The Alligator People (1959)
*** (out of 4)
Fun monster film has a wife (Beverly Garland) goings into the swamps to try and find out what has happened to her missing husband. Once there she's pretty much greeted with coldness but soon she realizes the terror that has happened to her husband and it's only going to get worse.
THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE is a pretty fun monster film that manages to have a nice cast doing fine work and there's just an overall good feel to the entire thing. This was obviously done in the same mode as THE FLY and like that film there are certainly some flaws to be found but overall there's no denying that monster fans should have a good time with it.
I honestly think the best thing in the picture are the performances with Garland doing an extremely good job in the role of the wife. Lets face it, horror films are often victim to actors just phoning in their performances but that's not the case here because Garland really does the dramatics good and especially when she realizes that her husband is turning into an alligator. I also thought Lon Chaney, Jr. was very good and certainly entertaining in his role as the swamp man with a hook for a hand. His drunken, violent clashes with everyone is certainly fun to watch and you really do believe him in this role. Both Bruce Bennett and Richard Crane are good as well.
THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE is a little misleading since there really aren't a whole colony of alligator people but this just slightly takes away from the fun. The film takes a while to get going but once everything starts to fall into place is when the fun takes over and it leads up to a highly entertaining ending.
*** (out of 4)
Fun monster film has a wife (Beverly Garland) goings into the swamps to try and find out what has happened to her missing husband. Once there she's pretty much greeted with coldness but soon she realizes the terror that has happened to her husband and it's only going to get worse.
THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE is a pretty fun monster film that manages to have a nice cast doing fine work and there's just an overall good feel to the entire thing. This was obviously done in the same mode as THE FLY and like that film there are certainly some flaws to be found but overall there's no denying that monster fans should have a good time with it.
I honestly think the best thing in the picture are the performances with Garland doing an extremely good job in the role of the wife. Lets face it, horror films are often victim to actors just phoning in their performances but that's not the case here because Garland really does the dramatics good and especially when she realizes that her husband is turning into an alligator. I also thought Lon Chaney, Jr. was very good and certainly entertaining in his role as the swamp man with a hook for a hand. His drunken, violent clashes with everyone is certainly fun to watch and you really do believe him in this role. Both Bruce Bennett and Richard Crane are good as well.
THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE is a little misleading since there really aren't a whole colony of alligator people but this just slightly takes away from the fun. The film takes a while to get going but once everything starts to fall into place is when the fun takes over and it leads up to a highly entertaining ending.