Somewhere in the 'Old West' a meteorite (maybe) hits, killing a miner and causing his young son Charles to grow in to a towering, hairy, inarticulate, murderous 'teenager' (played by 50 year-old Gil Perkins). The hirsute horror's mother (Anne Gwynne) tries to cover things up as the body count (people and cows) climbs, only to be betrayed by a conniving waitress (Gloria Castillo). Shot fast and cheaply, the film was conjured up solely to serve as part two of a double-feature (with 'The Brain from the Planet Arous'). Not much interest is shown in developing a story: there is a match cut from the hurt child to the titular creature, soon after which the mother provides some exposition, so the audience knows exactly what is happening (as opposed to the usual 'unravelling a mystery' plot). The 'monster' seems more pathetic than frightening, with a 'Lenny-like' desire to touch animals (in this case cows) leading to deadly 'don't know my own strength' consequences. As the mother explains, he is just a child. On the other-hand, the dead cattle are described as having their throats torn open, so the character's 'motivation' is unclear (but not that of the filmmakers). Considering the number of cheap 'sci-fi/horrors' and westerns that were shot in the 1950's, I am surprised that this is the only mélange of the two genres to come out of the decade. Despite being included in sci-fi lists, 'Teenage Monster' a simple 'monster on the loose' horror flic with a vague origin story. The film was originally entitled 'Meteor Monster', a slightly more accurate title as a sparkly ball falls out of the sky in the opening act that, given the budget, perhaps was supposed to a meteorite (the glittering object is never mentioned again, nor is any explanation offered at as to how it could have so dramatically affected young Charles). Allegedly, the alliterative science-fictiony title was changed to cash in on the late 1950's run of fanciful 'teenage' movies (i.a. 'I was a Teenage Werewolf' (1957), 'Teenage Caveman' (1958)) as the genre tried to lure in the dating crowd. All in all, a frugal celluloid time-filler - exactly what it was intended to be - that is of little interest to anyone outside the 'bad movie' fraternity or fans of Jack Pierce, the make-up artist who created the shaggy JD but is better known for crafting Boris Karloff into Dr. Frankenstein's monster 27 years earlier.
Review of Teenage Monster
