THE BEAST FROM THE BEGINNING OF TIME (1965)
Tagline: Terror From Beyond Time
(Sci-Fi, Horror, A Beast That Needs To Wash His Face) [PG-13]
Note – This movie was not given a rating by the MPAA, but if it had come out today, we’d probably be looking at a PG or PG-13.
In this one after being dug up by two archaeologists, an almost perfectly preserved prehistoric man is brought back to life by a lightning storm, because even in the 50s, that is one of the coolest ways to be brought back to life. Of course, THE BEAST FROM THE BEGINNING OF TIME is now on a killing spree and can only be slowed down by conventional weapons…not stopped. Who or what can stop the terror?
First off this movie is in glorious black and white. I say that with all the affection in the world because movies from the ’50s and ’60s at least in my opinion are always far better in black and white. I only mention this because this one came out in 1965 but feels more like a 50s film. 1960 was actually the last year where more major motion pictures were released in black and white than in full color. So anything after 1960, you started seeing more full-color efforts. It wasn’t that this couldn’t be done before the 50s though. Most of 1939’s WIZARD OF OZ was filmed in color.
The storyline and about 25% of the dialog is actually pretty cool. A lot like GIANT FROM THE UNKNOWN, we have horror trope with some sci-fi thrown in, just because we are dealing with archaeologists and chemical reactions between electricity and flesh in suspended animation. I am also pretty sure only about 4% of this movie is scientifically sound, but that doesn’t matter, this is sci-fi. Unfortunately only having about 25% of your dialog in the script being good means the other 75% isn’t good.
I watched this for free on a streaming service and the quality was beyond bad. Normally I can handle some pretty bad quality. I don’t mean to brag, but I am probably in the top 100 people on the planet that can handle watching a poor-quality movie. Just look at the bulk of reviews I’ve written. For me, that was a huge downer, just because the quality was over-bad. Then when we get to the acting it’s just not that much better. Marc Clark plays an unnamed character and he just isn’t good in this role. I am guessing that is why he only made one movie. Still better than me though. I have made none. We also get several lines from Suzanne Farrar who plays Elyse. She unfortunately isn’t good in this either and this was also her only movie. Ralph Seeley is slightly better as Dr. John Crawford, so that is a plus, and there are a few other decent but not great performances.
Understanding that this was a $10,000 budget sci-fi b-movie I then just have to look at the execution and how cool the story was. In spite of some reviews saying the contrary, I actually thought the “beast” which is actually more of a caveman looked pretty solid. Then I am just comparing it to other films from the era. I will say the story also kept me intrigued, but the ending is decidedly rough because the resolution feels like it was just way out there given how serious the rest of the film was trying to be.
Overall I can recommend this for die-hard 1950s and 1960’s sci-fi fans, but get ready for a lot of repeated words like “confounded” and a lot of eye-strain due to the lack of quality copies of this film out there. I give this movie a 3 out of 7, but mostly due to the film quality and script. It is actually an interesting watch.
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