The Monster of Piedras Blancas

I had never heard of this movie until I met the object of aforesaid Monster at a fan convention here in the bay area a few years ago... she told me about it, perhaps somehow sensing my affinity for rubber-suited monsters. I told her I hadn't seen it, but I'd sure love to, and she said the guy who worked on "Creature from the Black Lagoon" had also done the monster suit for this movie. Now I had to see it, but I didn't really get a chance until last Thursday at the Parkway in Oakland.

Strangely enough, the producer of the film's daughter had shown up for the showing (I'd give you her name if I remembered it), which also coupled as a birthday celebration for bay area horror host "Dr. Ghoulfinger". Even stranger, she had shown up not to seize the print or anything vulgar of that nature, but rather to lend her support and enjoy the rare public viewing of her father's film. When asked about her father's career after "Monster from Piedras Blancas", she said he moved into other types of film, to which a vocal part of the audience shouted "PORN!!!"

OK, the film itself is a somewhat better than average exploitation horror flick. The monster suit, which allows for a great deal of animation and motion, is a wonder -- it easily blows away everything else in the movie, including the much cheaper gore type effects such as decapitated heads. Of course, depending on your own inclinations, Jeanne Carmen also steals the show with her luscious bod, appearing as a brunette (anyone know what Jeanne Carmen's natural hair color is, anyway?) showing more character than most victims of 50s rubber monsters. Her acting is not great, but adequate for the film's demands.

No one else in the cast really stands out, but the effort in general is solid, not slowing down too much like many of its kind do in the middle. The film's makers seem to have known they must show something worth seeing every reel or risk losing the audience. A lot of the stuff in the movie seems pretty goofy, and I doubt that anyone involved took the film too seriously; it almost comes off as a comedy, kind of like but not as much so as some of Corman's movies from the time (most notably "Not of This Earth").

All in all, a good show

This is one of those films that used to be shown on Creature Features on Saturday mornings. Its a rather dull film about a Black Lagoon-type creature who goes around killing people. Despite its dullness, it has a couple of the scariest scenes of any film made during this era. The first, when the monster comes bursting out of a door is a moment of shock and horror equal to the similar scene in "The Thing". And the second, at the lighthouse at the end of the film, is extremely terrifying and gave me recurrent nightmares as a child. Both scenes are still frightening to me as an adult. One also has to appreciate the amount of thought that went into the plot. The origins of the monster and the reasons he starts to kill are convoluted but, if you follow along carefully, everything is explained in a logical manner and there are no inconsistencies in the plot. In "Keep Watching the Skies", Bill Warren criticized the film as lacking a logical plot and explanation for the monster, but he is wrong! However dull, a lot of thought went into the plotting of this film and, had the script been better, this could have been a scare classic.

"The Monster of Piedras Blancas" was an independent production from Jack Kevan who was former makeup artist at Universal and was responsible for designing and building the Gill Man suit in "Creature from the Black Lagoon", as well as the alien Xenomorph from "It Came from Outer Space", and the Metaluna Mutant of "This Island, Earth".

The suit for the film's "diplovertebron" monster consisted of existing molds for the feet that were cast from those of the Metaluna Mutant from "This Island, Earth" along with over-sized hands originally designed for "The Mole People".

There's no mistaking the fact that the "Monster of Piedras Blancas," is somewhat of a knock-off of the "Creature from the Black Lagoon".

It is obvious that some thought had gone into the plot which was fairly consistent and had some logic to it such as the monster's origins and the reasons behind its murderous rampage. The theme of loneliness and of being an outcast and the kind of desperation it can produce are touched on quite nicely as well.

A couple of quite gruesome scenes for the time included the monster bursting in on the scene carrying a bloody severed human head and a shot of the same head with a crab crawling across the face. Even cute pooches and little girls are not spared from the murderous wrath of the monster!

The film was shot not at the actual Point Piedras Blancas, which is north of San Simeon on the California coast. The lighthouse locations were shot at the Point Conception lighthouse near Lompoc, and the film's "town" was in fact the seaside city of Cayucos, about 30 miles south of the real Piedras Blancas.

Don Sullivan who plays Fred we remember from his role as Chase in "The Giant Gila Monster". In this film, however we can breathe a sigh of relief as he refrains from singing! His girlfriend Lucy is played by pin-up girl Jeanne Carmen who is certainly easy on the eye in just a simple floral dress or blouse and skirt and sensible flat shoes. No need for clown make-up, outfits that leave nothing to the imagination or stiletto posture torturers!

To conclude, I must admit that I geared myself up to hate this movie. I really, really wanted to hate this movie but I found that I just couldn't, no matter how much I tried! I'm really not sure why? I even mildly enjoyed watching this low-budget affair. The acting was pretty ordinary but at least the actors were earnest enough and the pace of the story was OK right up to and including the thrilling and at the same time, quite funny climax.

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!

In the 1950s and 60s, there were a bazillion cheap and shlocky monster films. They featured silly monsters in silly costumes and were mildly entertaining...but rather stupid. I thought "The Monster of Piedras Blancas" was one of these films but it turned out to be a touch better. Now I am not saying it's brilliant...but the story isn't bad and the monster costume isn't particularly dopey.

The film is set on the California coast. Someone or something is beheading folks and eventually people realize they have a monster on their hands...and it's up to them to defeat it. Oddly, after the killing spree began, no one ever thought to contact the state police or other authorities about the problem...even when a group of folks saw it was a monster!

So, the plot isn't perfect...but it is enjoyable and the monster costume is reasonably scary looking. A good film for afficianados of the genre.