HOME |  CULT MOVIES | COMPETITIONS | ADVERTISE |  CONTACT US |  ABOUT US
 
 
 
Newest Reviews
American Fiction
Poor Things
Thunderclap
Zeiram
Legend of the Bat
Party Line
Night Fright
Pacha, Le
Kimi
Assemble Insert
Venus Tear Diamond, The
Promare
Beauty's Evil Roses, The
Free Guy
Huck and Tom's Mississippi Adventure
Rejuvenator, The
Who Fears the Devil?
Guignolo, Le
Batman, The
Land of Many Perfumes
Cat vs. Rat
Tom & Jerry: The Movie
Naked Violence
Joyeuses Pacques
Strangeness, The
How I Became a Superhero
Golden Nun
Incident at Phantom Hill
Winterhawk
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Maigret Sets a Trap
B.N.A.
Hell's Wind Staff, The
Topo Gigio and the Missile War
Battant, Le
Penguin Highway
Cazadore de Demonios
Snatchers
Imperial Swordsman
Foxtrap
   
 
Newest Articles
3 From Arrow Player: Sweet Sugar, Girls Nite Out and Manhattan Baby
Little Cat Feat: Stephen King's Cat's Eye on 4K UHD
La Violence: Dobermann at 25
Serious Comedy: The Wrong Arm of the Law on Blu-ray
DC Showcase: Constantine - The House of Mystery and More on Blu-ray
Monster Fun: Three Monster Tales of Sci-Fi Terror on Blu-ray
State of the 70s: Play for Today Volume 3 on Blu-ray
The Movie Damned: Cursed Films II on Shudder
The Dead of Night: In Cold Blood on Blu-ray
Suave and Sophisticated: The Persuaders! Take 50 on Blu-ray
Your Rules are Really Beginning to Annoy Me: Escape from L.A. on 4K UHD
A Woman's Viewfinder: The Camera is Ours on DVD
Chaplin's Silent Pursuit: Modern Times on Blu-ray
The Ecstasy of Cosmic Boredom: Dark Star on Arrow
A Frosty Reception: South and The Great White Silence on Blu-ray
You'll Never Guess Which is Sammo: Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon on Blu-ray
Two Christopher Miles Shorts: The Six-Sided Triangle/Rhythm 'n' Greens on Blu-ray
Not So Permissive: The Lovers! on Blu-ray
Uncomfortable Truths: Three Shorts by Andrea Arnold on MUBI
The Call of Nostalgia: Ghostbusters Afterlife on Blu-ray
Moon Night - Space 1999: Super Space Theater on Blu-ray
Super Sammo: Warriors Two and The Prodigal Son on Blu-ray
Sex vs Violence: In the Realm of the Senses on Blu-ray
What's So Funny About Brit Horror? Vampira and Bloodbath at the House of Death on Arrow
Keeping the Beatles Alive: Get Back
   
 
  Giant from the Unknown Conquistador Carnage
Year: 1958
Director: Richard E. Cunha
Stars: Ed Kemmer, Sally Fraser, Bob Steele, Morris Ankrum, Buddy Baer, Oliver Blake, Jolene Brand, Billy Dix, Gary Crutcher, Ned Davenport, Ewing Miles Brown
Genre: HorrorBuy from Amazon
Rating:  4 (from 1 vote)
Review: The folks of mountain town Devil's Crag are unsettled and no wonder, for there has been a spate of livestock killings and mutilations recently which have escalated into the deaths of a couple of locals, and the Sheriff (Bob Steele) is no closer to solving the crimes now than he was when the first one was committed. He does have a suspect in mind, however, and it's not Indian Joe (Billy Dix) who has a grudge against the white man, nope, the Sheriff thinks local archaeologist Wayne Brooks (Ed Kemmer) is behind them, and just needs the evidence to put him away for good. Yet the truth is something quite different...

In the nineteen-fifties, as far as Hollywood was concerned anyway, the scary movies were the science fiction movies, and there was an abundance of creature features where the monsters could be explained by science and lots of it. There were exceptions to this rule, and Giant from the Unknown was one of those, though it was a horror that posed as sci-fi to be more accurate, with the monster in question having a scientific explanation by dint of the fact it was scientist investigating it: Kemmer, genre stalwart Morris Ankrum as a professor, and his daughter Janet (Sally Fraser) for good measure.

Janet, it had to be said through no fault of her own, was stuck in the stereotype role from minute one, purely present to make the coffee, wash the dishes and prepare the beds when the trio were out camping, seeking Conquistador treasure that had been long-buried, or so the Professor believes. There was more to it than that, for an actual Conquistador named Vargas was buried too, and reanimated with lightning and the "special rocks" he was buried under every time there was a storm: you guessed it, he was responsible for the murders and slaughters, as Janet would discover come the inevitable scene where she was slung over his shoulder.

Oh, she screams, too, in case you didn't get the message - not every heroine of fifties fantastical fiction was this useless, honest, but you would be hard pressed to find one quite as fitting all the clichés as Janet. This could be pretty amusing in its crass fashion if outdated attitudes tickled your funny bone, but the main problem here was shared with plenty of this decade's lower budget efforts, that all the business in between the battling of the monster was almost entirely disposable and frankly a bit of a slog to get through, especially if you could not be guaranteed something entertaining after the endurance test passages the first half consisted of. Even then, past that midpoint mark there were longueurs.

Kemmer was a bland hero, not called on to have any more personality than Janet who he equally predictably gets into kiss-up situations with. The only really interesting thing about him was that he was accused of crimes he did not commit, and this did not contain much suspense as we were all too aware the Sheriff would twig Vargas was the murderer before long, which he did when he clapped eyes on the brute himself. This hulk was played by the towering Buddy Baer in a typical role, though intriguingly his makeup was designed by Jack Pierce who had conjured up the looks for all those classic Universal horror monsters; alas, this would not go down in history as one of his finest achievements, and it was a pity after such a huge impact on horror he was reduced to this barely there B-movie. Nevertheless, there were occasional diversions when Vargas went on the rampage, throwing large rocks and pushing over trees, but there was not so much as an inkling of a surprise how this played out: basically a Bigfoot movie before its time. Music by Albert Glasser.
Reviewer: Graeme Clark

 

This review has been viewed 3381 time(s).

As a member you could Rate this film

 
Review Comments (0)


Untitled 1

Login
  Username:
 
  Password:
 
   
 
Forgotten your details? Enter email address in Username box and click Reminder. Your details will be emailed to you.
   

Latest Poll
Which star probably has psychic powers?
Laurence Fishburne
Nicolas Cage
Anya Taylor-Joy
Patrick Stewart
Sissy Spacek
Michelle Yeoh
Aubrey Plaza
Tom Cruise
Beatrice Dalle
Michael Ironside
   
 
   

Recent Visitors
Darren Jones
Mark Le Surf-hall
Enoch Sneed
  Louise Hackett
Andrew Pragasam
Mary Sibley
Graeme Clark
  Desbris M
   

 

Last Updated: