O Monstro de Pedras Brancas

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.

In THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS, a series of grisly decapitation deaths occur in a small seaside town. Suspiciously, the local lighthouse keeper has been feeding meat scraps to a certain big-clawed creature. Keeping his secret becomes increasingly difficult as the body count rises.

Upon watching this movie again, it's interesting to notice the subtle influences it has had on other films, such as JAWS and THE FOG. It's also pretty grim and graphic for a monster movie from the late 1950's. Overall, the movie is very effective. The finale at the lighthouse is certainly memorable.

Co-stars Don Sullivan (THE GIANT GILA MONSTER, TEENAGE ZOMBIES) as Fred and Les Tremayne (WAR OF THE WORLDS, THE SLIME PEOPLE) as Dr. Jorgenson.

John Harmon plays a crusty lighthouse keeper who lives with his daughter and secretly feeds a monster of a prehistoric fish-man heritage scraps and fish. One day he misses feeding the creature scraps and all hell breaks loose. The creature walks about unseen and walking in and out of stores neatly severing the heads off folks. This is vintage 50's bad sci-fi. It has all the cliches you would expect, yet it is a whole lot of fun. Obviously made on a shoestring budget, Monster of Piedras Blancas has a charm to it. The story is pretty straightforward with everything from one-dimensional characters to the obligatory romance between the lighthouse keeper's daughter and a serendipitous biochemist versed in prehistoric fish species(played by Do Sullivan who you may...or more likely may not...remember as Chase in The Giant Gila Monster...no singing in this one fortunately!). The monster looks decent. Sure, you know its a rubber suit, but at least its not crying out that it is. This film makes great Saturday or Sunday afternoon fare!

Don Sullivan should be the star. He is the young handsome monster fighter. Others were better known at that time, perhaps. This is a good, but not great sci-fi B movie. It is entertaining and an obvious low budget quickie that might make back the investor's gamble. The monster is not totally ridiculous and the story is OK. The acting is better than most low budget films. Any of the main cast members, including the child actors could handle a Hollywood production. Camera work is better than adequate. This is not boring but sometimes it slips into comedy that is unintended.

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!