The Monster of Piedras Blancas
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| The Monster of Piedras Blancas | |
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 Poster for the film's theatrical release, on a double-feature with Okefenokee |
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| Directed by | Irvin Berwick |
| Produced by | Jack Kevan |
| Written by | Irvin Berwick |
| Starring | Les Tremayne Forrest Lewis John Harmon Pete Dunn Jeanne Carmen |
| Cinematography | Philip H. Lathrop |
| Editing by | George A. Gittens |
| Release date(s) |  1959 1961 |
| Running time | 71 min |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Monster of Piedras Blancas is a 1959 science fiction/horror film written and directed by Irvin Berwick and starring Les Tremayne, Forrest Lewis, and Pete Dunn. The film was influenced by The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). The makeup effects were done by Jack Kevan, the same creator of the monster suit in Creature from the Black Lagoon.
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[edit] Plot
The setting is the sleepy lighthouse town of Piedras Blancas. Sturges (Harmon) is the lighthouse keeper of the town and is very superstitious and concerned for the safety of his young teenage daughter, Lucy (Carmen). He leaves food for a gigantic sea monster named Eddie who lives in a nearby cave. The locals disregard him at first, but they begin to take notice when the bodies of people murdered by the monster are found on the beach.
[edit] Production
1. The suit showed up years later in the TV show Flipper, in the episode Flipper's Monster, which was directed by Ricou Browning, who had performed the swimming scenes of the rubber suited monster in Creature From the Black Lagoon.
2. Rumor has it that the hands of the Monster of Piedras Blancas were borrowed from The Mole People suit, and the feet are those of the Metalunan Mutant from This Island Earth.
3. Piedras Blancas actually exists. It's a lighthouse north of San Simeon on the California Coast. The lighthouse locations in the movie, however, were filmed at the Pt. Conception lighthouse near Lompoc. The rest of the movie was filmed in the town of Cayucos, about 30 miles south of Piedras Blancas.
4. This movie broke new ground for on-screen gore at the time with the now famous scene of the monster carrying a gory human head. However, the film was in black and white.
[edit] Cast
- Les Tremayne as Dr. Sam Jorgenson
- Forrest Lewis as Constable Matson
- John Harmon as Sturges, the Lighthouse Keeper
- Frank Arvidson as Kochek, the Storekeeper
- Jeanne Carmen as Lucy
- Don Sullivan as Fred
- Pete Dunn as Eddie (The Monster)
- Joseph La Cava as Mike
- Wayne Berwick as Little Jimmy
[edit] External links
- The Monster Of Piedras Blancas at the Internet Movie Database
- The Monster Of Piedras Blancas at Allmovie
- The Monster Of Piedras Blancas at Rotten Tomatoes
