Written and Directed by
Curt Siodmak
Starring John Bromfield,
Beverly Garland and Tom Payne
1956
A plantation owner heads
deep into the Amazon to find out why all of his workers have fled. Turns out,
it’s a monster! A monster named Curucu! A doctor searching for a cancer cure
comes along for the ride.
In the first few seconds
of this one I thought, “Sweet! At least this movie has a bonafide monster!” But
soon that feeling went away and what unfolded has to be one of the most
dreadful horrors Universal has to offer. It’s hard to find, too – I watched it
on an out-of-print VHS tape. Also, although this film was apparently shot in
Eastmancolor, the bootleg I ended up with was in black and white!
One of the greatest sins
of this film, aside from the racism, is the fact that it builds up the female
lead (Beverly Garland) to be a badass, but then has her cower in fear for most
of the back half of the movie. What a waste. I guess the best that can be said
of this mess is that the “hero” has a cool name – Rock Dean. Take that, Curucu.
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