The Unearthly

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.

The Unearthly (1957) seems to be more at home with the kind of horror pictures featuring mad scientists that were produced in the 1940's. By the 1950s, such films had all but died out to be replaced by the scientist-hero saving the world from alien invaders and the monstrous products of the atomic age.

The film does adequately make do with what its meager budget allowed for. For instance, most of the action takes place inside the single locale of one house with only a couple of scenes away from the house itself. With such budgetary constraints, much of the film focuses on the tensions developing between the characters,

Perhaps the best feature of The Unearthly is the cast that was assembled for this film as well as its handling of issues to do with power, its abuse and of trust.

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.

1957's "The Unearthly" was a six day wonder that echoes "The Black Sleep" from a year earlier, a throwback to previous decades as its scientist is primarily interested in personal glory and not aiding mankind (despite statements to the contrary), only now (in place of Basil Rathbone) John Carradine stars as the mad doctor rather than one of the failed experiments. Dr. Charles Conway offers up a multitude of scenery chewing lines for the actor to delve into, and comes off as perhaps the best such role in his lengthy career, spoofing himself magnificently in Woody Allen's 1972 "Every Thing You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask," as a crazed sexual researcher whose creation is a giant female breast that attacks with both cream and milk! Like "Sleep" we again have a dungeon full of beasts (the shooting title was "House of Monsters"), with Conway in need of 'volunteers' for his glandular treatment center, in a never ending search for immortality (filming at the former home of actress Mary Pickford, subsequently used in "Terror in the Haunted House" aka "My World Dies Screaming"). Alluring Allison Hayes ("Attack of the 50 Foot Woman") plays the new arrival, followed by escaped killer Myron Healey ("Varan the Unbelievable"), who gradually learn what exactly is going on with their host and his love starved nurse (Marilyn Buferd, Miss America of 1946). The small but capable cast includes Tor Johnson, also retained from "The Black Sleep," given the same name (Lobo) that he had as Lugosi's mute assistant in Ed Wood's "Bride of the Monster" (he at least has dialogue here, such as it is). By the late 50s, a period after he turned down the lead in "The She-Creature" for artistic reasons, Carradine virtually attacked each role with relish, providing a sharp contrast with underplayed performances in "Revenge of the Zombies" or "The Face of Marble," going all out for this low budget Republic success, effortlessly carrying the picture with a larger than life rendition that makes the clichés part of the fun. In sharing this he proved himself to be the equal of Vincent Price in winking to the audience, and flourished in the genre for another 30 years.

This movie includes a number of distinguished actors playing excellent parts. John Carradine, for instance, plays a gaunt, furrow-faced scientist with a big booming authoritative scientisty voice. Myron Healy plays the mysterious Mark Houston, an average Joe who goes after the ladies with some of the lamest pick-up lines in existence ("Grace? Hmm, pretty name for a pretty girl.") The truly lovely Alison Hayes, she of the sensational chest, plays the aforementioned Grace, a knockout of a girl up to her eyeballs in emotional problems. Sally Todd, a beauty queen in real life, plays Natalie, a relatively well-adjusted knockout blonde who tragically gets turned into a smoked meat sculpture (not on purpose, of course). Marilyn Buferd is the cold, frustrated lady scientist who's carrying a torch for the gaunt furrow-faced scientist guy. Roy Gordon is the scientist-in-cahoots-with-the-other-scientists who looks like the guy on those Monopoly cards. Arthur Batanides is the neurotic palooka who spazzes out at the drop of a hat. Harry Fleer is Jedrow (_not_ Jethro), the hapless victim who looks like Abe Vigoda. And. of course, there's Tor Johnson, who's just his sweet, lovable, playful old self.

With a cast like that, how can you go wrong?