If I have this right, Richard Clarke made this movie on his own (starred in it, wrote it, and directed it) after finishing up "The Astounding She-Monster" because he thought he could do better.
Well, yes, that turned out to be correct. "The Hideous Sun Demon" is better than that movie in every way. So in that sense, Clarke's decision was vindicated. And to be fair, every aspect of this film is also better than anything Z movie maestros such as Ed Wood Jr, Larry Buchanan, and Coleman Francis ever put to film. Clarke may have had his limits, he may have over estimated his talents...but he was still a professional, and it shows.
So it's not grade Z awful...but it's still not very good. The movie drags in spots and the plot has very little going for it after the initial idea of a man who becomes sort of a "reverse werewolf", because of, you know, radiation. Aside from that, the proceedings are kind of threadbare.
Some of the acting is mediocre. Clark is OK-to-decent - when a guy is that good looking, sometimes he forgets he has to do more than emote. The monster suit sucks. The fight choreography is half baked and unconvincing. The final chase (although enlivened by some "arty" shots and compositions) is way too long. The sound track is composed of every cliché a sound editor could pull out of a studio music library. And you've never seen a worse "fake" music performance than Nan Peterson "playing" piano and singing a torch song called "Strange Pursuit".
In fact, that's where I called it - things almost worked up until that point, but after "Strange Pursuit", the movie's brains leaked out of its ears and you knew the movie was just something you were going to just sit through.
Still, there were flashes of something decent here...I can't help but wonder if the movie would have done better and been better if Clarke had better collaborators to help with some of the decisions that divide a good movie from a "wanna-be", and polish some of the cheesier edges. Or maybe the movie was actually unwatchable and the editor saved it...hard to say.
You don't need to see this at all, ever...but as an episode of "Svengoolie", this would be OK.
Well, yes, that turned out to be correct. "The Hideous Sun Demon" is better than that movie in every way. So in that sense, Clarke's decision was vindicated. And to be fair, every aspect of this film is also better than anything Z movie maestros such as Ed Wood Jr, Larry Buchanan, and Coleman Francis ever put to film. Clarke may have had his limits, he may have over estimated his talents...but he was still a professional, and it shows.
So it's not grade Z awful...but it's still not very good. The movie drags in spots and the plot has very little going for it after the initial idea of a man who becomes sort of a "reverse werewolf", because of, you know, radiation. Aside from that, the proceedings are kind of threadbare.
Some of the acting is mediocre. Clark is OK-to-decent - when a guy is that good looking, sometimes he forgets he has to do more than emote. The monster suit sucks. The fight choreography is half baked and unconvincing. The final chase (although enlivened by some "arty" shots and compositions) is way too long. The sound track is composed of every cliché a sound editor could pull out of a studio music library. And you've never seen a worse "fake" music performance than Nan Peterson "playing" piano and singing a torch song called "Strange Pursuit".
In fact, that's where I called it - things almost worked up until that point, but after "Strange Pursuit", the movie's brains leaked out of its ears and you knew the movie was just something you were going to just sit through.
Still, there were flashes of something decent here...I can't help but wonder if the movie would have done better and been better if Clarke had better collaborators to help with some of the decisions that divide a good movie from a "wanna-be", and polish some of the cheesier edges. Or maybe the movie was actually unwatchable and the editor saved it...hard to say.
You don't need to see this at all, ever...but as an episode of "Svengoolie", this would be OK.