Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

poe-48833 TEENAGE MONSTER is a textbook examination of Teenage Angst: our hero, Charlie, is dealing with feelings of inadequacy, so he lashes out at Society. Because his testosterone levels have been upped considerably by an errant meteor, this results in several gruesome deaths. When he first discovers the joys of male/female relationships, his naïve notions of Love are put to the ultimate test by a young temptress; this, too, results in mayhem. All of this is typical teenage behavior. Ask Whit Bissell. TEENAGE MONSTER doesn't waste any time whatsoever getting down to business: the meteor comes crashing to Earth during the prologue, effectively killing two birds with one stone (Charlie is transformed and his dad killed so horribly that the filmmakers didn't have the intestinal fortitude to show it). Jack Pierce takes over at this point, and we gets lots of good close ups of The Monster (a huge plus for ANY Fright Film). The pace never slackens. Not disappointing.

JoeB131 It was the 1950's, and essentially, something called Television had everyone's attention and no one was going to theaters anymore, except for horny kids going to a drive in to make out. So essentially, putting the word "Teenage" in a title of a film was a great method of getting an audience anyway, as those kids weren't watching the stupid movie, anyway! Okay, here's the plot. A family of miners are struck by a (I guess) radioactive meteor, which kills the husband and burns the boy, turning him into a mutant. His mother hides the boy,who is now a vicious moron unable to realize his own strengths. He kidnaps a local waitress, who realizes there is money to be made manipulating an immensely strong moron. Hilarity ensues...Worth watching? Not really.

JoeKarlosi TEENAGE MONSTER was originally produced under the title MONSTER ON THE HILL, and was also known as METEOR MONSTER. Heading the cast is the former 1940s Universal star Anne Gwynne, trapped into a role she probably needed to meet some bills. The pretty Gwynne was known for such Karloff, Lugosi, and Chaney Jr. oldies like BLACK Friday, WEIRD WOMAN, and HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Here she starts out as a typical mother and housewife in the Old West whose life is thrown into turmoil when a cheap Fourth Of July sparkler in the sky (it's supposed to be a deadly meteor!) crashes down and kills her husband. Worse still is the handicap it leaves upon her little boy Charles: he's now a scarred and brain damaged brute.Zooming ahead several years later, we see the "teenaged" boy as he now exists since the tragedy: a six-foot-something hairy dimwit with bad teeth and shaggy hair. The boy was portrayed by stuntman Gil Perkins, well over age fifty and who himself was a former Wolf Man and Frankenstein monster double from the Universal classics of the 40s! For TEENAGE MONSTER he was made up by the once great Jack Pierce, whose new '50s get-ups were starting to look kind of crappy and rushed, leaving him looking like a cross between Glenn Strange in THE MAD MONSTER and John Bloom in THE INCREDIBLE TWO-HEADED TRANSPLANT.Gwynne tries to keep her mutant son hidden from the townsfolk, but junior tends to get into mischief by killing someone or something every so often anyway. Mom has also become wealthy in the aftermath of her husband's demise, and once a young waitress gets wind of the shady goings-on, she blackmails Gwynne by threatening to expose Charles unless she receives a steady chunk of change on a regular basis. She gradually gains control over the mangy halfwit too, sending her pawn out to dispatch people she doesn't much care for in the bargain.AIP actress Gloria Castillo (REFORM SCHOOL GIRL, INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN) gives the best performance of the show as the greedy waitress. But Anne Gwynne also seems to rise above the material herself, given that she thought the film was the worst thing she ever did and even caused her to stop making movies (this was her final film). Indeed, there are some unintentional laughs here, the best example being the dubbed voice of the teenage monster. It was initially felt that Charles sounded way too articulate for a mentally challenged moron, so the decision was made to have Gil Perkins loop in some hysterically stupid whimpers and whines that never match the filmed lip movements. Even funnier is the fact that Anne Gwynne and Gloria Castillo still appear to be able to make sense of every grunt he mumbles! ** out of ****

thefountainmenace Hey - it's a 50's horror movie, what can we expect, kids?This one is truly original in that it actually combines werewolves, meteors, and the Old West. However, the sci-fi aspect (meteors) is particularly tenuous - the 'meteor' appears to be a lit sparkler held close to the camera in soft focus. And the 'grown-up' Charles is just unbelievable, even if he is a werewolf - it's seven years later, but he looks at least 40. But if you can deal with 50'd Sci-Fi - you'll find this fun. Nice comment on manipulative women as well -actually a fairly coherent, if more than a bit far out - plot.