‘An Unspeakable Horror… Destroying… Terrifying!’
The Beast with a Million Eyes is a 1955 American science fiction horror film about an alien able to see through the eyes of the many creatures he takes control of.
Directed and produced by David Kramarsky from a screenplay written by Tom Filer. Some scenes were directed uncredited by Lou Place and Roger Corman. Executive produced by Samuel Z. Arkoff, Roger Corman and James H. Nicholson.
The San Mateo Productions-Palo Alto Productions movie stars Paul Birch, Lorna Thayer, Dona Cole, Dick Sargent, Leonard Tarver, Bruce Whitmore and Chester Conklin.
The movie was released in 1955 by American Releasing Corporation which later became American International Pictures (AIP).
Plot:
The isolated Kelley family struggle with their small farm in a bleak landscape. A mysterious plane crash happens nearby. Then wild and domesticated animals and finally their handyman turn on the family and attack.
It turns out a space alien (the beast of the title) has taken over the minds of the lesser animals (the 1,000,000 eyes of the title), working its way up to controlling humans as part of a plan to conquer the world…
Reviews:
” …it is scarcely a shock to see that The Beast with a Million Eyes is one of the tackiest, trashiest monster movies ever to be made in Hollywood by somebody other than Ed Wood Jr. But unfortunately, it somehow fails to be tacky or trashy enough to be fun.” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting
“The nice thing about this film is that it centres on a very ordinary family. Furthermore, the young lovers are here given short shrift; it is the middle-aged married couple upon whom the story focuses, two people who must defeat their adversary with no other weapon available to them but their own human natures; and to make this possible, and credible, the story first ventures into some surprisingly dark territory.” And You Call Yourself a Scientist!
“This is one of those classic cases of coming up with a great title and then trying to figure out how to film it […] It has people attacked by birds (before Hitchcock) and by the family dog (before Stephen King), but the eventual payoff of seeing the monster is an oversized teapot, is disappointing. It’s shoddiness is endearing, the acting not too bad.” Down Among the “Z” Movies
“It’s slow-moving, somewhat confusing, and the acting is wildly uneven. A lot of the animal attack scenes don’t work, simply because the cheapness of the production kept them from doing them effectively, but you get the gist of what’s going on anyway […] Nonetheless, though the total effect ends up being somewhat surreal, it was entertaining enough and I enjoyed it.” Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings
“The film’s ropey execution may generally overwhelm the script’s intelligence and humanity, however, I do prefer a film that tries something and fails to one that doesn’t try anything and still fails, so I can’t help but like The Beast with a Million Eyes more than its actual quality deserves.” The Horror!?
“Though obviously very limited by its impoverished budget, this fascinating little film has enough rewards to make it stick in the memory including those striking opening titles, some hallucinatory abstract methods used to indicate the alien’s presence including a high-pitched screeching noise, and an animal attack premise that predates not only the ’70s tidal wave of films but Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds as well.” Mondo Digital
“The film tends to fall down when it comes to David Kramarsky’s direction, which is pedestrian and generates little in the way of tension or atmosphere. The animal attacks are not very scary for the most part, although one supposes it is hard to make scenes of chickens and cows attacking people seem menacing. The only scene that generates any atmosphere is one where a dog comes after Lorna Thayer and one shot that manages to make it look quite sinister.” 2.5 out of 5, Moria
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Buy Crab Monsters, Cave Men and Candy Stripe Nurses book from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
Buy How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime by Roger Corman from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com
YouTube reviews:
Trailer:
Full film – free to watch online [720p]:
Budget:
$23,000 (estimated)
Technical specs:
1 hour 15 minutes
Black and white
Audio: Mono
Film facts:
The poster title was The Beast with 1,000,000 Eyes!
