Monster on the Campus (1958)

Director:

Jack Arnold

Writer:

David Duncan (writer)

Release Date:

1 May 1959 (Finland)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Co-ed beauty captive of man-monster! Campus terror! Students victims of terror-beast!

Plot:

The blood of a primitive fish exposed to gamma rays causes a benign research professor to regress to an ape-like, bloodthirsty prehistoric hominid.

Plot Keywords:

Fish | Professor | Prehistoric | Gamma Rays | Neanderthal

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Arthur Franz	...	Prof. Donald Blake
Joanna Moore	...	Madeline Howard
Judson Pratt	...	Lieutenant Mike Stevens
Nancy Walters	...	Sylvia Lockwood
Troy Donahue	...	Jimmy Flanders
Phil Harvey	...	Sergeant Powell
Helen Westcott	...	Nurse Molly Riordan
Alexander Lockwood	...	Professor Gilbert Howard
Whit Bissell	...	Dr. Oliver Cole
Ross Elliott	...	Sergeant Eddie Daniels

Also Known As:

Monster in the Night
Stranger on the Campus

Runtime:

77 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Occidental College -1600 Campus Road, Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Trivia:

Professor Donald Blake (Arthur Franz) has a collection of facial reconstructions depicting the ascent of man from the early hominids to modern man (or woman in this case, actress Joanna Moore). One of them is that of Piltdown Man, whose "discovery" in 1912 was exposed as a hoax in 1953, five years before the movie was released.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When we see the "anthropoid's" face for the first time, the bottom of the mask is clearly visible.

Quotes:

Professor Donald Blake: Unless we learn to control the instincts we/ve inherited from our ape-like ancestors, the race is doomed.
Madeline Howard: Why don't you learn to control your instincts and stop being so pessimistic?
Professor Donald Blake: You know, you're right, and when I look at you, the future's very bright.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "HBO First Look: The Haunting (#6.6)" (1999)

Good Film

Monster on the Campus (1958)

*** (out of 4)

Entertaining Universal Sci-Fi about a college scientist who turns into a monster after his blood is mixed with that of a prehistoric fish. I've been wanting to see this for quite some time but never got around to buying the VHS since it was released just as I was jumping on the DVD format. The wait was certainly worth it even though the film isn't really anything other than your typical Jekyll and Hyde story. The film goes by at a very quick pace and the monster looks great, although it's a shame we only get to see him twice. I was somewhat shocked at the rather violent third death scene. The film also contains one of the dumbest girlfriends in sci-fi history.