Verdict
Summary
One of Roger Corman’s very first productions, Monster From the Ocean Floor is an easy 64-minute watch, with lots of water footage (some of which is fudged on a set, but made to look like a water scenario), and a pretty Kimbell in her leg-baring bathing suit. The monster is only really revealed in full once, but it’s pretty neat looking (and obviously it’s a man in a big rubber suit), so fans of ’50s drive-in creature features will get a kick out of it. Corman completists will need a lot of time and resources to add or watch all of his films to their checklist, but this is a good place to begin.
Plot:
A woman’s vacation to Mexico turns into a trip of a lifetime when she discovers a giant squid monster on the ocean floor!
Review:
An attractive blonde artist named Julie (Anne Kimbell) travels alone to Mexico for a vacation, staying at a remote little sea village. The locals tell tales of an old legend of a sea monster, and believing it all to be just quaint local lore, she goes diving in the ocean in her one-piece bathing suit. While swimming, she encounters a ghastly sight, but not sure what it is yet, she comes up for air and meets a biologist named Steve (Stuart Wade) who has his own fancy underwater diver submarine. Sharing stories about what they think is down in the deep, it is surmised that a rare or mutated amoeba has grown big enough to eat a person alive, but that’s not what it is at all, no: It’s a monster! The locals, knowing that these two interlopers have upset the ocean with their meddling, scheme to offer Julie as a sacrifice to appease the monster, and when she and Steve are threatened with more than just a few disgruntled locals, they try to figure out the mystery of just what exactly they’re dealing with in the water. When they actually encounter the giant squid monster, it’s a fight for survival!
One of Roger Corman’s very first productions, Monster From the Ocean Floor is an easy 64-minute watch, with lots of water footage (some of which is fudged on a set, but made to look like a water scenario), and a pretty Kimbell in her leg-baring bathing suit. The monster is only really revealed in full once, but it’s pretty neat looking (and obviously it’s a man in a big rubber suit), so fans of ’50s drive-in creature features will get a kick out of it. Corman completists will need a lot of time and resources to add or watch all of his films to their checklist, but this is a good place to begin. From director Wyott Ordung.
Film Masters presents Monster From the Ocean Floor in a crystal clear black and white image, restored in 4K from the original 35mm camera negative, and it’s a crisp and sharp image. Special features include new interviews, archival interviews, a feature commentary, liner notes in an insert booklet, the trailer, and a gallery of images.
Version 1.0.0