CALTIKI, THE IMMORTAL MONSTER

Goddess Caltiki goes in pursuit

CALTIKI, THE IMMORTAL MONSTER (aka Caltiki, il mostro immortale/1959). Directors: Riccardo Freda; Mario Bava. Colorized. 

In Mexico an archeological expedition uncovers a tomb and an altar to the Mayan goddess Caltiki. While exploring an underground lake that contains many skeletons, the team are suddenly beset by a blob-like monster that rises to the surface and eats off the arm of Max Gunther (Gerard Herter). Team leader Prof Fielding (John Merivale) manages to stop the creature -- a huge unicellular organism that is twenty million years old -- with a fiery explosion and gets Max to a hospital in Mexico City. There Fielding is able to isolate a part of the creature surrounding Max's arm and brings it to the lab in his home where his wife Ellen (Did Sullivan) and child await. But poor Ellen finds herself beset with dual menaces: Caltiki, who begins to multiply and grow, and Max, who has become maddened by the infection, escapes from the hospital and tries to have his way with Ellen. 

Didi Sullivan, John Merivale, Gerard Herter

Caltiki is a highly interesting and influential Italian horror/sci fi film. An interesting aspect is that it tries to explain the disappearance of the Mayans by tying the appearance of the flesh-eating Caltiki to a radioactive comet that flies across the sky every few centuries, and is now endangering all of Mexico. The monster itself looks like a perambulating, expanding carpet but is still ghoulish in concept. The scenes in the underground tomb with its sinister lake are creepy and atmospheric, and the climax -- with Fielding and his family caught between one blob in the bedroom and another at the base of their escape ladder -- is exciting and suspenseful. The ending with the military and their flame throwers is a bit dragged out, but the film is generally absorbing. Caltiki is enough of a menace that throwing a crazy Max into the mix was actually unnecessary, particularly when you consider that the character is very badly dubbed. Caltiki has an international cast: Merivale was Canadian; Sullivan was Irish; and Herter was German. 

Verdict: Creepy stuff is even better in color. ***.