Customer Reviews

Elvira: Hideous Sun Demon [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON is a few steps above most drive-in horror features of its genre. Well, maybe just one step. Shot on a minimal budget, director and star Robert Clarke creates some brilliantly directed moments. There is also a pleasing eerie atmospehre, even though its quite obvious many of the nighttime sequences were shot during the day! The actual Sun Demon's raison d'etre is rather clumsily explained (the actors "tell" the story of how Clarke became the sun demon than actually showing it, another budget constraint). Many of the cheap elements of bad movies are here: cheap costumes, particularly bad actresses that look like big names (check out the Marilyn Monroe lounge singer and the Vivien Leigh look alike girlfriend!), minimal sets and local actors. There is a lot to recommend about this movie and it won't disappoint most B-movie fans. As for the actual DVD itself...The film print source at times suffers from somre wear and tear. In some areas, the picture is pelted with scratched both vertical and horizontal. Other than that, the movie has some nice contrasts and the soundtrack is particularly impressive. It has a wonderfully designed menu and a scratchy preview. All in all, worth every penny!

Well, now, from the cover of this one, you'd think that this was lower down on the evolutionary scale than plankton. Actually, it falls somewhere between the whole-heartedly "serious" sci-fi flicks of the 50s (like "Them!" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still") and the **real** bottom-of-the-barrel stuff like "The Amazing Colossal Man" and "Beast From the Haunted Cave". True, true, you do have to have a taste for cheese to really enjoy these things, and this one doesn't disappoint. Our hero is quite the booze-hound, but that didn't keep his friend from recommending him for his current job (somewhat unclear - apparently it involves unloading isotope bars off of a toy railroad...! ) One day, he shows up to work with a hangover (his loyal assistant insists it was "just a headache"!), and the next thing he knows - he's been exposed to "5 or 6 minutes" of radiation. That's enough - remember, this was made back in the days when anyone capable of using the words "isotope" and "radiation" in the same sentence was definitely some kind of Poindexter.

The interesting thing about this film (besides the rubber-suited lizard man) is that it doesn't seem to matter to anyone that, hey!, we have this guy who turns into a Hideous Sun Demon, and they don't keep him around for observation. "Just stay out of the sun." Okie-dokie! Good news is that he's still very much the booze-hound, and therefore we get to spend time following him around, looking for bars at night - looks downright noirish for a while, and by all means stick around for the stacked blonde singing the "Love Song From Hideous Sun Demon", aka "Strange Pursuit" (what a title! What a song! What kind of piano is that woman playing, anyway? )

Still, our director and star did his best with this one - some of the scenes are really well composed (there's one scene near the beginning that looks as though Ansel Adams could have shot it) and it has a far more polished feel to it than SO many of these movies. (Ugh - if you haven't sat through a Francis Coleman movie, you have no right to pass judgement on THIS one!) The DVD transfer is completely acceptable (what, you're waiting for the widescreen edition? I don't think so....) even if it doesn't really have any extras (other than the liner notes, which put the whole thing into perspective). There's some film scratchiness but mostly it's pretty decent B&W - not too washed out, not too contrasty. It even has the usually-deleted "rat scene" (you'll know what I'm referring to as soon as you see it).

All in all - I recommend it to ANY fans of the genre. Not as well known as a lot of the familiar turkeys, better than most of them if not overly-ambitious or special in any way. A prime slice of the genre, best enjoyed with a rainy Saturday afternoon or a couple of friends for riffing purposes. Have fun!

"The Hideous Sun Demon" is one of those quintessential shoestring sci-fi schlockers that is so bad it's good.

When a scientist is exposed to new radioactive isotope (as is so often the case in these movies), he then becomes allergic to sunlight; the side effect being that he devolves into a lizard-man and kills people. Full of booze and paranoia, our hero takes up with a saloon singer while his sweetheart is left to fret.

Silly science and lots of fiction (and skimpy budget), prevents this particular cautionary tale against "tampering with the Unknown" from being in a league with other radiation-based monster movies. There are some great scenes (mostly with the monster lying in wait to attack), but be ready for some over-the-top acting (and just plain bad acting by some inexperienced cast members!), and some el-cheapo effects work.

The filmmakers do make up for a lack of budget with some creativity and imagination, but what really saves this little film is the excellent use of location shooting. Real-world venues take center stage (especially during the climactic oil tank battle hundreds of feet high up), with startling footage of oil pumps, tank farms, and girders that easily make us overlook any weaknesses in acting or effects. And to be honest, the rubber suit and mask are pretty effective.

You'll have fun with this one, as long as you aren't expecting a slick big-budgeter. While far from perfect, you can tell that everyone involved really made an effort to make the movie as fun and as exciting as they could.

The DVD comes with liner notes and the trailer, and the print is in pretty good shape.

Some whacko gets a dangerous douse of gamma rays while working in his laboratory. The effects - A Virus is able to infect his Blood. Now, every time he ventures out into the SUN, it trans-forms him into The Hideous Sun Demon (A Demonic HUMANOID - REPTILIAN Being.) Whenever he becomes the reptilian creature, for some reason or other, he runs around and accidentally kills animals and people. Of course, by doing this he becomes, not only a Hideous Sun Demon, but a WANTED Hideous Sun Demon! No Best Actor/Actress award nominations here....by far! A rather buxom Marilyn Monroe look-a-like and a Demonic Reptoid on the loose......What more could you ask for in a movie!

I could go on ad infinitum about all the things that are wrong with this film, those that make it so earnestly campy or inept or histrionic or unintentionally funny or even surreal. I could tell you it's 'so bad it's good.' But that wouldn't really fill you in, as such a statement can be interpreted many ways by many different people.

There are also a surprising number of things the film manages to do competently. Listing those to someone contemplating purchasing this dvd might even be counterproductive. So I will refrain.

The simplest, most telling review I can write is this:

The star, Robert Clarke, while wearing the rubber Sun Demon costume during filming in the hot Southern California sun, sweated profusely. The sweat ran down his torso and to his trousers. This gives the appearance during the latter stages of this movie that the Hideous Sun Demon was unable to control his bladder.

If the above sounds funny to you, you will like the movie.

See also: Village of the Giants; Astounding She-Monster; Teenagers From Outer Space; Attack of the 50-Foot Woman (1958)

Aside from its delirious title, this movie's most intriguing attribute is the fact that it was co-written, co-directed and produced by its star, Robert Clarke. To call it an auteurist project might be somewhat far-fetched, but this is about as personal as a low budget science-fiction film can possibly be. The way it blends several genres - sci-fi, horror, film noir - and B-film conventions (notably the curse of the werewolf) is odd and generally successful. The title creature manages to stand out in the massive crowd of 1950s monsters for three reasons: 1) it actually looks very good, 2) its appearances are judiciously scattered throughout the film, and 3) these scenes are directed with a keen sense of pace and suspense. There is little doubt that Clarke's elliptical storytelling is partly due to the minimal budget, but it is artistically rewarding as well: the abrupt introduction, the first transformation scene and the final showdown are impressive and memorable, true highlights among 1950s B-films. This endearingly modest creature feature should be seen.

Hideous Sun Demon, Robert Clarke's auteurist tour-de-force, aims for high drama but achieves drive-in monsterama cool instead. Apparently conceived as a sensitive portrayal of the inner torment of a man possessed by a strange condition beyond his control, they just didn't have the budget to bring it off. Besides, it's hard to work up sympathy for a character who, after being told by his doctor to stay home and not drink any alcohol, immediately heads out to the bar. And there's the bosomy b-girl who's just had her boyfriend and his thugs work over our hero, who turns around and starts consoling him and takes him home. But the illogic's half the fun of this movie, and anyhow, we're really here for the cool Blaisdell-esque rubber Sun Demon, the rat-squishing, and Clarke's over-the-top performance. For cheese lovers there's plenty of bad acting and that let's-talk-about-it-cause-we-can't-afford-to-show-it thing going on. Giving credit where it's due, however, several locations are exploited for some interesting visuals. Basically, another fun hour-and-ten for the bad cinema set.
Image's DVD presents the movie in the best edition I've seen yet. The source print is not flawless; there are a half dozen or so short (15 sec) stretches of distracting horizontal scratching, some intermittent light vertical scratching, and the usual very light to light speckling and spotting throughout. But overall it looks quite good; sharp and detailed, with generally excellent tonal values. Other than the horizontal scratches, it blows the socks off my Starlog Video VHS copy, and if you're used to catching this on the late night monster shows you'll probably be quite pleased. Minimal extras include 12 chapter stops and the trailer (not in as nice shape as the movie). A solid value for the money.

well, sort of! This wonderfully bad man/lizard flick contains some surprisingly creative camera work. The story is of interest as it plays up the psychological ramifications of the atomic-exposure-gone-wrong story line. Robert Clarke stars, directs and produces so he's totally responsible for this thing, if you like it or if you absolutely adore it.And oh yeah! he gets to kiss all of the young women! How convenient!

So, what we have here is a drunken atomic scientists who drops a vial of some never existed before atomic something which knocks him unconscious. Little Frustrated Assistant isn't exposed but still manages to see the whole thing. Things are looking OK for the doc (if only he'd stop drinking!) in the hospital until he gets set outside with the other potted plants where he shrivels up into a comically scaly-chested lizard man! He goes to hide out in a gothic mansion, coming out at night only to drive too fast and drop into the same scabrous dive where the woman with one useable arm flops around in front of a piano. Needless to say, it's love. Things go awry. A famous doctor comes around to cure him (the mind boggles) but not before he goes off again to canoodle with the floozy.More bad stuff happens, he misjudges a "trooper dusting" and snatches a little girl. Really! I'm not making it up!

It all ends badly with a hokey indictment of industrial progress and we all get to turn off the TV and go to bed. I loved it and would recommend it to anyone who likes this kind of stuff.

The premise of "The Hideous Sun Demon" is intriguing, but unfortunately this low-budget 1959 film fails to deliver. The central idea here is that an accidental radiation overdose causes a scientist (Robert Clarke) to morph, or "de-evolve," into a scaly reptilian monster whenever he is exposed to sunlight. There are many interesting directions that the filmmakers could have taken this concept, but none of them show up in the film. In the end, "The Hideous Sun Demon" is like an episode of "Seinfeld"--it's really about nothing at all.

Some of today's sophisticated viewers may chuckle at the rubber creature costume, but I have no complaints about the "special effects." By the standards of the day, and considering the small production budget, the monster is actually nicely detailed and quite convincing, for the few brief moments that it appears on-screen. The crisp black-and-white photography is also excellent, featuring some striking, stark, deeply shadowed "noir-like" scenes that look great in this full-screen digital transfer. There are some muddy scenes in which day turns into night through the miracle of gross underexposure, but that technique was common at the time. The biggest problem with "The Hideous Sun Demon" is that there is no meaningful story, and essentially no character development. You never get to the point where you care about the scientist, the monster or anyone else.

On balance, "The Hideous Sun Demon" is not a bad film--it's just not much of a film at all. It's easy to watch, reasonably well-made and the DVD is relatively cheap. Completists can certainly justify buying it to round out their collection of 1950s sci-fi movies. By the way, despite the fact that it is supposed to include "liner notes and personal recollections by producer/director/writer/star Robert Clarke," there was nothing in the case I received except the DVD.

Hideous Sun Demon, Robert Clarke's auteurist tour-de-force, aims for high drama but achieves drive-in monsterama cool instead. Apparently conceived as a sensitive portrayal of the inner torment of a man possessed by a strange condition beyond his control, they just didn't have the budget to bring it off. Besides, it's hard to work up sympathy for a character who, after being told by his doctor to stay home and not drink any alcohol, immediately heads out to the bar. Then there's the bosomy b-girl who's just had her boyfriend and his thugs work over our hero, who turns around and starts consoling him and takes him home. But the illogic's half the fun of this movie, and anyhow, we're really here for the cool Blaisdell-esque rubber Sun Demon, the rat-squishing, and Clarke's over-the-top performance. For cheese lovers there's plenty of bad acting and that let's-talk-about-it-cause-we-can't-afford-to-show-it thing going on. Giving credit where it's due, however, several locations are exploited for some interesting visuals. Basically, another fun hour-and-ten for the bad cinema set.
Image's DVD presents the movie in the best edition I've seen yet. The source print is not flawless; there are a half dozen or so short (15 sec) stretches of distracting horizontal scratching, some intermittent light vertical scratching, and the usual very light to light speckling and spotting throughout. But overall it looks quite good; sharp and detailed, with generally excellent tonal values. Other than the horizontal scratches, it blows the socks off my Starlog Video VHS copy, and if you're used to catching this on the late night monster shows you'll probably be quite pleased. Minimal extras include 12 chapter stops and the trailer (not in as nice shape as the movie). A solid value for the money.