Teenage Monster * (1957, Anne Gwynne, Stuart Wade, Gloria Costello, Gilbert Perkins, Jim McCullough, Stephen Parker) – Classic Movie Review 13,214

The 1957 American black-and-white sci-fi horror Western movie Teenage Monster stars Anne Gwynne, Stuart Wade and Gloria Costello. A meteorite strikes a poor kid down and he grows up fast to be a hairy teenage killer, The Monster (Gilbert Perkins).

‘Wild! Wanton! Weird!’

Director Jacques R Marquette’s 1957 independently made American black-and-white sci-fi horror Western movie Teenage Monster [Meteor Monster] [Monster on the Hill] stars Anne Gwynne, Stuart Wade, Gloria Costello, Gilbert Perkins, Jim McCullough, and Stephen Parker. A meteorite strikes a poor kid down and he grows up fast to be a teenage hairy killer, The Monster (Gilbert Perkins).

Alas poor young Charlie Cannon (Stephen Parker)! The kid sees a meteorite crash in the desert and mysterious rays emanating from it cause him to begin aging rapidly. But a boy’s best friend is his mother, and gold prospector Ruth Cannon (Anne Gwynne) hides her hideous offspring from the local lawman Sheriff Bob (Stuart Wade), and the townsfolk believe he’s dead.

Soon Charlie’s aged ten years and become a hairy, aggressive psychopathic man-beast, who escapes from time to time to terrorise the locals. Ruth strikes gold and buys a house in town but Charlie scares more people and kidnaps young Kathy North (Gloria Castillo), who turns out not to be very nice at all.

Teenage Monster is a slow-paced, badly made fantasy film, set in a 19th-century town in the US Southwest, which throws caution to the wind by mixing science fiction, horror, Western and teenpic genres to zero effect. Nothing about the film is as good as its publicity, but how could it be when advertised as ‘A teenage Titan of terror on a lustful binge that paralysed a town with fear’?

Yes, it is awful, but it can still be enjoyed by fans of bad Fifties movies. It’s kind of sad seeing Forties star Anne Gwynne in this kind of junk though.

It is written by Ray Buffum and shot by Taylor Byars, but Marquette helped to develop the plot and handled some of the cinematography. Jack Pierce was in charge of the make-up effects.

Marquette made it when his production company needed a film for a double bill with The Brain from Planet Arous (1957), also written by Ray Buffum and produced by Marquette.

It premiered on 25 December 1957 in Los Angeles and was released in January 1958 as planned with The Brain from Planet Arous (1957).

The working title was Monster on the Hill, changed to Teenage Monster for release, but when the film was shown on TV the title was changed to Meteor Monster.

Teenage Monster was refused a UK rating certificate in 1959, and only in 1995 was the film was finally released in the UK fully uncut and with a PG certificate rating.

It cost an estimated $57,000.

The cast are Anne Gwynne as Ruth Cannon, Stuart Wade as Sheriff Bob, Gloria Castillo as Kathy North, Charles Courtney [Chuck Courtney] as Marv Howell, Gilbert Perkins as adult Charlie Cannon / The Monster, Stephen Parker as young Charlie Cannon, Norman Leavitt as Deputy Ed, Jim McCullough [Jim McCullough Sr] as Jim Cannon, Gaybe Morradian [Gabe Mooradian] as Fred Fox, Frank Davis as man on the street, and Arthur Berkeley as man with burro.

Teenage Monster [Meteor Monster] [Monster on the Hill] is directed by Jacques R Marquette, runs 65 minutes, is made by Marquette Productions Limited, is released by Howco International Pictures, is written by Ray Buffum, is shot in black-and-white by Taylor Byars, is produced by Jacques R Marquette, and is scored by Walter Greene.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,214

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