The Monster of Piedras Blancas.

Review #1281: The Monster of Piedras Blancas.

Cast:
Les Tremayne (Dr. Sam Jorgenson), Forrest Lewis (Constable George Matson), John Harmon (Sturges, the Lighthouse Keeper), Frank Arvidson (Kochek, the Storekeeper), Jeanne Carmen (Lucille Sturges), Don Sullivan (Fred), Pete Dunn (Eddie/the Monster), and Joseph La Cava (Mike) Directed by Irvin Berwick.

Review:
I suppose anything goes when it comes to monster movies, whether it involves silly costumes or some other silly aspect to accompany what you could count as horror. My first question was what Piedras Blancas actually was, since it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, as opposed to those ones that are robots or brides. It actually refers to a light station (complete with its own point and lighthouse in its 19 acres) that is roughly five miles west by northwest of Sam Simeon in California (it also means white rocks in Spanish). Of course this film wasn't actually filmed in that location, instead being shot at a different lighthouse. One would think a film that wants to use a location for its film would actually shoot there, but this is certainly a movie lacking in other significant aspects anyway. Simply put, this is a lame little movie, harmless yet annoyingly mediocre. This was produced by Jack Kevan (in his only production effort), who did makeup work on several films (generally without credit), such as Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), having supervising the manufacture of the suit used for the film. He created the monster costume for this film as well, which goes...not quite as well. This was released on a double bill with Okefenokee, a swamp movie that does Actually, what made me really amused is that one of the film posters shows the film "winning" a Shock Award from Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine. If you can't trust posters that display the awards won before it even gets released, what can you trust? (this is where I would likely include a cynical response that lengthens this bland review by a few sentences, but I forgot to include one out of cynicism). One really can goof off when it comes to a film that really doesn't have much energy to it, particularly when it comes to its silly looking monster, which naturally shows up for a small amount of its 71 minute run-time and looks like a melted pig, which is funny since this is supposed to be a reptile. I wonder how I would've reacted to this if I had seen this film after Black Lagoon, but even "inspired" movies can still work if given enough to work with material. I can't even remember a single person from this film, where the acting seems too stiff to really make this seem big to go with. Imagine making a monster movie where the only interesting thing to think about is where you can find a lighthouse to visit just like the people do in this film. I take that back, actually, there is one interesting moment involving a head being carried around by the monster, which probably seems easy to stick out among films of its decade (unless one is Fiend without a Face, that is), so that sure is something. It isn't the kind of thing to move the needle heavily in the film's fate, but at least you can't say it is completely boring. When it comes to bland monster movies, this is easily the template film for that description, suited for a most boring and un-haunted night. Or in other words, a Tuesday.

Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.