Giant from the Unknown (1958)

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Despite being a keen fan (and student) of this genre of movie-making, this one is hard work. No matter how forgiving you are, it's hard to find anything positive here.From the stolid (not in a good way) direction and the hackneyed script, to the multiple narrative failures of the plot, there must have been better ways for Astor Pictures to squander the $50,000 budget that was set aside for this turkey, right?The residents of Pine Ridge are in something of a kerfuffle when the livestock starts dying by gruesome means. The sheriff for some insane reasons of his own is convinced that young Wayne, the local geologist is the bad guy! All small mountain towns have a resident geologist, don't they?Half way through the movie, Vargas, also known as the "Diablo Giant", wakes up and goes on a killing spree... this is AFTER the deaths of the animals and local residents began happening!Crazy Injun Joe fires his rifle at the imaginary rabbits clustered around the feet of the only friend he has in town... the monster eventually crashes through a bridge into the river and in an amazing feat of dexterity, politely rebuilds the fence on his way down... and on and on it goes.It's just awful! There are one or two familiar faces in this clunker but their ghosts probably don't want to be reminded!

Call me a big softy or a melon head but it's hard for me to not like the B-Movies of my youth that I watched eagerly on shows like Chiller Theater,Jeeper's Creepers and Strange Tales Of Science Fiction. This one played in heavy rotation with Attack Of The Fifty Foot Woman and The Amazing Colossal Man. Part of the reason why this had such a strong juvenile appeal is that many kids were studying the Spaniards in the new world in school and this sparked a wild romantic fancy. This was long before shows on the Discovery Channel and Nat Geo were around to dispel myths about murderous soldiers from another era. Another good reason is that director Richard Cunha knew how to stretch a budget and keep things moving and absurd and interesting enough to keep ten year olds glued to their seats. A geologist and a Archaelogist and his hot daughter go hunting in Devils Crag to find traces of El Giant Diablo a sadistic Conquistador of great size. Strange things have been happening in the area like cattle mutilation and a fatal beating of one of the town folk. Now this is weird because the first time we see the comatose giant rise out of the ground is during a lightening storm so either the electricity brought him back to life or he did the murders and then covered himself up with mud and leaves before taking a snooze but it just makes a film like this more fun. The Title monster never utters a word and makes scary faces underneath veteran Jack Pierces make up which was pretty scary in kids terms at the time. Not a film to analyze too much but to just relax and enjoy it's wacky glory.If you like films like Attack Of The Killer Shrews and The Brain From Planet Arous you'll like this one as well.

Local geologist Wayne Brooks (Ed Kemmer) teams up with visiting archaeologist Dr. Fredrick Cleveland (Morris Ankrum) to search the local mountains for the remains of a 300+ year old Spanish conquistador and a reputed giant of a man named Vargas. Another draw for Brooks is the opportunity to spend a little time with the Dr.'s vacuous but attractive daughter, Janet (Sally Fraser). The team is about to give up when Janet accidentally discovers a Spanish graveyard. But is there more here than helmets and breastplates? It's not long before the giant Vargas makes his return and sets his own sights on young Janet and anything else he can maim and destroy.By all rights, I've most likely overrated Giant from the Unknown. It features a multitude of easily identifiable weaknesses – a plot that moves at the break-neck pace of a slug, the dim-witted Janet randomly stumbling on the Spanish artifacts, Sheriff Parker's beyond ridiculous persecution of Brooks (Why in God's name would anyone think that Brooks would be running around the country-side slaughtering cows and destroying hen houses?), Bob Steele's laughably bad performance as Parker, the whole notion of Vargas "living" in a sort of suspended animation for 350 years, and the poorly done special effects in the film's finale. Giant from the Unknown literally has everything you could hope to find in any regular bad movie. It would be easy to write it all off as badly made 50s junk, but for whatever reason and despite these many shortcomings, I found myself inexplicably enjoying the movie. Entertainment can be different from one person to the next. And, it's often difficult to put a finger on what you find entertaining in a movie. All I know is that for most of Giant from the Unknown, I was entertained. I went for the characters, I got a kick out of legend Jack Pierce's Vargas make-up, and I enjoyed the acting of Keemer and especially Ankrum. Ankrum is one of those actors who's good in everything I've seen him in. Sure, it takes some patience to get through the slow parts in Giant from the Unknown (and there are a bunch of 'em), but it's worth it. There's a good little movie here if you just look for it. Like I said, it's difficult to explain, but I'm giving this one a 6/10.

Giant from the Unknown (1958)* 1/2 (out of 4) Rather boring 50's horror tale about an expedition in Northern California where they unleash a giant Spanish conquistador who has been dead for over four-hundred years. Buddy Baer, Max's brother, plays the giant here but that doesn't really matter because this is the type of film that holds the monster away until around the fifty-minute mark and even then we only see him ever so often. Roger Corman liked to use this trick and a lot of times it could work but whenever our human characters are boring and the screenplay is full of bland talk then the lack of a monster really hurts and that's what happens here. Ed Kemmer, Sally Fraser and Morris Ankrum are the three who dig the thing up and all the romantic stuff between Kemmer and Fraser is rather silly and rather laughable. Bob Steele does a good job at playing the sheriff and he's the main reason to see this thing. The movie does have a few good things going for it and that includes the final chase that looks pretty good as the snow is falling. The actual ending has a rather obvious goof in it but I won't spoil what happens for you. The look of the monster really didn't impress me either nor did his little outfit. This isn't an outright horrible movie but I think fans of 50's horror will be disappointed because there's just not much going on here and certainly not enough to carry the 77-minute running time. The same director also made SHE DEMONS, FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER and MISSILE TO THE MOON.