This one has the classic formula of a peaceful coastal village with a monster legend that turns out to be real. Might not be too original, but entertaining nonetheless. This review has some spoilers.
The movie plays out how you’d expect it to. There’s a murder scene, some people think it’s a mythical monster, but authorities don’t and try to find a logical explanation, but more murders happen and eventually the monster becomes known. It’s nothing new. In that sense, the movie is very predictable. However, that does not take away from the enjoyment factor of it.
For once this month, the horror element is strong (or strong in relativity to the other crap I’ve been watching). What does the trick is the atmosphere, achieved mostly through the lighting and the musical score. Since it’s in black and white, that helps the visual appeal even more. Some scenes genuinely creeped me out, which is something not done that often.
The horror isn’t done through cheap jumpscares like today’s movies. Instead, it’s the suspenseful tone that makes it so erie. In terms of special effects, there really isn’t any. It’s just a guy in the monster costume. On that note, the monster looks dumb and uninspired, and obviously a rip-off of the Creature From the Black Lagoon. No wonder they barely showed it!
But it’s not what the monster looks like that defines it…. kinda. In this case, it’s what it does. It kills people in a very unpleasant way. It never shows the killing scenes on screen, but they describe it pretty well. First, it decapitates its victims with a clean cut. Then, it drinks all the blood from the bodies. That’s pretty extreme, for the 50’s. Even though it doesn’t show the deaths, it does show the creature holding a disembodied head. That part was pretty awesome.
On top of all this, the characters are decent as well. I liked the doctor, the sheriff, and even the teenagers were alright. Watching these characters trying to solve the mystery of the murders is the most engrossing part of the film. Yeah, other than being primarily in the horror genre, it also serves as a decent mystery movie.
Anyway, the biggest downside to the characters is how stupid they are. After so many murders happening in such a short amount of time, you’d think there’d be more than a sheriff, a doctor, 2 teenagers and a lighthouse manager dealing with the problem. Apparently, they don’t have any other police forces in the entire village. Why is that, you may ask? Well, I have no idea. Maybe the other cops were all killed by some other generic coastal village legend. Like Ghost Shark- oh, please no, not Ghost Shark.
Despite its predictability and other flaws, this is a decent creature feature for its time. I’d say it’s worth at least one watch. It may not be as well known as some others, but it’s a good time.
FINAL RATING: 26 / 50
STORY: 3 / 5
ACTING: 3 / 5
CHARACTERS: 2 / 5
CINEMATOGRAPHY: 3 / 5
MYSTERY/HORROR: 3 / 5
SOUNDTRACK: 2 / 5
TONE: 4 / 5
ENJOYABILITY: 4 / 5
REWATCH VALUE: 2 / 5
OWNING VALUE: 0 / 5
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