The Unearthly

The Unearthly_720p(480P)

source: The Unearthly

This movie was dumb at best. The whole plot - a mad scientist develops a gland which gives the owner immortality - is a dumb one. In a very predictable move, things go wrong and anyone who gets the gland becomes a monster. Avoid this one unless you're watching the MST3K version.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 is so irritating. First they make fun of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians which is a cute children's movie, now they make fun of this decent mad scientist flick. And the mad scientist is John Carradine weighting 30 kilos i being absolutely brilliant. What a charisma, seems to run in the family. He steals the screen, conquers it. His mad goal is eternal life, and he tests stuff on the inhabitants of his psychiatric clinic, putting the 17th gland in them which moves and is all sinister. Being evil but sophisticated, he plays Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor during a peaceful dinner. Besides that, if there was a operation race, he'd won it. He's the fastest. His derp operating is even funnier if you know that his father was a surgeon. Son, I am disappoint. Out halfhero is a guy with the most western face ever, Myron Healey. later I found out that he mostly did play westerns, and it's no wonder. Broads are hot, one is a famous B movie actress Allison Hayes, the other two were Miss America and Playboy's Playmate of the Month. Also in it is Tor Johnson, wearing sandals, the huge guy from Plan 9 from Outer Space. He was a dwarf before Carradine pimped his pituitary, and now he's the biggest. Great film, extra fun, I sincerely laughed out loud couple of times.

Before I begin my review, I would like to say a few words about Tor Johnson. Tor Johnson... ah, yes, Tor Johnson, the immovable slab of granite. His illustrious movie covering John Carradine, Ed Wood, and even Coleman Francis. Oh, his roles often resembled each other, all right, and he never really said much, but when he spoke, the audience listened. "Time for go to bed," he would say, and darn it if the characters in the movie didn't listen to him. And his speaking role-heavy movies such as the masterful "Plan 9 from Outer Space" proved him the versatile actor he really was. If he were to say "I'm a big boy now, Johnny," as he so spiritedly did in that movie, you believed him. However, though many would disagree, it could be said that Tor reached his performing peak in the movie "The Unearthly" as the unyielding lab assistant Lobo. His major lines, such as "I found him in he garden" and "time for go to bed" have retained permanently a place in the annals of great movie lines along with "Flag on the moon... how'd it get there?" from "Night Train to Mundo Fine." However, it is "time for go to bed" that especially stands out. Never has a single phrase conveyed so much emotion, so much feeling, so much hidden meaning. In all seriousness, the movie "The Unearthly" places itself firmly alongside such classics as "Manos: Hands of Fate" and "Hobgoblins" as being one of the worst movies ever, although it remains somewhat more bearable than most. The plot, revolving around the demented experiments of John Carradine's mad scientist character, is ludicrous, while much of the filming focuses on disfigured faces and the movie's leading ladies. Above all, this is an unpleasent movie, and wanting to turn it off is about as unavoidable as a gag reflex (watching it is about as fun, too). Have fun.

Mini Review: 'The Unearthly' (1957) - I watched this the other night and it was pretty good ! I wasn't expecting much since the IMDb only gave it 2.7 stars. Allison Hayes and John Carradine were both fun to watch. Tor 'Plan 9 From Outer Space' Johnson is also along for the ride and did well as a sympathetic type 'Monster'. The story is mostly predictable yet I really didn't care, the acting and B-film makeup made up for it. There was a slight twist in the plot that was fun. When will those mad scientists ever learn ! If you like 50s Drive-in type horror films this is one to see and enjoy. I give it a 6 out of 10 for its genre as fun drive-in B-movie fare.

When compared to films such as Cave Dwellers and Manos the Hands of Fate, the Unearthly was not really too bad, but it still had problems. Mainly it seemed like the film was dragging along most of the time, and the plot seemed convoluted. If it hadn't been for Joel and the 'bots, I would've probably fallen asleep about halfway through the film.

Dr. Conway (John Carradine) runs a strange medical home in a decayed and isolated mansion. How strange is it? Well, it's so strange that Lobo (Tor Johnson) works there. Ed Wood occasionally receives a writing credit for this bit of 1957 drive-in dreck; in truth his only contribution to the film is the character Lobo, which is lifted directly from Wood's 1955 BRIDE OF THE MONSTER. Even so THE UNEARTHLY, scripted by John Black and Jane Mann, is certainly bad enough to be an Ed Wood movie. Unfortunately it isn't nearly as funny. Dr. Conway's newest patient is Grace (Allison Hayes), who is unaware that the place is a front for unnatural experiments involving artificial glands. Fortunately for Grace, murder-on-the-run Mark (Myron Healey) stumbles onto the grounds and proves more than a match for the good doctor and his evil associates. Throw in Marilyn Buferd, Arthur Batanides, Sally Todd and an idea or two yanked from H.G. Wells' ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU and there you go. By this point John Carradine had been typed in mad doctor roles and he delivers a typical John Carradine mad doctor performance. Allison Hayes, a beautiful and interesting actress who never got the breaks she deserved, is an always welcome sight--and yes, it is fun to see Tor Johnson doing his slack-jawed routine again. But in a general sense THE UNEARTLY isn't so much a badly made film as it is an utterly uninteresting one. If you're among the hardcore fans of 1950s drive in fare you might enjoy it, but I'm not holding my breath on it. GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Unearthly, The (1957) *** (out of 4) This 'Z' grade film to me is one of the best examples of something being so bad it's good. A mad doctor (John Carradine), with the help of his assistant Lobo (Tor Johnson) is using people from his psychiatric institute as subjects in hopes that he can find eternal life by putting glands in their heads. This film is about as crazy as any film can get and I mean that in a good way because this is one of the most entertaining bad films ever made. It might even be unfair for me to call this bad because, unlike a lot of these Z movies, this one here goes out of its way to try and be entertaining and come up with a real story. The so-called real story they come up with here is way out of left field but it's still a lot of fun. Carradine and Johnson as the bad guys just adds more enjoyment as the two men eat up each scene as if they haven't eaten anything in years. That wonderful glee in Carradine's eyes really shines and it makes you forget that this guy has been in some of the most loved classics in the history of cinema. The brute Johnson moves slowly and talks badly but this just adds to his charm. Myron Healey and Allison Hayes play the good guys with cult figure Sally Todd playing another one of the patients. Arthur Batanides plays a hot head patient and in interviews he said he was drunk throughout the making of the film and this isn't hard to believe. He makes his character very memorable and he's a joy to watch throughout the thing. The make up effects are all very well done, which again, isn't too normal for this type of film. The ending, clearly influenced by H.G. Wells, is a classic with a closing line that is hilarious.

Surprisingly ok for a Mystery Science Theatre Movie. I have seen much worse. And the MST version was not really all that funny either although the shorts at the beginning make it worth seeing. ("Posture Pals" and "Appreciating Our Parents")