The Alligator People

This is actually a pretty good horror flick from the late 50's when it seems that all of God's creatures were being mutated somehow by radiation. This movie differs from that premise and that's what makes is unique and fun to watch. Beverly Garland plays a young woman on her honeymoon when her new groom suddenly disappears from a train. She desperately tries to find him and her search leads her to his home in the Louisiana Bayou where she confronts terror from all different levels. The movie is fast paced and the storyline good, I really enjoyed it. Lon Chaney, Jr. is a hoot as a drunken cajun who tries to rape the young bride. The ending is a surprise as well. Enjoy!!!!

You have to like a movie that offers the heroine (Beverly Garland in this case) running through a swamp during a rainstorm wearing high heels. Okay, to be fair watch this scene carefully and you will notice her heels change into sneakers in the long shots. Anyway, this very unusual plot offers a scientist (George Macready who was the villain in the 1945 Columbia serial THE MONSTER AND THE APE) who believes he can help crippled people to grow new limbs by injecting them with serum from alligator glands. Guess what happens. Richard Crane (from TV's "Rocky Jones, Space Ranger")is a war hero who was literally blown apart but who healed overnight thanks to the serum but something goes wrong and he start mutating into a . . .but then you saw the title of the movie didn't you? His new bride (Beverly) follows him to the forboding bayou mansion where his mother lives (Freida Inescourt from RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE, 1944) and soon uncovers the truth about the bizarre experiments. She tries to tell hubby that she will stand by him no matter what but that's kinda hard when every day he looks more and more like a 'gator. Also around to complicate things is Lon Chaney Jr as Mannon, a drunken Cajun (without a French accent) who hates alligators. Lon wears a hook on his left hand that he is constantly adjusting on camera. he also shoots at some (real) alligators from all of 10 feet away and misses! Sure the premise is silly, but if injecting a person with alligator glands can turn them into a gator remember that George Zucco created a werewolf by injecting a man with wolf blood in THE MAD MONSTER (1944). If THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE had been made 15 years earlier I'll bet it would have come out of Monogram or PRC. Give it a try, you just might find yourself having fun.

This movie is definitely above average for a sixty year old horror flick. It actually has a plot that makes sense and isn't full of holes. That's rare for the genre. It does have some dumb moments. Like Lon Chaney shooting at alligators that are about ten feet away and constantly missing them. He screams to them that he will never stop killing alligators but he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Of course when it's dark outside it's actually brighter than the day time, that's never cool. The woman "stumbles" through the "dark" swamp, easily avoiding and stepping over everything except the alligators. That's a bit lame too. The alligators appear to be real but they never try to attack anyone so I don't know. Other than those dumb parts, it's not too bad. Give it a shot.

I heartily agree with the comments provided by reptilicus from Vancouver, Canada (and I appreciate the "high heels" heads-up, and the various actors' cross-refs).

I recommend this movie for its creative application of pre-60s sci-fi/horror canon: eerie melodrama, sympathetic characters, strictly implied gore, rough & toothless scientific explanation, and absolutely no pretensions to credibility, 'cause we're all just here to have fun anyway. Great use of bookends, and of ominous bayou atmosphere.

Note that the synopsis on the DVD case (20th Century Fox, released September 7, 2004) incorrectly lists "Lon Chaney" as our heroine's husband. Mr. Chaney actually plays the drunken Cajun, and Richard Crane plays the husband.