Continued from Page 2
FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE SPACE MONSTER (1965) isn’t nearly as fun as it’s title suggests. Although it has it’s moments, and a great concept, the bulk of it actually fairly listless. Martians come to Earth for breeding stock from our supply of lovely young women. The beaches are a natural starting place. Fortunately, NASA has Frank, a robot astronaut. Frank is hit by the Martians on their way down, badly damaging his circuits and sending him on a rampage. He gets set right in time to take on the Martians and their pet monster in the last reel, but man this should be a lot more entertaining than it is! James Karen is the hero, and Marilyn Hanold plays the Martian Queen.
THE BEACH GIRLS AND THE MONSTER (1965) was also known as MONSTER FROM THE SURF, and is probably the most straight-forward beach-monster movie. There’s a monster lurking about, clawing young ladies to death. Meanwhile, there’s some soap opera stuff involving a dedicated scientist, his beach bum son, and adulterous wife. A great movie? No. Fun, though! Probably the showiest part the adorable Elaine DuPont ever had. Walker Edmiston brings along his Kinglsy The Lion puppet, who sings a song with Elaine, “There’s a Monster in the Surf.” The film’s preview is exactly what inspired the title of this article/pictorial.
STING OF DEATH (1965) concerned a jellyfish monster on the loose in Florida. A huge group of “teenagers” is on hand to be menaced at the shores of the rivers AND by the pool! The monster is at once silly, cheap, and imaginative enough to be admired. Even if the monster is a little on the chintzy side, they’re particularly good make-ups in this one. Neil Sedaka provides a couple of songs to the soundtrack, including the highlighted “Do The Jellyfish.” Star “Miami” Joe Morrison plays a young research scientist named “John Hoyt”!!! Could be shorter by about ten minutes, but a fun little movie from ’66. Released on double bill with DEATH CURSE OF TARTU, but then effectively lost for decades, never sold to television. A gorgeous print surfaced on DVD thanks to those fellas over at Something Weird Video. Worth a look if you’re a fan of regional drive-in movies from the 60’s.
WAR-GODS OF THE DEEP was not a beach movie, exactly, but it did feature gillmen who surface near a sea-side mansion. The film is really a lost civilization adventure, with Vincent Price lording over an ageless undersea kingdom which includes an army of gillmen. (I believe these same gillmen are seen in SPACE PROBE TAURUS as fish-men who terrorize the titular probe when it lands in an alien ocean. Massive crabs also menace the space vehicle.) For a vaguely similar adventure, see CAPTAIN NEMO AND THE UNDERWATER CITY, in which Robert Ryan’s Nemo must protect his undersea kingdom from a Godzilla-sized manta-ray!
Since Godzilla comes from the sea, many of his movies feature beach scenes. GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER I’ve selected to stand in for all of them. As the title indicates, this one is centered almost exclusively in the surf. In short, shipwreck survivors find an enemy army at work on a tiny Pacific island guarded by a mammoth lobster. Fortunately, the big blue dinosaur is also in the vicinity…
An army of Gillmen appear in TERROR BENEATH THE SEA, a Japanese-American co-production that mixes mad science, colorful espionage, monsters, pop design, comic book silliness, and scuba culture. It may not be the best movie ever made, but it sure makes an effort to be the all-time coolest! Martial arts champion Sonny Chiba stars. Everything here is over-the-top, from the acting to the music. For the most part, it works to entertain. Life would be a little brighter if there were more movies like this floating around. Subject to a lovely DVD release, which presents scope what was seen in the States only on television.
Japan also gave us Gamera the flying turtle, and his 1968 feature, DESTROY ALL PLANETS, took place almost exclusively at the beach. Invaders from planet Viras hold a couple of Boy Scouts hostage for the entire world, but Gamera is around to fight them off. 1971’s GAMERA VS ZIGRA was also pretty heavy on beach locations. That one even threw in a few bikini bunnies for extra good measure.
Gillmen moved into the 70’s with ZAAT, another regional shot-in-Florida movie in which a mad scientist turns himself into a sea monster. The film went into national release as BLOOD WATERS OF DR. Z. Pretty loopy affair, but a must for fans of 70’s drive-in stuff.
Of course, the big name on this particular block is JAWS, the 1975 adventure detailing a killer shark’s sudden appearance off the coast of a tiny New England island community. A massive success, catapulting it’s young director to the top of the heap, and changing the direction of monster movies for the longest time. It would be impossible to mention the numerous sequels, rip-offs, and look-a-likes that followed in it’s wake. Most all of these were inferior to the film that inspired them. TENTACLES, about a giant octopus, was shockingly boring considering all it brings to the table (including it’s cast). UP FROM THE DEPTHS, about a prehistoric fish, was somehow even duller than that. ORCA was a moronic adventure story about a killer whale out for revenge (seriously). PIRANHA, however, was pretty good. As to the direct sequels, JAWS 2 was okay, JAWS 3-D pretty good, and JAWS, THE REVENGE possibly the single stupidest movie ever made (did you know that boats bleed?).
Continued on Page 4 >
Be the first to comment