The Hideous Sun Demon
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Movie Reviews of The Hideous Sun Demon
Movie Review: cross between film noir and horror that just doesn't work
Summary: 2 Stars
...The sympathetic feelings we are urged to feel for the "victim" are mitigated by his obvious misguided set of priorities. Save your money and get either a real good film noir or a really good horror movie (or one of each).
About as satifying as a flat glass of softdrink......
Movie Review: Strange Pursuit
Summary: 4 Stars
1959 was a benchmark year for schlock horror classics. This flick has all the elements that make movie cheese so endearing to true fans. A sure sign of a real classic, the star of the movie, Robert Clarke, is also the writer, the producer, and the director. A scientist suffers accidental exposure to radiation. In a variation of the classic werewolf theme, sunlight makes Gil break out in a lizard shirt and horrific head mask. His metamorphosis leads to violent behavior. Gil meets a low rent Marilyn Monroe ... lounge-singer named Trudy (as in a "true D-cup," subtlety abounds). He sniffs around her by night, but then the sun rises and he is off again on more mayhem that is decidedly violent. The film has typical stairwell quality sound, dismal B&W photography, and ersatz science pontifications ("Darwin was never even close!"). True to low budget traditions, instead of movie studio sets, the cast and crew ventured out on the streets of L. A. to film this epic. Gil has a date with destiny high atop a huge oil storage tank, shades of Jimmy Cagney. There is a determined effort to create a sense of tragedy in Gil's sad fate. In spite of its cheap look, this film is slightly better than average, very slightly. The Elvira Mistress of the Dark edition includes her hilarious introduction and epilogue. The delectable B Queen offers plunging comments and well-rounded remarks in a pointed and thrusting manner. Taken as a whole, it's good fun, in a reverse sort of way. ;-)Movie Review: Serviceable DVD of rubber-suited mutant classic
Summary: 4 Stars
Hideous Sun Demon, Robert Clarke's auteurist tour-de-force, aims for high drama but achieves drive-in monsterama cool instead. Apparently conceived as a sensitive portrayal of the inner torment of a man possessed by a strange condition beyond his control, they just didn't have the budget to bring it off. Besides, it's hard to work up sympathy for a character who, after being told by his doctor to stay home and not drink any alcohol, immediately heads out to the bar. Then there's the bosomy b-girl who's just had her boyfriend and his thugs work over our hero, who turns around and starts consoling him and takes him home. But the illogic's half the fun of this movie, and anyhow, we're really here for the cool Blaisdell-esque rubber Sun Demon, the rat-squishing, and Clarke's over-the-top performance. For cheese lovers there's plenty of bad acting and that let's-talk-about-it-cause-we-can't-afford-to-show-it thing going on. Giving credit where it's due, however, several locations are exploited for some interesting visuals. Basically, another fun hour-and-ten for the bad cinema set.Image's DVD presents the movie in the best edition I've seen yet. The source print is not flawless; there are a half dozen or so short (15 sec) stretches of distracting horizontal scratching, some intermittent light vertical scratching, and the usual very light to light speckling and spotting throughout. But overall it looks quite good; sharp and detailed, with generally excellent tonal values. Other than the horizontal scratches, it blows the socks off my Starlog Video VHS copy, and if you're used to catching this on the late night monster shows you'll probably be quite pleased. Minimal extras include 12 chapter stops and the trailer (not in as nice shape as the movie). A solid value for the money.
Movie Review: Solid DVD of archetypal rubber-suited monster flick
Summary: 4 Stars
Hideous Sun Demon, Robert Clarke's auteurist tour-de-force, aims for high drama but achieves drive-in monsterama cool instead. Apparently conceived as a sensitive portrayal of the inner torment of a man possessed by a strange condition beyond his control, they just didn't have the budget to bring it off. Besides, it's hard to work up sympathy for a character who, after being told by his doctor to stay home and not drink any alcohol, immediately heads out to the bar. And there's the bosomy b-girl who's just had her boyfriend and his thugs work over our hero, who turns around and starts consoling him and takes him home. But the illogic's half the fun of this movie, and anyhow, we're really here for the cool Blaisdell-esque rubber Sun Demon, the rat-squishing, and Clarke's over-the-top performance. For cheese lovers there's plenty of bad acting and that let's-talk-about-it-cause-we-can't-afford-to-show-it thing going on. Giving credit where it's due, however, several locations are exploited for some interesting visuals. Basically, another fun hour-and-ten for the bad cinema set.Image's DVD presents the movie in the best edition I've seen yet. The source print is not flawless; there are a half dozen or so short (15 sec) stretches of distracting horizontal scratching, some intermittent light vertical scratching, and the usual very light to light speckling and spotting throughout. But overall it looks quite good; sharp and detailed, with generally excellent tonal values. Other than the horizontal scratches, it blows the socks off my Starlog Video VHS copy, and if you're used to catching this on the late night monster shows you'll probably be quite pleased. Minimal extras include 12 chapter stops and the trailer (not in as nice shape as the movie). A solid value for the money.
Movie Review: Sun Demon soars in solar DVD!!
Summary: 4 Stars
Using a reverse-vampire mythos of monstrous transformation via the sun's rays, writer/producer/director/star Robert Clarke sizzles as a solarian stalker in this sappy, sexist, yet sumptuous sci-fi horror classic that will singe your senses and send you to the nearest Walgreen's for a pair of ray-bans. Add a scorchingly unsultry would-be-lounge-singing siren, a dotingly dutiful dumb dame girlfriend, and a suburban mom who puts June Cleaver to shame, and you have the quintessential late 1950's fiend fodder that is THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON.