THE UNEARTHLY (1957) *** ½
John Carradine stars as a doctor who brings a bunch of people with psychological problems to his creepy house to “cure” them. What he’s really doing is taking out their pituitary glands and using them to keep his human guinea pig from aging. A drifter (Myron Healey) who is wanted for murder stumbles upon the house and Carradine blackmails him into helping out with his experiments. He takes a shine to one of the sexy subjects (Allison Hayes) and together they start planning their escape.
The plot of The Unearthly is very similar to that of The Man Who Turned to Stone, which was released three months earlier. Both films revolve around a mad doctor who is trying to keep his stone-faced henchman eternally young. Instead of taking place in a women’s prison, the setting for this one is just a spooky old house. Despite the more generic setting, I have to say that The Unearthly is a lot more fun, mostly due to the brisk pace and the great cast.
John Carradine is great as the mad doctor. He gives crazy scientist monologues like few can and commands the screen with authority. Ms. Attack of the 50 Foot Woman herself, Allison Hayes also gives a strong performance as Carradine’s newest patient. The flick really belongs to Tor Johnson as Carradine’s assistant. Tor has always been one of those guys that can perk any movie up. While he doesn’t quite reach the heights he attained in Plan 9 from Outer Space or Bride of the Monster, he still gives it everything he’s got.
Director Brooke L. (Anatomy of a Psycho) Peters gets a lot of mileage out of the creepy house location and brings a nice blend of claustrophobia and atmosphere to the picture. I do have to say the finale, in which a couple of cops go into Carradine’s basement and find a bunch of rejects from The Island of Lost Souls is a bit perplexing. However, it sort of adds to the movie’s charm.
The next Horror-Ween movie will be The Woman Who Wouldn’t Die!