The Unearthly

Rating:
Summary: Can John Carradine's mad scientist find the 17th gland?
Review: First, be aware that this is the "regular" version of "The Unearthly" and not the Mysterious Science Theater 3000 version of the film, which is also available on video tape. The hook for this 1957 horror film from director Brooke L. Peters is the cast, which brings together John Carradine ("Billy the Kid versus Dracula"), Alison Hayes ("Attack of the 50 Foot Woman") and Tor Johnson ("Plan 9 From Outer Space"). Carradine is Professor Charles Conway, a mad scientist who is tryiing to discover the secret of enternal youth (if only he can find the right gland), but is using people who are all alone in the world to do his experiments. Supposedly he is curing their depression and letting them live in his home because he is a kindly soul, but instead he is creating a bunch of zombies because his experiments are (surprise, surprise, all together now) going horribly wrong. The local police are suspicious enough to send one of their own undercover to stay with the professor (Hey kids! See if you can spot him!). Meanwhile, a couple of the experiments gone horribly wrong are taking an interest in one another and if love comes along, could death and dismemberment in a fiery finale be far behind? When Carradine starts chewing up the scenery there are few who can stand upright in his presence (which explains why everybody on MST3K stay in their seats). "The Unearthly" is one of those films that is bad enough to be enjoyed, unless you are pre-med or something and waste all your time trying to count off the other sixteen glands. Besides, the supporting cast offers up Miss America of 1946, Marilyn Buferd as Dr. Sharon Gilchrist, and Playboy's Playmate of the Month for February 1957, Sally Todd as Natalie Anders. Remember, this movie already has Alison Hayes. But how can this bevy of beauties compete with Tor Johnson as Lobo, the handyman?

Rating:
Summary: Can John Carradine's mad scientist find the 17th gland?
Review: First, be aware that this is the "regular" version of "The Unearthly" and not the Mysterious Science Theater 3000 version of the film, which is also available on video tape. The hook for this 1957 horror film from director Brooke L. Peters is the cast, which brings together John Carradine ("Billy the Kid versus Dracula"), Alison Hayes ("Attack of the 50 Foot Woman") and Tor Johnson ("Plan 9 From Outer Space"). Carradine is Professor Charles Conway, a mad scientist who is tryiing to discover the secret of enternal youth (if only he can find the right gland), but is using people who are all alone in the world to do his experiments. Supposedly he is curing their depression and letting them live in his home because he is a kindly soul, but instead he is creating a bunch of zombies because his experiments are (surprise, surprise, all together now) going horribly wrong. The local police are suspicious enough to send one of their own undercover to stay with the professor (Hey kids! See if you can spot him!). Meanwhile, a couple of the experiments gone horribly wrong are taking an interest in one another and if love comes along, could death and dismemberment in a fiery finale be far behind? When Carradine starts chewing up the scenery there are few who can stand upright in his presence (which explains why everybody on MST3K stay in their seats). "The Unearthly" is one of those films that is bad enough to be enjoyed, unless you are pre-med or something and waste all your time trying to count off the other sixteen glands. Besides, the supporting cast offers up Miss America of 1946, Marilyn Buferd as Dr. Sharon Gilchrist, and Playboy's Playmate of the Month for February 1957, Sally Todd as Natalie Anders. Remember, this movie already has Alison Hayes. But how can this bevy of beauties compete with Tor Johnson as Lobo, the handyman?

Rating:
Summary: A blast from the past...
Review: I saw this as a kid and never forgot it. So when I found it available on DVD I fell all over myself getting it. And I wasn't disappointed at all. I love it and I recommend it to lovers of low-budget b&w 50's horror. Mad doctor John Carradine runs a secluded "private sanitarium" where patients check in but they don't check out. He's conducting glandular experiments with his patients turning into deformed mutants that end up in the basement. Voluptuous Allison Hayes is his newest patient and potential victim. Tor Johnson is around as Lobo the hulking assistant with an eye for "purty gurls". What a cast! And a beautiful print from Image as well. Great for rainy day or late night viewing. I'm a sucker for the good stuff and this movie is a good example of what I wish was available on DVD. Sure, it's poverty row cheesy but endearingly so. Grab a friend or two, pop some popcorn and just enjoy this movie for what it is...a delirious guilty pleasure.

Rating:
Summary: Not Enough Tor Johnson
Review: John Carradine gives a great performance but the story is hard to swallow and there's not enough of Tor Johnson. Worth a look. Great opening credits!

Rating:
Summary: Slim but stunning DVD of entertaining Mad Doctor opus
Review: No, The Unearthly is not a Great Movie by any stretch, but it's always been one of my favorite 1950s horror cheapies for a number of reasons. Chief among them, of course, is drop-dead-gorgeous Allison Hayes as heroine Grace Thomas, here playing in sweet, vulnerable mode, in contrast to her archetypal 'bad girl' performances as The 50-Foot Woman, Tonda Metz in The Disembodied, and Livia the sorceress in Roger Corman's The Undead. Also on hand are Tor Johnson in his second appearance as pinheaded brute "Lobo" (he even gets a few choice lines), and the always-enjoyable John Carradine, hamming it up as ever playing the deranged Dr. Conway ("I am a scientist. Thinking is my business."). Carradine had played so many mad doctors by this point that he could probably do it in his sleep. The opening shot sets the tone as a screaming woman claws gashes into Tor's face, immediately followed by the cartoonish credit sequence. The plot is pretty generic: Dr. Loren Wright (Roy Gordon) finds potential subjects with no family ties and refers them to Conway ("trust me implicitly"), whose glandular/electrical experiments (to conquer aging and death, naturally) turn them into twitching, catatonic, mutant freaks. Myron Healey (veteran of zillions of B-movies and TV westerns) is the escaped killer/holdup man who literally stumbles into Conway's "house of monsters"; pretty Sally Todd (Frankenstein's Daughter) plays experimental victim Natalie; and icy blonde Marilyn Buferd (who had been directed by Roberto Rossellini and Rene Clair) appears as Dr. Gilchrist, Conway's assistant (she also has a thang for the bad doctor). Instantly recognizable "tough-guy" character actor Arthur Batanides (Maltese Bippy, Leech Woman, plus dozens of TV guest shots including The Dick Van Dyke Show and Mission: Impossible), plays aggressive neurotic Danny, another "patient" of Conway's. Highlights include Hayes and Playboy model Todd sunbathing, Dr. Conway performing Bach's "scary" Toccata and Fugue in D Minor on the organ, and the glandular transplant operation, a rather amusing affair involving crackling bolts of electricity, lotsa big knobs and dials, and some deadpan 'scientific' gibberish between Drs. Conway and Gilchrist (the artificial "17th gland" looks like a used condom or a wet dog dropping, you choose). Incredibly enough, this was co-written by John D. F. Black (as "Geoffrey Dennis"), associate producer and writer on the original Star Trek series! Exploitation cheapie producer/director Boris L. Petroff/Brooke L. Peters (Untamed Women, Anatomy of a Psycho) proves that having a European surname doesn't equate with being a talented director: bad-movie fans will have fun counting continuity errors, perhaps the most conspicuous of which is an entire dialogue scene between Carradine and Healey about 20 minutes in that violates the most basic rules of visual syntax. With every cut the two actors jump to opposite sides of the frame! Be sure to stick around to see the basement full of zero-budget makeup artist Harry Thomas's freaky 'manimal' mutants (one of which is Tor's son Karl) in the finale. Lucky guy Healy gets to smooch it up with Hayes at the fade. Not quite the dizzying hodgepodge of an Ed Wood flick, but definitely in the neighborhood. Highly recommended for members of the Hayes, Tor, and Carradine cults, and fans of 1950s monster dreck in general.
For this DVD transfer, Image apparently got ahold of the original 35mm negative and it shows. Aside from some sporadic very light speckling, the print is virtually pristine. Black level, brightness, contrast, sharpness, and shadow/highlight detail are uniformly excellent throughout. You'll never need an upgrade from this one! The image is framed at 1.66:1 and anamorphically enhanced, and the Dolby Digital mono sound is clear and full. Unfortunately, extras are skimpy (especially for the price), consisting of 16 chapter stops, a very minimal photo gallery of only 3 B&W stills and one lobby card, and brief liner notes by David Del Valle. Not even a trailer! Another (minor) nitpick of mine is that the reproduction of the original one-sheet on the DVD cover is surprisingly poor (I just happen to own this particular poster). But considering the fantastic print quality of the feature, fans of the movie will want this disc anyway (it blows both Rhino's out-of-print VHS pre-record and my taped-off-AMC copy clear off the map). Just a few more extras would've made this a five-star DVD.

Rating:
Summary: More bad experiments
Review: The Unearthly is not a bad movie. John Carradine is the mad scientist trying to achieve immortality through various experiments. At the end of the movie all of the failures from the experiments are discovered. If you are a Tor Johnson fan (Tor appeared in Plan 9 from Outer Space) you can see him as Lobo.