MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS

Eddie Parker in full make up

MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS (1958). Director: Jack Arnold. Colorized version.

Professor Donald Blake (Arthur Franz of The Flame Barrier) of Dunsford University is excited to receive the expensive acquisition of a coelacanth, a fish that dates back to the prehistoric era. Unfortunately, its blood has very negative effects on animals, including humans, with a dog temporarily going berserk, a dragonfly growing to giant size, and the professor himself turning into a grotesque, homicidal monster. His fiancee Madeline (Joanna Moore) is having trouble wrapping her head around the fact that her boyfriend is not exactly himself ... 

Walters, Franz, and Donahue

Since they have somewhat similar plots -- minus the coelacanth -- one might think that The Neanderthal Man is a shoddy imitation of the far superior Monster on the Campus, but the latter film actually came out five years later. Franz, who could be a reliable actor, is often quite perfunctory in this, merely walking through sequences in which he should have been much more emotional. Moore is fine, and we also have appearances by Troy Donahue as a science student and Nancy Walters as his gal pal Sylvia. Others in the cast include Ross Elliott as a cop, Richard H. Cutting as a forest ranger, Whit Bissell as a doctor, Phil Harvey as a sergeant, Hank Patterson as a night watchman, and Helen Westcott as the ill-fated nurse, Molly. When Franz transforms (via time lapse photography as well as a mask) into a monster, Eddie Parker takes over the role. Monster on the Campus is absorbing, well-directed by genre specialist Jack Arnold, and quite entertaining. Arnold, of course, directed Incredible Shrinking Man, Tarantula, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and many others. 

Verdict: Imperfect but satisfying fifties sci-fi horror with the usual jangling stock Universal score. ***. 

CANADIAN MOUNTIES VS ATOMIC INVADERS

William Henry and Susan Morrow

CANADIAN MOUNTIES VS ATOMIC INVADERS (12-chapter Republic serial/1953). Director: Franklin Adreon.  Colorized.

A group of foreign agents in Canada want to build bases from which they can launch rockets to destroy key American cites. Sgt. Don Roberts (William Henry of Uranium Boom) is unaware of this dastardly plot but wonders why some desperadoes are trying so hard to keep homesteaders from settling in a certain area. Don and reporter Kay Conway (Susan Morrow of Cat-Women of the Moon) face avalanches, overturned boards with spikes in them, trucks going over cliffs, cracking ice floes, and exploding boats before they figure out what's going on, and that a folksy, simple-minded tradesman in town is secretly a sinister agent named Marlof (Arthur Space of The Crimson Key). There are also appearances by Harry Lauter, Pierre Watkin, Hank Patterson, and Tom Steele, not to mention a couple of cute, mischievous bear cubs. 

Verdict: Acceptable if unspectacular cliffhanger serial. **3/4. 

TARANTULA

Tarantula on the rampage!

TARANTULA (1955). Director: Jack Arnold. Colorized. 

When lab assistant "Steve" Clayton (Mara Corday) comes to work with Professor Deemer (Leo. G. Carroll) in a small desert community, she has no idea what she's getting into, and neither does the local doctor, Matt Hastings (John Agar), who falls for her. They have no clue that Deemer has been injecting animals with a synthetic nutrient that contains a radioactive isotope, and that during a fire caused by another assistant, a tarantula has escaped into the desert. Before long skeletons of cattle and humans are being found alongside huge pools of what turns out to be spider venom! 

Get out of town! Look what's coming!

Tarantula is one of the best fifties giant bug movies, done with enthusiasm and skill, and boasting some good acting, a nerve-wracking score, good FX work, and very chilling sound effects. The movie is horrific but it doesn't need to show chewed up corpses or limbs flying through the air; it gets it points across without them. A stand-out sequence is when the two prospectors or campers sort of cling to each other as the mandibles of the arachnid descend upon them, and we mustn't forget the sight of the stupendous spider just waiting on the top of a hill before it moves downward towards some horses and the unfortunate rancher who owns them. Then there's the spider advancing on Professor Deemer's house and peeking in, mouth parts working, on "Steve" before it demolishes the entire house. And the spider moving across the valley floor as the terrified inhabitants can only helplessly watch its inexorable progress. 

Edwin Rand, Corday, Agar, Paiva

Agar, Carroll and Corday are stalwarts who play the roles straight and are all the better for it. Nestor Paiva of The Mole People is especially good as the town's sheriff, and Hank Patterson ("it's gettin' to be a fast world" he says as he observes how quickly Steve and Matt make each other's acquaintance) adds some welcome humor as the hotel clerk, Josh. Others in the cast include Ross Elliot [The Adventures of Superboy] as a reporter, Raymond Bailey (Mr. Drysdale of The Beverly Hillbillies) as a scientist named Townsend, and Clint Eastwood in a bit as a pilot. There have been many movies about giant spiders since the long-ago release of Tarantula, but most of them are campy and grisly stinkers  This remains the best monster arachnid movie. NOTE: This is not to be confused with Bert I. Gordon's Earth vs. the Spider, which is fun but not quite as good.

Verdict: Once that humongous spider starts moving, watch out! Even creepier in color!  ***. 

BEGINNING OF THE END

giant locust attacks 

BEGINNING OF THE END (1957). Director: Bert I. Gordon. 

Ace lady reporter Audrey Aimes (Peggie Castle) is perplexed, to say the least, when she is told by the military that the whole town of Ludlow, Illinois has been cordoned off. Later she learns that every building in town has been completely demolished and all 500 inhabitants have disappeared. She encounters entomologist Dr. Ed Wainwright (Peter Graves of Death Car on the Freeway) who uses a small amount of radioactivity in his experimentation. Investigating a grain storage facility that was wrecked from the inside out, Wainwright's deaf-mute assistant Frank (Than Wyeen) is suddenly set upon and devoured (off-screen) by a humongous locust. Now Audrey knows what happened to those 500 missing people! 

Peter Graces and Peggie Castle

Aside from fans of "Mr. Big," Beginning of the End has been roundly excoriated, but I will gladly say that the movie has always given me the creeps, along with those scary giant grasshoppers (even if the cheap process work makes them look washed out). The picture has a solid script, a fast-pace, unnerving sound effects of the critters chirp-chirrrping before an attack, and a very effective score by Albert Glasser. Graves and Castle make convincing enough leads, with the female emerging as just as courageous as the male, if not more so. The well-constructed climax has the couple attracting the monsters to their building in downtown Chicago so that they can flick a switch that will, hopefully, send them out into the river so they can drown. But will they manage to survive long enough for that to happen?

locust and truck

One can certainly quibble about some of the cheap effects, but that doesn't stop the movie from being entertaining. The "battle" scenes between soldiers and locusts are well-done and often horrifying. For inexplicable reasons the official DVD of the film cuts a shot of a giant locust nearly catching up to a truck full of soldiers upon whom it would certainly pounce, so just to catch that nifty, chilling moment I watch an inferior TV print (see pic on the left). Some well-known character actors are in the cast, including James Seay, Thomas Browne Henry [20 Million Miles to Earth], Hank Patterson, and Morris Ankrum as the general in charge of the whole operation. Gordon also directed Earth vs the Spider and many others. 

NOTE: For more info on this film and many others like it see Creature Features: Nature Turned Nasty in the Movies. 

Verdict: Low-budget insect disaster film with disgusting and voracious monsters. ***.