METEOR MONSTER (1957)
I don't run across much independent fright fare from before 1970, so this is a treat. Thankfully, I enjoyed Meteor Monster, which was released as Teenage Monster. Story goes, cinematographer Jacques Marquette needed an inexpensive film to serve as the second half of a double feature with The Brain from Planet Arous (an awesome flick, by the way). After his director quit on him, he ended up helming the project himself. All of this is ironic, seeing as how Arous is already a "budget picture." This was Marquette's only directorial credit. I'm not sure what that says for the movie itself, but if you adjust your expectations accordingly, you'll find that Meteor Monster wines and dines you. Hey, that's more of a commitment than I'm willing to make. Nothing personal. Anyway, this screwy slab of sci-fi horror is unique for the 50's in that it's a period piece. Our action takes place towards the end of the nineteenth century. The location? Um, somewhere in the Southwest. A meteor crashes in the next paragraph.
Right, so the meteor - literally a sparkler - kills a man and wounds his son. We cut to seven years later. The son is grown, but his injuries have turned him into a hideous monstrosity. He looks like a cross between a werewolf and a caveman. I don't know how a meteor can keep you from visiting a barbershop, but them's the breaks. The rest of the plot involves a gold mine and manipulative shrews. I'll hand it to screenwriter Ray Buffum; Meteor Monster is more engrossing than it has any right to be, at least on paper. Dandy make-up effects come courtesy of Jack Pierce. Apparently, Quentin Tarantino is a fan. A clip from Meteor Monster shows up in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I'm going with four Z'Dars, but (and I know I'm repeating myself from other reviews) you have to consider the source. I own the big box VHS that was released by Monterey Home Video as part of their Midnight Madness line. That makes me cool, right?
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