Pluskylang Great Film overall

Cooktopi The acting in this movie is really good.

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

azathothpwiggins In THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS, a series of grisly decapitation deaths occur in a small seaside town. Suspiciously, the local lighthouse keeper has been feeding meat scraps to a certain big-clawed creature. Keeping his secret becomes increasingly difficult as the body count rises. Upon watching this movie again, I was struck by the subtle influences it has had on other films, such as JAWS and THE FOG. It's also pretty grim and graphic for a monster movie from the late 1950's. Overall, the movie is very effective. The finale at the lighthouse is certainly memorable. Co-stars Don Sullivan (THE GIANT GILA MONSTER, TEENAGE ZOMBIES) as Fred and Les Tremayne (WAR OF THE WORLDS, THE SLIME PEOPLE) as Dr. Jorgenson.

Michael_Elliott Monster of Piedras Blancas, The (1959) * 1/2 (out of 4) Silly Mexican rip of The Creature from the Black Lagoon has a small fishing village being terrorized by a sea creature who likes to cut off heads. There isn't an ounce of charm in this low budget film, which makes it deadly boring and silly. The creature looks pretty good but he isn't on screen until the very end, which makes no sense since the rest of the movie is just boring.As of now this title isn't available officially so you'll have to find it from a trader.

sol1218 **SPOILERS** There's this blood sucking monster on the loose in and around the Piedras Blancas by the old lighthouse outside of the little sea front town of Windswept. The monster living in the caves was minding it's own business for years until the lighthouse keeper Sturges, who discovered the monsters's hiding place. Sturges weaned it over the years on scraps of meat that turned the monster from a fish to a meat-eater. Later when old man was unable to get the monster meat from the towns grocery store owner Kochek ,who stopped giving him free scraps , it just went out looking and hunting the townspeople for it's next meal. The usual 1950's black & white monster movie with a lot more "meat" to it then you would have expected. Lopping off it's victims heads and then sucking out their blood the monster turns the little sleepy town of Windswept into a ghost town. With everyone there too scared to wander out in fear that the monster would get them. Sturges becomes paranoid when his young daughter Lucy comes home to the lighthouse to spend her summer vacation there from college.It's doesn't take that long when Lucy, skinny dipping outside the Pledros Blancus caves, is spotted by the monster who develops a strong liking for her or was it Lucy's underclothes. It's then that the monster starts feasting on the people in town by first grabbing the two Ranoldi brothers, out on the "point" fishing, and having them for dinner. By the time the movie is over the monster had already finished off a half dozen or so other townspeople including the guilt-ridden lighthouse keeper Sturges. Sturges was also critical of Lucy getting involved with young oceanographer Fred and planing to marry him. Since he felt that Fred wasn't good enough for her as well as him getting close to finding out the connection he has with the monster. The monster, called Eddie in the movies credits, was pretty scary looking but his movements on land were so slow and clumsy that it was a miracle that he could catch anyone, including himself; as he stumbled and bumbled around the rocks and sand outside his home in the Pledras Blancas. Some of the scenes in the film were a bit shocking, back then in 1959. With the monster in one scene nonchalantly walking out of a store with the head of the store clerk dangling from him claw-like hand and then leaving it in it's cave to be eaten by sea crabs.The ending of the movie was a bit too unbelievable with the monster chasing Lucy to the top of the lighthouse. Then, what seemed like, waiting for the entire town to come over and watch the show as it fights it out in a life and death struggle with Fred. This happens as everyone at the bottom of the lighthouse,all armed and dangerous, just stand there and watch! Doing nothing to help as the monster takes it's final swan dive after bursting out with what had to be it's, the movies, theme song.

funkyfry I had never heard of this movie until I met the object of aforesaid Monster at a fan convention here in the bay area a few years ago... she told me about it, perhaps somehow sensing my affinity for rubber-suited monsters. I told her I hadn't seen it, but I'd sure love to, and she said the guy who worked on "Creature from the Black Lagoon" had also done the monster suit for this movie. Now I had to see it, but I didn't really get a chance until last Thursday at the Parkway in Oakland. Strangely enough, the producer of the film's daughter had shown up for the showing (I'd give you her name if I remembered it), which also coupled as a birthday celebration for bay area horror host "Dr. Ghoulfinger". Even stranger, she had shown up not to seize the print or anything vulgar of that nature, but rather to lend her support and enjoy the rare public viewing of her father's film. When asked about her father's career after "Monster from Piedras Blancas", she said he moved into other types of film, to which a vocal part of the audience shouted "PORN!!!"OK, the film itself is a somewhat better than average exploitation horror flick. The monster suit, which allows for a great deal of animation and motion, is a wonder -- it easily blows away everything else in the movie, including the much cheaper gore type effects such as decapitated heads. Of course, depending on your own inclinations, Jeanne Carmen also steals the show with her luscious bod, appearing as a brunette (anyone know what Jeanne Carmen's natural hair color is, anyway?) showing more character than most victims of 50s rubber monsters. Her acting is not great, but adequate for the film's demands. No one else in the cast really stands out, but the effort in general is solid, not slowing down too much like many of its kind do in the middle. The film's makers seem to have known they must show something worth seeing every reel or risk losing the audience. A lot of the stuff in the movie seems pretty goofy, and I doubt that anyone involved took the film too seriously; it almost comes off as a comedy, kind of like but not as much so as some of Corman's movies from the time (most notably "Not of This Earth").All in all, a good show