull, extremely slow and quite predictable. Thankfully this made for TV movie is only 65 minutes long.

-Celluloid Rehab

20 years before "Track of the Moon Beast", another classic, we got this wonderfully idiotic piece of junk about a characters' exposure to a falling meteor. That person is a child named Charles Cannon, who seven years later has become a hilarious anthropological throwback (complete with makeup by Jack Pierce). His mom Ruth (Anne Gwynne) never tries very hard to keep him hidden from the world, as he's always out and about maiming and killing people. Their fortunes would be seem to be improving when they finally strike it rich in the old family gold mine, but of course just keep getting worse and worse.

You can't feel too sorry for Ruth; she leaves the poor creature (played as a teenager by 50 year old Australian Gil Perkins) to his own devices far too often.

The actors, also including studly Stuart Wade as the local sheriff, Norman Leavitt as his brave deputy, and stuntman / actor Chuck Courtney as the slimy Marv, give admirably straight faced performances, but the movie belongs to Gloria Castillo as Kathy, an abduction victim turned conniving charmer. She's a pleasure to watch. And God bless her, Ms. Gwynne emotes for everything that she's worth.

Charles' appearance is amusing, if not Pierces' best work, and his vocalizations (which occasionally become coherent) are damn funny for a while.

This is another "good" one for watching with beers and buddies.

Five out of 10.

A frightening bore, that is. Jack Pierce's make-up and above-mediocre acting can't save this poorly directed, implausible story. Yet another cliche, mumbling child-minded monster is on the loose, aided by his normal mother. The worst of this movie is the misleading title: while cashing in on the teenage monster fad (we all know "teenage monster" is a redundancy) the monster here looks like an old hermit or prehistoric caveman. And the big plot question never gets resolved - will mom marry her son's murderer? The best of this movie (at least it's on the DVD) is the original movie trailer shown at the end - classically and hilariously repaints the film you just saw into a riveting drama.

While this movies make very little sense, it's not really that bad.So a giant sparkler crashes into a man and his son.The man dies and his son becomes a giant werewolf with really bad teeth.If you are a fan of Howard Stern, you will quickly notice that the "monster" sounds like a cross between Gary The Retard and JD.If you are not a Stern fan, you probably won't understand a thing it says.But anyway, I was lead to believe this movie was sci-fi/horror/western and it's really none of those.It's a movie about relationships with no other genre elements.I will never understand why old movies with the word "teenager" in the title never actually have any teenagers in the movie.That aside, this movie isn't too bad.Give it a shot.

Surprise, surprise... "Teenage Monster" isn't all that bad a sci-fi movie. Sure, the teenage monster is laughable: he doesn't look scary at all (just hairy) and you're left wondering if Gil Perkins decided to play a monster with a speech impediment or if he's trying to speak normally and the make-up is making him mumble. Anyway, the result is pretty hilarious. (I meant to say "scary", but the only word I could think of was "hilarious".)

But "Teenage Monster" is pretty educational: did you know what happens when a meteor strikes a father and his son? Well, I didn't! Apparently such a meteor strike kills a grown man, but not a child. However, the child will grow up with an exceptional amount of facial hair. Okay, so the plot seems to be ludicrous to non-existing at first, but give it a few minutes (not too many, the movie is only just over 60 minutes long) and see how scriptwriter Ray Buffum (also the man who penned "Teen-Age Crime Wave", "Brain from Planet Arous" and "Island of Lost Women") adds a few interesting touches to the script: see how the monster's mother tries to hide her son from the villagers (it doesn't help that the sheriff is in love with her) and how the monster is abused by another character. This may not sound too spectacular (and indeed it isn't), but do remember that most 50s sci-fi films offered you a cheesy monster and a dull story: "Teenage Monster", directed by Jacques R. Marquette (famous for directing "Teenage Monster" and ... oh, that's it?), at least tries to offer the viewer a compelling story. Compelling it isn't, but at least it keeps you from being bored and waiting for the next scene with the unconvincing monster.

Hey - it's a 50's horror movie, what can we expect, kids?

This one is truly original in that it actually combines werewolves, meteors, and the Old West. However, the sci-fi aspect (meteors) is particularly tenuous - the 'meteor' appears to be a lit sparkler held close to the camera in soft focus. And the 'grown-up' Charles is just unbelievable, even if he is a werewolf - it's seven years later, but he looks at least 40. But if you can deal with 50'd Sci-Fi - you'll find this fun. Nice comment on manipulative women as well -actually a fairly coherent, if more than a bit far out - plot.

mother's acting! just get him fixed Kathy uses him

"Teenage Monster" is a bad film...period. Anyone who sees any brilliance in this film is not to be trusted--they MUST be insane! However, on the positive side, I have seen worse and there is a certain silly charm that make it worth seeing if you are a bad movie buff. Otherwise, you should avoid this film like Ebola!

The film is set in the old western times. It begins with what looks like a sparkler falling out of the sky--killing a man and injuring his son. The mother is, somehow, unhurt. Years pass. Now the mother lives with her son--who is hidden from everyone because he looks a lot like a wolf-man and Dan Haggerty put together! Despite looking like a large adult, he's supposedly a teenager with the mind of a child. The problem is that he periodically escapes and kills people. Oops! And, when a local lady learns about this, instead of telling the authorities, she blackmails the mother AND turns the creepy were-thingy into a hired killer!

It's pretty easy to read this and know that the plot was stupid. Additionally, the makeup for the 'kid' was simply awful and looks like it cost about $8 to make! Combine this with some really bad acting (particularly from the mother) and you have a film with very little to recommend it. Other than kitsch value, I can't see anyone caring about this monstrosity.

On the fifties a huge wave of Teenager Monsters came up everywhere, "I was a Teenager Werewolf", "Monster on the campus", "I was a Teenager Frankenstein, "Teenager Caveman" and many others, however Teenager Monster was the first to appears in old western, a lowest budge presentation, driven for teenager audience in those cheaper double feature on drive in cross country in America, the clever producers alleged it was based in a legend spreading orally thru the years from several sources to explain such oddity.

The story is silly, a gold prospector Jim Cannon living with their family consisting in his wife Ruth Cannon and a little boy Charles in the hills is about to reach in gold vein, out of the blue come up an asteroid that hits nearby the mine entrance killing at once the father and wound seriously the young Charles, henceforth he became a monster, seven years later already around fifteen or so (even seems much older) a hairy ugly monster looks like a Werewolf-alike, his protective mother cover up all his usually raid on the cattle and sheep as well, soon they find out the so awaited gold vein, finally his mother became richest woman, moving to town in a fancy house aiming for hedge in son in a room.

Turns out that such place the teenager monster starting fooling around to grab young girls, one of them the scheming Kathy North, at once bribed by Ruth to keep your mouth shut, nonetheless the greedy girl starts blackmail the desperate mother due his soon killed at her behest his crook boyfriend, meanwhile the local Sheriff Bob Lehman keep pushing Ruth to accept a marriage, such thing draw attention of the jealous teenager monster, the upcoming events will be bloody.

Shot in glorious black and white it was colorized recently which a had watched last night, it was totally restored proving be a cult movie, the dumb monster wasn't really bad, just his didn't able to control your angry, it trigger his animal within, staying weepy and remorseful aftermaths, the final outcome at fabulous landscape on the hills already pay the movie itself.

Thanks for reading.

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First watch: 2016 / How many: 2 / Source: DVD-Youtube / Rating: 5.

Somewhere in the 'Old West' a meteorite (maybe) hits, killing a miner and causing his young son Charles to grow in to a towering, hairy, inarticulate, murderous 'teenager' (played by 50 year-old Gil Perkins). The hirsute horror's mother (Anne Gwynne) tries to cover things up as the body count (people and cows) climbs, only to be betrayed by a conniving waitress (Gloria Castillo). Shot fast and cheaply, the film was conjured up solely to serve as part two of a double-feature (with 'The Brain from the Planet Arous'). Not much interest is shown in developing a story: there is a match cut from the hurt child to the titular creature, soon after which the mother provides some exposition, so the audience knows exactly what is happening (as opposed to the usual 'unravelling a mystery' plot). The 'monster' seems more pathetic than frightening, with a 'Lenny-like' desire to touch animals (in this case cows) leading to deadly 'don't know my own strength' consequences. As the mother explains, he is just a child. On the other-hand, the dead cattle are described as having their throats torn open, so the character's 'motivation' is unclear (but not that of the filmmakers). Considering the number of cheap 'sci-fi/horrors' and westerns that were shot in the 1950's, I am surprised that this is the only mélange of the two genres to come out of the decade. Despite being included in sci-fi lists, 'Teenage Monster' a simple 'monster on the loose' horror flic with a vague origin story. The film was originally entitled 'Meteor Monster', a slightly more accurate title as a sparkly ball falls out of the sky in the opening act that, given the budget, perhaps was supposed to a meteorite (the glittering object is never mentioned again, nor is any explanation offered at as to how it could have so dramatically affected young Charles). Allegedly, the alliterative science-fictiony title was changed to cash in on the late 1950's run of fanciful 'teenage' movies (i.a. 'I was a Teenage Werewolf' (1957), 'Teenage Caveman' (1958)) as the genre tried to lure in the dating crowd. All in all, a frugal celluloid time-filler - exactly what it was intended to be - that is of little interest to anyone outside the 'bad movie' fraternity or fans of Jack Pierce, the make-up artist who created the shaggy JD but is better known for crafting Boris Karloff into Dr. Frankenstein's monster 27 years earlier.

Talk about your 50's juvenile delinquents. This one makes Lon Chaney's Wolfman look well groomed. But it's not the kid's fault. Seems something unexplained fell from the sky and turned the boy into a teenage yeti with lockjaw. But Mom keeps him hidden away in her house, otherwise he has a habit of throttling people he meets. Just how she's managed that for years is one of the unexplained mysteries of teenage drive-in.

But hey, I really like the twist with sweet little Ruthie. She's every guy's ideal prom date. But what a calculating little brain behind the charm. In fact, I'd say she's the real teenage monster. After all, our wolfman is more pathetic than evil. A good barber, a few skin grafts, plus a speech coach, might introduce him to semi-polite company. But I guess that's why the setting is back in the 1800's. Anyhow, Gwynne shows her acting chops as long-suffering Mom, while Gloria Castillo scores as Bad Ruthie. I just wish our grunting outcast got more screen credit, maybe the Drive-In Golden Comb for the biggest Elvis pompadour. Now don't laugh, but I take the movie more as a human-interest story than as a scare feature. Plus, it's a rather effective one, despite a plot with more holes than grandma's sieve and a budget of about a buck eighty including bus fare. It's also rather sneaky— that is, see if you think the moral scales properly balance at movie's end. After all, this is the straight-laced 1950's.

MORD39 RATING: ** of ****

This is not a classic by any means, and it shouldn't be expected to be one. The 1950's gave us simple, cheesy fun from more innocent times (which we could all use again).

TEENAGE MONSTER succeeds in providing us with all the things we love in these half-baked films: A laughable monster, former Universal Forties film star Anne Gwynne looking embarassed just having to BE in it, and a scant running time of just over 60 minutes that breezes by with good, clean fun. I'll watch this over a a true modern piece of manure (like 1999's THE MUMMY) any day.

Teenage Monster (1958)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Weird and sometimes funny sci-fi has a young boy struck by a UFO crash, which turns him into the title character several years later. This film has the reputation as being one of the worst movies ever made and I can agree with that to a point but the film does offer quite a few laughs for those who enjoy bad "B" movies. The look of the monster is actually pretty good, although he comes off looking more like the wolf man than anything else. The love that the protective mother (Anne Gwynne) shows her monster son gets a few laughs, which are always needed. The film is also interesting because it takes place during the 1880s so you've got the old west feel added to the horror and sci-fi elements. Gloria Castillo plays a woman hired by the mother to talk with the monster.

In TEENAGE MONSTER, an old legend comes true when a meteor (aka: someone waving a sparkler around) sails to Earth, killing a man. Said man's son is burned by the space rock, eventually transforming into a babbling mutant!

Death and destruction ensue, while mom (Anne Gwynne) tries to keep her mutated son hidden.

Set in the 1890's, the story is the same as many such movies from the 1950's. Trade in the horses and western wear, for boat-sized sedans and blue jeans, and this could be one of any number of drive-in spectaculars from the period.

The monster resembles a half-turned werewolf / Barry Gibb hybrid. Hearing him moan, blubber, and whine is as hilarious as it is irritating!

This movie does get high marks for at least trying to be different...