The Monster of Piedras Blancas

This is one of those films that used to be shown on Creature Features on Saturday mornings. Its a rather dull film about a Black Lagoon-type creature who goes around killing people. Despite its dullness, it has a couple of the scariest scenes of any film made during this era. The first, when the monster comes bursting out of a door is a moment of shock and horror equal to the similar scene in "The Thing". And the second, at the lighthouse at the end of the film, is extremely terrifying and gave me recurrent nightmares as a child. Both scenes are still frightening to me as an adult. One also has to appreciate the amount of thought that went into the plot. The origins of the monster and the reasons he starts to kill are convoluted but, if you follow along carefully, everything is explained in a logical manner and there are no inconsistencies in the plot. In "Keep Watching the Skies", Bill Warren criticized the film as lacking a logical plot and explanation for the monster, but he is wrong! However dull, a lot of thought went into the plotting of this film and, had the script been better, this could have been a scare classic.

I had never heard of this movie until I met the object of aforesaid Monster at a fan convention here in the bay area a few years ago... she told me about it, perhaps somehow sensing my affinity for rubber-suited monsters. I told her I hadn't seen it, but I'd sure love to, and she said the guy who worked on "Creature from the Black Lagoon" had also done the monster suit for this movie. Now I had to see it, but I didn't really get a chance until last Thursday at the Parkway in Oakland.

Strangely enough, the producer of the film's daughter had shown up for the showing (I'd give you her name if I remembered it), which also coupled as a birthday celebration for bay area horror host "Dr. Ghoulfinger". Even stranger, she had shown up not to seize the print or anything vulgar of that nature, but rather to lend her support and enjoy the rare public viewing of her father's film. When asked about her father's career after "Monster from Piedras Blancas", she said he moved into other types of film, to which a vocal part of the audience shouted "PORN!!!"

OK, the film itself is a somewhat better than average exploitation horror flick. The monster suit, which allows for a great deal of animation and motion, is a wonder -- it easily blows away everything else in the movie, including the much cheaper gore type effects such as decapitated heads. Of course, depending on your own inclinations, Jeanne Carmen also steals the show with her luscious bod, appearing as a brunette (anyone know what Jeanne Carmen's natural hair color is, anyway?) showing more character than most victims of 50s rubber monsters. Her acting is not great, but adequate for the film's demands.

No one else in the cast really stands out, but the effort in general is solid, not slowing down too much like many of its kind do in the middle. The film's makers seem to have known they must show something worth seeing every reel or risk losing the audience. A lot of the stuff in the movie seems pretty goofy, and I doubt that anyone involved took the film too seriously; it almost comes off as a comedy, kind of like but not as much so as some of Corman's movies from the time (most notably "Not of This Earth").

All in all, a good show

A generally underrated monster flick from 1959, The Monster of Piedras Blancas is often compared to the undeniably similar Creature From the Black Lagoon, with this film invariably coming out second best. Certainly, Creature From the Black Lagoon is a true classic and The Monster of Piedras Blancas rarely equals its more famous cousin, but nonetheless this is a very good little film with a lot going for it on its own terms. The Monster, of course, is the star of the show, and the suit designed for him is impressive and scary, and must have seemed even more so in the 50s. As is typical of this sort of film, screen shots of the Monster are limited up until the climax, when he runs wild in all his visceral glory. The Monster's killings are quite brutal and rather bloody for the conservative 50s, and there are several decapitations in his wake. The coastal setting, where folk tales of the alleged Monster are whispered in the shadows, is evocative and the director uses the location to maximum effect. Acting is for the most part competent if unexceptional, highlighted by the dazzling Jeanne Carmen as the lovely Lucy, upon whom the Monster inevitably turns a ravenous gaze. Ms. Carmen is a luscious damsel in distress, and it's a shame she didn't do more sci-fi. Don Sullivan plays Lucy's boyfriend, Fred, and veteran b-movie actor Les Tremayne is a local doctor. John Harmon turns in a surprisingly effective performance as Lucy's father Sturges, the local lighthouse keeper, a man with many secrets and who knows more about the Monster than anyone suspects. The townsfolk of Piedras Blancas are developed with some attention to detail, and it means something when one of them dies. The only real weaknesses of the film are its obvious low budget and a somewhat lagging pace that does make the movie feel a bit longer than its short run time of 71 minutes. But overall, this is a pretty good monster movie that meets most of the genre requirements. Unfortunately, this is a difficult movie to find, but if you can track it down, the Monster From Piedras Blancas is a surprisingly effective chiller.

I insisted on seeing this movie when it came out in the 1950's, I was 7 years old. I got to the theatre late and the movie had already started. As I opened the doors to enter the screening room a strange feeling came over me, could it have been that the room was pitch black and 500 people were screaming at the top of their lungs? Somehow I found my way to a seat trying not to look at the screen. In a few minutes the monster comes waltzing out of some industrial size refridgerator carrying some guys head in his hand.....that was all it took....as the blood rushed to my head I did the 50 yard dash to the doors in world record time and never looked back. Decades later (1990's) I had the chance to watch the movie again on cable. This time my girlfriend was with me so I was able to get through it........

In THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS, a series of grisly decapitation deaths occur in a small seaside town. Suspiciously, the local lighthouse keeper has been feeding meat scraps to a certain big-clawed creature. Keeping his secret becomes increasingly difficult as the body count rises.

Upon watching this movie again, it's interesting to notice the subtle influences it has had on other films, such as JAWS and THE FOG. It's also pretty grim and graphic for a monster movie from the late 1950's. Overall, the movie is very effective. The finale at the lighthouse is certainly memorable.

Co-stars Don Sullivan (THE GIANT GILA MONSTER, TEENAGE ZOMBIES) as Fred and Les Tremayne (WAR OF THE WORLDS, THE SLIME PEOPLE) as Dr. Jorgenson.