The Beast with a Million Eyes
Directed by David Kramarsky and Roger Corman (uncredited)
Written by Tom Filer
1955/USA
San Mateo Productions
First viewing/Amazon Prime
[box] Carol Kelley: Yes. I’m not easy to get along with am I? Oh, I don’t know. I think I could stand it, except for … [looking at the horizon] out there… all that wasteland and mountains. We might as well be on another planet. Oh, Alan without Sandy I don’t know what would happen to me. It’d be just you and me and… Him [/box]
IMDb users have rated this film lower than Ed Wood’s Bride of the Monster, which came out the same year. There are several reasons for that but it’s also bizarrely fascinating if you have the patience.
The film begins with portentous voice-over narration from the Beast. The Kelley family, and their mute and creepy handyman “Him”, live on a date farm in the middle of nowhere. Mother Kelley is bored beyond distraction and has turned very, very mean, especially toward her teenage daughter Sandy. Soon a UFO’s high pitched drone breaks all of Mother Kelley’s prized glassware, putting her into an even worse mood.
Then assorted animals including the family dog, a cow, chickens, and a flock of pigeons attack. At some point Mother begins to see the light and realize the error of her ways. We learn that Love is stronger than the Beast. Spoiler Alert: The Beast is revealed to be what looks like a modified tea kettle with a superimposed hand puppet.
This is from early in the career of schlock-master Roger Corman and was made near where I live for a budget of $30,000. It looks like virtually the entire budget was spent on the poster art. The acting is godawful. The story makes no sense and of course zero was spent on special effects. And yet it kept my interest despite the very slow pace. It was all so bizarre that I kept wondering what would happen next.
Montage of clips
