Caltiki, the Immortal Monster

I'm not a big fan of fifties monster movies in general, but this one is pretty decent. The film was directed by Riccardo Freda, although he was going under the pseudonym 'Robert Hamton' in order to fool audiences into thinking that the film was an American picture. The film does take obvious influence from the American monster movies and is similar in style, plot and execution; and actually credit does have to go to Freda in that respect as if it wasn't for the awful dubbing, one would have no reason to think that this wasn't an American film. The plot is rather well worked and focuses on the demise of the Mayan civilisation. We focus on a team of archaeologists studying some ancient Mayan ruins when they come across a cave which houses a lake. After diving into the lake, they discover that it is full of gold; although things go a bit awry when they also find out that the lake is inhabited by an ancient blob-like monster. They end up taking part of the creature back to the lab where upon studying it, they realise it could threaten the whole world...

It was unveiled that many of the films which Riccardo Freda took credit for were actually directed by his young apprentice, Mario Bava - and Caltiki is one of those films. I have no idea how much of the film was directed by Bava, but I'd hesitantly say that I think it was mostly done by Freda as the film does not feature much in the way of Bava's trademark styling's; although in truth the filming style is all very by the numbers and there's not a lot of room for stylish visuals. The plot is well done, however, and is certainly more inventive than I thought it might be. The special effects are not particularly spectacular; though they certainly are serviceable for the type of film and are used well. There are a handful of good ideas on display - the fate that awaits a particularly greedy archaeologist being one of the best parts of it. The film tries to a bit spectacular towards the end, and it does work somewhat, although many of the American pictures did the spectacular ending better. Still, this is a decent little monster movie and I'm sure fans of this stuff will enjoy it.

I've seen this movie on TV when I was small. I couldn't remember the story's premise except for the fact that it was a Blob like creature that grew when hit with radio activity. Recently, thanks to the internet, I got to watch this movie after so many years, and was surprised to find that archeology was the basis of its sub plot.

Archeologists goes on an expedition to a cave near Mayan ruins of Tikal, and accidentally discovers the monster Mayans associated with goddess Caltiki. Piece of Caltiki arrives back in Mexico city with the scientist which it tried to consume. Meanwhile, a comet is due to pass close to the Earth - the same comet passed near the Earth at the time the Mayan civilization mysteriously collapsed. Will Caltiki rise again, this time to end our civilization ?

Seriously, this is one of the best sci-fi movie from the late '50s. I saw this movie before I saw Steve McQueen's "Blob", and the Blob was somewhat lukewarm compared to Caltiki. There's been many movies featuring slime monsters, but this in my opinion is the best. The movie has the monster placed in middle of a pretty serious background where all the actors and scenery looks real. This is what makes this movie extra creepy, and also interesting to watch. To categorize this as a common B movie don't do justice. One of the better movie from the '50s.

"Caltiki", the story of a carnivorous micro-organism in the Mexican jungle grown to terrifying proportions by the radiation of a once-in-every-seventy-millenia comet, enjoys the same sort of on-the-surface "B" movie innocent schlockiness and underlying dark edginess mix which graced legendary Roger Corman's monster and sci fi work in the late fifties. The monster is a product of nature, however, and probably would not have been a problem to modern civilization, but true to the 1950s paradigm of idiot scientists not knowing when to leave well enough alone, a team of doltish researchers actually recover a bit of the slithery beast to play around with. Of course, the scientists discover that the monster considers laboratory induced radiation just as good as the natural kind. The results, as one may imagine, are not good (but are plenty entertaining for us!)

A scene in which a deranged victim of the monster is devoured outright is delightfully disgusting (the monster SLOWLY overwhelms its victim--pulsating and digesting--and then recedes to reveal a denuded skull). The low budget effect equals even the high tech grislyness of Chuck Russel's recent "The Blob". Not at all bad. I saw it when I was eight and it gave me nightmares for years!

I saw this when I was 8 years old, and it scared me so much I had to momentarily leave my seat. I ran back to the men's restroom and hid inside for a minute or so, then slowly came back out and stood in back by the usher and watched for another minute or two more, and finally returned to my seat for the rest of the movie. This never happened to me in any other movie, and as an adult, I was very curious to know just what it was in this otherwise standard black and white B-Movie Monster fare that could cause such a reaction. I just watched it again, for the first time since 1959, and I believe it was a combination of having my wits scared out of me when I identified with the little girl and her mother trapped in the bedroom with Catiki swelling up against the door, and stomach churning revulsion at the nasty looking mess that was left after Caltiki started digesting its victims. Unlike Steve McQueen's Blob which looked almost like an edible piece of cherry Jello, Caltiki sometimes took on the appearance of a soiled cloth rag completely saturated with thick dark mud (or some unmentionable organic substance), and the mess that was left after it digested its victims was indescribably disgusting for the era. The plot is corny and hackneyed, with the obligatory hysteria over the evils of radiation, and knuckle-headed careless scientists. But it is campy and scary, and worth watching. I ended up springing for a DVD, since I never see this shown on television anymore, apart from once seeing it offered by Showtime many years ago. Why do movies like this just vanish?

Caltiki, the Immortal Monster (1959)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Some hidden Mayan ruins are being searched by a group of archaeologists and before long they are battling a blob-like monster. They're able to destroy the thing but before long it is brought back to full strength and goes on a rampage.

CALTIKI, THE IMMORTAL MONSTER is a film that's best known for its director controversy. Riccardo Freda is the credited director but he says he had very little to actually do with it. Mario Bava did the cinematography and special effects and is now considered the co-director of the picture. It seems that when people discuss this movie it has more to do with the directors and not really the film itself.

For the most part this is a mildly entertaining "B" movie but it's certainly a long way from being one of the best that the genre has to offer. What impressed me the most about this movie is the fact that it looks wonderful and was done on such a low-budget. Bava certainly deserves a lot of credit because the opening alone makes you feel as if you're really in Mexico but it's all special effects. I was really impressed with the atmosphere and look of the film and how they were able to do it with such little money.

The look of the monster was also quite impressive but I'm not going to lie, it's nowhere near as great as what we saw in THE BLOB, which was obviously an influence on this film. What really hurts this film is the fact that the characters are all rather lame and I personally didn't care about any of them. Whenever the monster isn't on the screen the film really drags and I'd argue that the dialogue is rather boring and doesn't help things.

CALTIKI, THE IMMORTAL MONSTER certainly isn't a masterpiece or even a good movie but at the same time there are enough interesting moments to make it worth viewing. Fans of the genre will certainly enjoy what Bava was able to do with such a small budget.