Caltiki, the Immortal Monster

"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'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.

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.

This is not one of those slow-moving B-Movies from our youth. This is a wild and fairly exciting Italian-made/Mexico set hybrid. Very much like THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT (aka THE CREEPING UNKNOWN) with a little THE BLOB, X-THE UNKNOWN and THE BRAINIAC thrown in, this is a highly enjoyable little lark. Track it down if you can!

In early January, 1961, my older brother and I noticed an ad for CALTIKI in the Chicago Sun Times. A few weeks later, one of my brother's 6th-grade classmates actually saw the film, and reported something about "...a guy who goes down...and comes back up a skeleton." Sounded like something I had better avoid.

In Spring of 1963, my brother borrowed an off-brand monster magazine from a friend that included a big picture-story article on Caltiki, featuring all of the commonly available stills. Significantly, they did NOT show any of the FOUR BIG SHOCK SCENES--so I had no idea what I was in for when, on Saturday night, May 18th, 1963, a Chicago station showed CALTIKI for the 1st time on local TV. My brother and I sat in our den with the lights out, attentively following the film as it unfolded. Suffice to say, when it ended, I was grateful for the phony looking doll-house furniture and toy tanks used in the final scenes, since they helped alleviate the sense of SHOCK caused by the first 25 minutes of the film.

CALTIKI is an astoundingly dark, disturbing film experience....up until and including the first hospital scene. Mario Bava and the Italian horror culture of that era were masters of the ominous, morbid, and grotesque, possessing that unique ability to probe the depths of the truly horrific, stomach-turning---but subtle--- fear that lurks within us all. For a low-budget film, the first 25 minutes of CALTIKI are remarkably well designed and directed---and the script and acting are also generally above average.

Of the four big SHOCK scenes, the fate of the hapless Bob (the diver--played by Daniele Vargas) was undoubtedly the most traumatic for me. WOW-- what a stunner! Expertly staged and edited.....the terrifying underwater scenes (and extremely effective musical score) and the intense pacing as the wet-suit clad body is pulled out of the water...and the fact that the guy is still BREATHING when he is unmasked..really knocked me out on first viewing. It's an image that keeps on giving over the years, a moment that I never recovered from as the film progressed.

Then there's Max's gory, outrageous death scene--but by the time it came around, my 12-year old brain was fried. And how about the infamous and truly disgusting hospital scene, when the hunk of Caltiki is peeled off of Max's arm....GEEZ, guys...could you have thought of anything more sensational and sickening? But that's the peculiarly gory "sensibility" of the Italian/Mexican/Spanish horror industry of the time. (However-- if you look closely, as the nurse walks toward the camera with the blob encased in glass, you clearly see Max's right arm stretched out on the table, looking perfectly normal).

The fourth SHOCK (for me, at least), which is rarely mentioned, is the sight of Ulmer's corpse...deeply disturbing, yet almost beautiful in its nightmarish way--a bizarre piece of cinematic high art that confirms our worst fears about Ulmer's fate, points to the upcoming plot developments, and explains Nieto's delirious rants about "the mummy...!"

Viewing CALTIKI again on this superb new DVD is quite an experience; the very generous commentaries perform a valuable service in documenting the Bava/Italian cult-like appeal of the era, and Tim Lucas' expert observations are greatly appreciated--especially his explanations of the techniques used to create the opening jungle montage with glass-paintings, miniature set pieces, mattes, etc, which have always mystified me. I wish, though, that one or these expert commentators had something REALLY unique about the film to show us: behind-the-scenes production photos, an original script or storyboard, the National Geographic clippings that Lucas mentions were matted into the opening shot...ANYTHING that might still remain of the film. But there's nothing. We DO get a lot (and I mean a great deal) of chatter about the influence of the British Quatermass films on Caltiki...which gets a bit tiresome, especially in the absence of any of the above mentioned rarities which would have greatly enhanced the disc's special features.

My overall opinion of the film hasn't changed much in the 57 years since I first saw it: after the first 25 minutes--in which the sense of dread and ominous, suffocating terror slowly, methodically build and overpower the intrepid band of scientists---- the film really takes a nose-dive, becoming a rather drab, uninspired, routine sci-fi action/melodrama. The only scenes which really maintain the creepy, lurid tone of the opening are the scenes in which Max (Gerard Herter) is onscreen. He's one fascinating and crazy guy to watch.

In any case, this new DVD rescues one of the great, low-budget cult horror films from obscurity. Who knows?-- maybe CALTIKI will now get a little more respect, thanks to this new, admirably documented release.

PS-- If you'd like to see and hear Gerard Herter's (who played the demented "Mad" Max in CALTIKI) real (German accented) voice, check out the episode "The Great Casino Caper" from TV's "It Takes a Thief" (posted on You Tube), and the scene at 21:55". Herter lived and worked in Italy, where this episode was shot (with Robert Wagner, Fred Astaire, and Ed Binns). Make sure you watch an ENGLISH-dialogue version, not the Italian dub that's also posted. LR