THE UNEARTHLY (1957)

THE UNEARTHLY (1957)

Tagline: Lured! to the house of monsters ...

(Sci-Fi, Horror, Really Dumb Scientist) [PG]

Note: This movie was not given an MPAA rating, but it definitely would have been a [PG]. Theatrically it was released as part of a double feature with BEGINNING OF THE END. 

In this one, a mad scientist named Dr. Charles Conway uses his psychiatric patients to experiment on by putting an artificial gland in their skulls. He is attempting to achieve eternal life, but the results are chaotic, deforming, and grotesque. A new guest at his secluded mansion is about to turn everyone’s lives upside down, but is it too late?

First off, one thing that stands out about this movie is that it is just loaded with known names from the 1950s. John Carradine was one of the most recognizable names in Hollywood horror and sci-fi for almost 3 decades. He does an outstanding job as Dr. Charles Conway. He isn’t Vincent Price, but he is way up there when it comes to playing creepy characters. 

Acting wise We also get sci-fi and horror icon Allison Hayes playing Grace Thomas. This is a great outing for the star who is most famous for her roles in THE UNDEAD, ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN, and ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU among others. Adding to that we have Marilyn Buferd who plays Dr. Sharon Gilchrist and she is very solid in this. Buferd is best known for movies like QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE and THE MACHINE THAT KILLS BAD PEOPLE. Then we have Sally Todd who plays Natalie in this. Todd was only in 19 different movie and TV projects, but FRANKENSTEIN’S DAUGHTER is probably her most well-known. Then if that wasn’t quite enough, we also had Tor Johnson who plays Lobo II, he doesn’t really speak much, but he is well known for everything from PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE to NIGHT OF THE GHOULS. Myron Healey is also in this as Mark Houston. I thought he was okay, but he didn’t blow me away in this one. He has an extremely recognizable face because he was in over 320 TV and movie projects. 

Where this thing goes wrong is in giving us a very uninteresting story. The movie goes for shock value in the very last scene, but by this time it’s unimpressive. Most of this movie is just giving us run of the mill “a mad scientist is trying to keep everything in order” storyline. I did like the interactions between Grace and Mark, but there isn’t really enough here to wow me. I can say there are some decent ideas in this, but not much of how they tried to glue this story together makes any sense. 

As far as things they did right, I already mentioned the cast, but outside of that, I kind of wish just one mad scientist would have a downtown rental office that is easy to get to. It’s hard enough already to find a whacko who is trying to change the world or play God and can screw it up as royally as Dr. Charles Conway does in this movie. All kidding aside, this is a drab un-entertaining film which sucks to say because this cast is outstanding and the movie was actually well produced. 

Overall this is a 3 out 7 at best when it could have been at least 5. 

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