‘Terror strikes… from beneath the sea!’
Monster from the Ocean Floor is a 1954 sci-fi horror film about a sea monster that terrorises people at a cove in Mexico.
The film was directed by Wyott Ordung (screenwriter on Target Earth; First Man into Space and director of Walk the Dark Street).
The movie stars Anne Kimbell and Stuart Wade. The latter also starred in other low-budget films during the decade including Tarantula (1955), and Teenage Monster (1958). Producer Roger Corman also appeared in a cameo in the film; it was the first film that he solo-produced.
“The monster was actually a puppet shot behind a cloudy fish tank. I certainly had no money for process shots, where the action is rear-projected onto a screen and the actors play to it onstage.” Roger Corman, How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime
Julie Blair (Kimbell) is an American vacationing at a sea-side village in Mexico. She hears stories about a man-eating creature dwelling in the cove. She meets Doctor Baldwin (Dick Pinner), a marine biologist, and they fall for one another.
The mysterious death of a diver interests Julie in investigating, but Baldwin is very dubious. She sees a giant amoeba rising from the ocean…
Our review:
Monster from the Ocean Floor wasn’t just low budget, it had a minuscule budget, yet the use of so much location footage adds genuine verisimilitude that’s missing from many studio-bound ’50s movies. At just over an hour it’s watchable and generally entertaining, despite its regrettable depiction of the Mexican characters, played by Jonathan Haze and director Wyott Ordung, as hysterical drunkards. Meanwhile, Corman himself took on a minor role to save paying another actor!
Very briefly glimpsed, the monster is a particularly tacky yet oddly amusing creation and its demise – stabbed in the eye with a mini-sub – is in keeping with the trashy proceedings. Pseudo-scientific babble also adds an air of authenticity that is missing from some of the bigger budgeted 1950s monster movies. Certainly, this is a decidedly cheapo endeavour yet it offers a portend of Corman’s many enjoyable aquatic horrors to come…
Ade Smith, MOVIES & MANIA
Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com
Choice dialogue:
“Happy monstering!”
“Lovely girls just don’t run around worrying about sea monsters.”
Film facts:
The shooting title was It Stalked the Ocean Floor
Cast and characters:
Anne Kimbell … Julie Blair
Stuart Wade … Steve Dunning
Dick Pinner … Doctor Baldwin
Wyott Ordung … Pablo
Inez Palange … Tula
Jonathan Haze … Joe
David Garcia … Jose
Roger Corman … Tommy
Budget:
$30,000 (approximately)
Technical specs:
1 hour 4 minutes
Black and white
Aspect ratio: 1.37: 1
Trailer [1080p]:
Free online on YouTube [1080p Premium HD]:
Free online on YouTube [1080p HD]:
Interview with Roger Corman by Tom Weaver:
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