Plot: What’s it about?
The scenic western countryside can be a beautiful vision, but not when there’s a hideous werewolf creature stalking the town. As a small town soon discovers, there’s more than tumbleweeds and cattle in the lands around them, when a strange meteor crash lands outside of city limits. The meteor gives off some unusual rays, which end up killing one man and delivering a much worse fate to another, by turning him into a blood thirsty werewolf sort of thing, I think. Along with a lot of hair and some facial changes, this creature has a lust for death and with a town full of folks, he seems to be in the right place. So without much ado, he feasts upon his first victim and of course, looks to add more townsfolk to the menu before much longer. And since his mother hides him in their basement, the local sheriff has little clues as to how to stop the murderous rampage. Can the town survive this horrendous onslaught?
Teenage Monster was shot in eight days (seven if you disregard the first day, which yielded no usable results) and had a very small budget, so in other words, a classical film it isn’t. But with a unique blend of westerns, science-fiction, and horror elements, it ends up fitting in well with the other low budget efforts from the 1950s. As usual with a movie of this ilk, the writing is weak at best, the acting is bad, and the whole thing turns out poorly, but at least this one has the makeup magic of the legendary Jack Pierce. I like Pierce’s work here a lot, but remember that with such a limited amount of resources, even he can do only so much here. So it doesn’t look amazing, but when compared to other movies like this one, the makeup is excellent. I don’t think Teenage Monster will attract new fans to the low budget ’50s movies like it, but I do think fans of these movies will want to check this one out, I know I had fun with it.
His usual role was as a producer and cinematographer, but when the hired director dropped out, Jacques Marquette picked up the reins and drove this one home. I can’t say his work here is impressive, but when you consider the limitations with time, money, and other resources, Marquette should be commended for even getting this movie done. He yielded the task of cinematographer, but ended up sharing in the task, which I am sure was a positive. Some of the films Marquette worked on as a cinematographer include The Living Swamp, A Bucket Of Blood, Last Woman On Earth, The Trouble With Girls, Winter A Go Go, and Battle of Blood Island. The acting here is pretty bad, but again with these conditions, it is a surprise they delivered their lines with a straight face at times. Some of the performers include Stuart Wade (Monster From The Ocean Floor, Tarantula), Gloria Castillo (The Night of The Hunter, Reform School Girl), Chuck Courtney (Pet Sematary, Spartacus), Gil Perkins (King Kong, The Alamo), and Anne Gwynn (We’ve Never Been Licked, Phantom of the Jungle).
Video: How does it look?
Teenage Monster is presented in full frame form, which is how the film is supposed to be seen. I don’t agree with the box’s claim of a “pristine” transfer, but this looks good, as far as low budget movies from the ’50s. The print is cleaner than I expected, but some scratches, pops, and other debris are still present here. The main flaw I have here is that the picture sometimes pulses, which can be a little distracting at times. The black & white image here looks good though, contrast is well balanced and no detail loss is evident. This is far from pristine, but it is pretty good for a film of this age and nature.
Audio: How does it sound?
The included mono track won’t leave you breathless, but it handles the material with little trouble. Given the age and nature of the film, I expected a less than stellar track here, but this one delivers on all the basics. I heard minimal hiss and distortion was low also, which was a welcome surprise to my ears. The track is very clean overall, with crisp vocals and no real problems with the sound effects. Again, this isn’t the disc to showcase your system, but it works just fine for this material.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes the film’s theatrical trailer.
