‘The fiend that walks lovers’ beach!’
The Monster of Piedras Blancas is a 1958 sci-fi horror film about a prehistoric creature terrorising a small seaside town. It was written and directed by Irvin Berwick (Hitch-Hike to Hell). Released 1959.
The Vanwick Productions movie stars Jeanne Carmen (The Devil’s Hand), Les Tremayne (The Monolith Monsters; Angry Red Planet); The Slime People), John Harmon, Don Sullivan (The Giant Gila Monster), Forrest Lewis (The Thing That Couldn’t Die; The Munsters) and Pete Dunn.
Influenced by The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), the film was produced by Jack Kevan, who had supervised the manufacture of the Creature suit at Universal-International, and created the Piedras Blancas monster costume. Kevan employed several of his former Universal associates on the film. Wayne Berwick, who plays Little Jimmy, would go on to direct comedy-horror Microwave Massacre in 1983.
The influence of this movie extended to The Horror of Party Beach, The Beach Girls and the Monster, Humanoids from the Deep and beyond.
On September 13, 2016, the film was released on Blu-ray and DVD by Olive Films.
Plot:
The setting is the sleepy seaside town of Piedras Blancas. Sturges (Harmon) is the lighthouse keeper of the town and is very superstitious and concerned for the safety of his young teenage daughter, Lucy (Carmen). He leaves food for a sea monster that lives in a nearby cave.
The locals disregard him at first, but they begin to take notice when the bodies of people murdered by the monster are found on the beach. A local scientist identifies a scale as being from a prehistoric “diplovertebron,” a prehistoric humanoid presumed long extinct…
Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com
“Although hampered by a low budget, an obscure score, a limping rhythm, and a highly illogical monster, Piedras Blancas is enjoyable if not taken seriously. It seems purposefully to parody other films besides Black Lagoon, including From Here to Eternity and Frankenstein (1931). It aims low, never pretending to rise above other monster-on-the-loose flicks of its time.”David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers: Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film 1902 – 1982
</a
Trailer:
Joe Dante on Trailers from Hell:
Free to watch online in colour:
Filming locations:
Point Conception lighthouse and Coyucos, California
Technical details:
1 hour 11 minutes
Audio: Mono
Black and white
Aspect ratio: 1.85: 1
