The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959)

Really Surprised!

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

The monster, which looks like a nastier version of "The Creature from the Black Lagoon," invades a sleepy lighthouse town. The superstitious lighthouse keeper is worried for the safety of his beautiful teenage daughter, so he leaves food for the monster, who dwells in a nearby cave.As stated, this was clearly inspired at least in part by the Creature. And, as I understand it, there was some overlap in the makeup and costume department, so that is not altogether shocking. But the interesting part is that this "knock off" is at least as good.In fact, the entire film is just as good. Though not a celebrated classic, it is no worse than any other film of its era that is now considered a cult film. This really needs a new audience. Olive Films has released it, but only in a bare bones fashion... where is the love?

The Monster Of Piedras Blancas is a low-budget monster movie from the golden heyday of low-budget monster movies, the 1950s. By this time, the British had begun introducing an element of gore into their horror movies with the likes of The Curse Of Frankenstein and Horrors Of The Black Museum… and here some of that gore makes it into an old-school American creature feature. While the film isn't especially good in the normal sense of the word, it does rise to a number of scenes that must have been very powerful to the unsuspecting audiences of the day, most notably the scene where the monster suddenly emerges from a freezer at the back of a store with a severed head in its hand.In a quiet Californian coastal town, a couple of fishermen turn up dead in a boat, their corpses decapitated with almost surgical precision and barely a drop of blood left in their bodies. Local store-keeper Kochek (Frank Arvidson) warns that the dead are not victims of a tragic accident, hinting that they have been killed by a living creature, perhaps even the Monster of Piedras Blancas which is a well-known but much-ridiculed local legend. Lighthouse keeper Sturgess (John Harmon) seems particularly upset by the killings and makes a point of telling his daughter Lucy (Jeanne Carmen), waitress in a local bar, to make sure she is vigilant on the way home. Meanwhile, the town constable Matson (Forrest Lewis) works tirelessly with the local doctor, Sam Jorgenson (Les Tremayne), to figure out a rational explanation for the recent deaths. Lucy ignores her father's advice and goes for a moonlight swim with her boyfriend Fred (Don Sullivan), but she can't shake the feeling that someone or something is watching them. Later, more decapitated corpses turn up – one of them a child – and people start placing more credence in the idea that a monster is at large. Finally, the monster shows itself and the townsfolk find themselves up against a seemingly indestructible mutant fish-man with a taste for red meat! For me, the thing that makes The Monster Of Piedras Blancas more bearable than many films of this type is that it tries to pay attention to logic. Admittedly, much of the logic in the film is flawed. For example, the "indestructible" monster falls from a lighthouse into the sea and everyone celebrates its destruction - erm, hold on folks, the monster's almost impossible to kill and it's back in its natural habitat… something tells me this thing ain't dead! However, in others aspects the film does try quite hard to provide feasible explanations for the origins of the monster and the actions of the characters. The monster itself is the best thing about the film – a nod towards The Creature From The Black Lagoon, with a more gruesome face and bucketloads of drool. Alas, there's not much else in the film worth mentioning. It's an extremely slow-moving flick for much of the time, and the years have diminished whatever shock value the occasional gore scenes might once have possessed. There's probably some nostalgic charm in revisiting a movie like this – indeed, a whole generation have The Monster of Piedras Blancas to thank for the first time they saw a severed head in a film – but overall it's not a film that has much else to offer for modern audiences.

Blatant "Creature From The Black Lagoon" rip off.This basically says; "Suppose the creature was a murderous savage instead of a love struck humanoid?" It's done pretty well actually. The monster is UGLY. That "Hellish, snarling face" (to quote Michael Weldon of 'Psychotronic Magazine') makes it 100% clear this beast is not dealing with internal amour. But instead kills, actually decapitates, anyone that comes near the lighthouse.Some good fear moments when you see the creature from the distance at dusk. And while the suit wasn't all that convincing, the savagery made up for it.This is a lot scarier than the usual 1950's monster flicks.

Very entertaining movie,gives you a real feel for the time it was made.Was one of Don Sullivan's best and makes you wonder, if Steve McQueen could advance from " Blob " what ever happened to Don Sullivan? My friends and I first saw this movie late on night while camping out in the backyard with an extension cord stretched to an old b/w and the scene where the monster comes out with the head scared us to death!