"Caltiki the Immortal Monster" is an exact translation of the original Italian title "Caltiki Il Mostro Immortale," a co-production between Italy and France, and an early peek at the work of Mario Bava, using the pseudonyms Marie Foam for special effects and John Foam in his usual capacity of director of photography (it was believed that pseudonyms would hide the fact that it was an Italian production, assuming that international audiences would reject a picture made there; Robert Hamton is listed as director of the US print, Robert Hampton in Italy). The director who started the project was Riccardo Freda ("The Horrible Doctor Hichcock"), but like their earlier collaboration "I Vampiri" ("The Devil's Commandment" in its shortened US version) Freda left after a few weeks and Bava added the finishing touches, including all the gruesome death scenes. In saving this somewhat forgotten movie from disaster, Bava finally earned a chance to helm any picture he wanted, and that became the hugely successful "Black Sunday," which ably kick started the Italian Gothics of the 60s, many starring the raven haired British beauty Barbara Steele. A final addition to the shapeless monster mini genre that kicked off with "The Quatermass Xperiment," followed by "X the Unknown," "Quatermass 2," "The Unknown Terror" (soap suds as fungi), "The Flame Barrier," Japan's "The H-Man," and most popularly "The Blob," Galatea Film was clearly targeting the international market after their success with Steve Reeves' "Hercules," setting this picture entirely in Mexico (though apparently shot in Spain in 1959), with Britain's "Quatermass" its main influence. A massive Mayan deity rises from a cavern lake to dispense with fortune hunters after its treasure of gold relics, one unfortunate losing his arm, which is shown to be nothing left but pieces of flesh after the removal of the single celled creature, easily destroyed by fire. The film continues because the head archaeologist (John Merivale, "Circus of Horrors") keeps the blob in a glass tank in his home laboratory, not realizing that its capacity to grow to enormous size is connected with the radioactive tail of a passing comet last seen during the Mayans' time. The one armed madman goes on a mild rampage, rightfully meeting his doom against the monster's voracity, inside the home where the specimen was kept (we see the dead man's skull being devoured in another gory touch). Much of this was tough to take for drive-in audiences, where Allied Artists raked in the cash during its modest play dates, exiled to decades of obscurity after its few television showings. Bava alternately described his creation as 'sheep's entrails' or just tripe, the smell of which was so god awful that the poor actor nearly succumbed in real life! The behind the scenes tale is just as fantastic as that on screen, flagging a bit after the expedition returns to Mexico City from the Mayan jungle hell, the opening narration depicting a completely fictitious legend out of thin air, while today audiences can enjoy the roots of Bava's handiwork at their leisure since its 2017 DVD/BluRay release.
Review of Caltiki, the Immortal Monster
