The Unearthly

The current rating of 3.0 is undeserved and kind of baffling. The Unearhtly may not be the most thrilling or interesting movie, but there's nothing technically wrong with it. There are no grating performances, no editing errors or breaks in continuity, no especially poorly-written elements. It's not painful in any way to watch. It's just fairly standard for the time. And there are some enjoyable moments and quotable lines with a passably gripping story, so it's not like it isn't worth seeing. While there are some cliches, it should be noted that they weren't nearly as cliche in 1957 as they are now. Overall it's a decent "mad scientist" movie that shouldn't be completely disregarded.

Dr. Conway (John Carradine) runs a strange medical home in a decayed and isolated mansion. How strange is it? Well, it's so strange that Lobo (Tor Johnson) works there.

Ed Wood occasionally receives a writing credit for this bit of 1957 drive-in dreck; in truth his only contribution to the film is the character Lobo, which is lifted directly from Wood's 1955 BRIDE OF THE MONSTER. Even so THE UNEARTHLY, scripted by John Black and Jane Mann, is certainly bad enough to be an Ed Wood movie. Unfortunately it isn't nearly as funny.

Dr. Conway's newest patient is Grace (Allison Hayes), who is unaware that the place is a front for unnatural experiments involving artificial glands. Fortunately for Grace, murder-on-the-run Mark (Myron Healey) stumbles onto the grounds and proves more than a match for the good doctor and his evil associates. Throw in Marilyn Buferd, Arthur Batanides, Sally Todd and an idea or two yanked from H.G. Wells' ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU and there you go.

By this point John Carradine had been typed in mad doctor roles and he delivers a typical John Carradine mad doctor performance. Allison Hayes, a beautiful and interesting actress who never got the breaks she deserved, is an always welcome sight--and yes, it is fun to see Tor Johnson doing his slack-jawed routine again. But in a general sense THE UNEARTLY isn't so much a badly made film as it is an utterly uninteresting one. If you're among the hardcore fans of 1950s drive in fare you might enjoy it, but I'm not holding my breath on it.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

John Carradine's character, Dr. Conway, has a big problem in "The Unearthly." His experiments on a newly discovered synthetic gland keep going wrong, and as a result, all his human guinea pigs have been transformed into mutant critters that are now overcrowding his basement. We get to see this mutant collection at the end of the film, and it is both the funniest and most horrifying section of this surprisingly well-done little B picture. I say "surprising" only because most film books downplay this movie as hopeless shlock, but I found it to be fairly entertaining. Not too many unintentional laffs, and with fairly good acting, too, especially from Carradine and cult fave Allison "The 50 Foot Woman" Hayes. Tor Johnson, everyone's favorite lumbering mound of monstrous blubber, is also on hand, as Carradine's imbecilic helper, and his is always a welcome presence. Surprisingly, his character's name is Lobo...the same name he sported in Ed Wood's "Bride of the Monster"!!! This may very well be Tor's finest film...but when your other credits include "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and "The Beast of Yucca Flats," two of the worst ever, I suppose that's not saying too much. Compared to the other John Carradine "mad scientist" film that I saw recently, "The Astro-Zombies," "The Unearthly" is a little gem of script, acting and direction. Again, I suppose that's not saying too much. But the bottom line is, I really did have fun with this one. Give it a try!

Unearthly, The (1957)

*** (out of 4)

This 'Z' grade film to me is one of the best examples of something being so bad it's good. A mad doctor (John Carradine), with the help of his assistant Lobo (Tor Johnson) is using people from his psychiatric institute as subjects in hopes that he can find eternal life by putting glands in their heads. This film is about as crazy as any film can get and I mean that in a good way because this is one of the most entertaining bad films ever made. It might even be unfair for me to call this bad because, unlike a lot of these Z movies, this one here goes out of its way to try and be entertaining and come up with a real story. The so-called real story they come up with here is way out of left field but it's still a lot of fun. Carradine and Johnson as the bad guys just adds more enjoyment as the two men eat up each scene as if they haven't eaten anything in years. That wonderful glee in Carradine's eyes really shines and it makes you forget that this guy has been in some of the most loved classics in the history of cinema. The brute Johnson moves slowly and talks badly but this just adds to his charm. Myron Healey and Allison Hayes play the good guys with cult figure Sally Todd playing another one of the patients. Arthur Batanides plays a hot head patient and in interviews he said he was drunk throughout the making of the film and this isn't hard to believe. He makes his character very memorable and he's a joy to watch throughout the thing. The make up effects are all very well done, which again, isn't too normal for this type of film. The ending, clearly influenced by H.G. Wells, is a classic with a closing line that is hilarious.

Although made in 1957, THE UNEARTHLY is one of those throwbacks to the kinds of cheap horror pictures cranked out by minor studios in the 1940's that often starred Bela Lugosi, or George Zucco, or as in this film, John Carradine as a mad scientist. This film, with John Carradine as a mad scientist trying to create immortal beings must of seemed old and shopworn to 1957 audiences. The film is talky and plodding. Scenes are dull. The last ten minutes the film picks up speed and we get a chance to see the botched results of Carradines experiments and some fine make up work by Harry Thomas. Its the only thing from preventing me from calling this a total disaster. Oh! I almost forgot, Allison Hayes is sexy.