Description
THE RENOWN PICTURES MONSTER COLLECTION BOX SET OF NINE CLASSIC CREATURE FEATURES + bonus documentary on early Hollywood monster movies and an exclusive interview with VERA DAY presented in a 3 DVD box set. Running time: 672 mins approx.
BEHEMOTH THE SEAMONSTER (1959) stars Andre Morell & Gene Evans. Atomic tests conducted in the ocean cause changes in its ecosystem on a genetic level. As a result, a dinosaur lying latent for centuries awakens and wreaks havoc on mankind. Directed by Eugène Lourié, stars Gene Evans and André Morell, John Turner, Leigh Madison, Jack MacGowran, Maurice Kaufmann, Henri Vidon, Leonard Sachs.
BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE (1959) Stars Michael Forest. Gold thieves pull off a heist, creating a diversion by causing an explosion in a nearby mine. The explosion awakes a giant spider-like monster that feeds on humans. Directed by Monte Hellman and starring Michael Forest, Frank Wolff, Richard Sinatra, Sheila Noonan, Wally Campo, Linné Ahlstrand, Chris Robinson, Jaclyn Zeman.
GORGO (1961) with Bill Travers. When an undersea volcano sends tremors throughout the Atlantic, aquatic creatures come out of hiding. Merchant seamen Joe Ryan and his partner Sam Slade harness the most unusual of the lot, a massive beast that looks like a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The sailors deliver their quarry to a British circus, but it turns out that the animal is a newborn. When his much larger mother arrives in London to rescue her son, the city feels her wrath. Directed by Eugène Lourié. Cast: Bill Travers, William Sylvester, Vincent Winter, Christopher Rhodes, Joseph O’Conor, Bruce Seton, Martin Benson, Basil Dignam, Mick Dillon.
MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL (1957) stars Jim Davis and Robert Griffin. A scientific expedition in Africa investigates wasps that have been exposed to radiation and mutated into giant, killing monsters. Directed by Kenneth G. Crane. Cast: Jim Davis, Robert Griffin, Joel Fluellen, Barbara Turner, Eduardo Ciannelli, Vladimir Sokoloff.
THE GIANT GILA MONSTER (1959) stars Don Sullivan & Lisa Simone. After a couple of teenagers go missing in a small Texas town, everyone assumes they’ve run off to the big city. However, when their bodies are found in a nearby creek, the sheriff is puzzled as to what could have killed them. The leader of a local hot rod group agrees to help the sheriff, and together they discover evidence of a giant lizard roaming the desert. Soon the lizard is terrorizing the town. Directed by Ray Kellogg. Cast: Don Sullivan, Lisa Simone, Fred Graham, Shug Fisher, Bob Thompson, Janice Stone, Ken Knox, Gay McLendon.
THE CRATER LAKE MONSTER (1977) stars Richard Cardella & Glen Roberts. A giant plesiosaur, akin to the Loch Ness Monster, appears in Crater Lake in Northern California. As people are attacked by the monster, the Sheriff investigates along with a group of scientists to try to stop the creature. Directed by William R. Stromberg. Cast: Richard Cardella, Glenn Roberts, Mark Siegel, Bob Hyman, Richard Garrison, Kacey Cobb, Michael Hoover, Suzanne Lewis, Marv Eliot.
THE KILLER SHREWS (1959) stars James Best, Ingrid Goude and Ken Curtis. A delivery ship crew lands on a deserted island where they stumble upon a mad doctor experimenting on wild shrews. When the experiment fails, the little rodents turn into giant flesh-eating monsters. Directed by Ray Kellogg. Cast: James Best, Ingrid Goude, Ken Curtis, Gordon McLendon, Baruch Lumet, “Judge” Henry Dupree.
THE STRANGE WORLD OF PLANET X (1958) stars Forest Tucker. A mad scientist creates ultra-sensitive, disruptive magnetic fields, which have unexpected side effects, while also attracting unidentified flying objects from outer space. Strange things begin to happen, including a freak storm, blasts of cosmic radiation that penetrates the Earth’s normally protective magnetic shield, and insects and spiders mutating into giant flesh-eating monsters. Directed by Gilbert Gunn. Cast: Forrest Tucker, Gaby André, Martin Benson, Alec Mango, Wyndham Goldie, Hugh Latimer, Dandy Nichols, Richard Warner.
THE WOMANEATER (1958) with Vera Day. A crazed scientist feeds women to a flesh-eating tree to create a serum that can bring the dead back to life. Directed by Charles Saunders. Cast: George Coulouris, Robert MacKenzie, Norman Claridge, Marpessa Dawn, Jimmy Vaughan, Sara Leighton, Edward Higgins, Joyce Gregg, Harry Ross, Vera Day.
BONUS FEATURES: MAN OR BEAST – a short documentary on early Hollywood monster movies including: Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, Hunchback of Notre Dame and Phantom of the Opera + VERA DAY – exclusive insight into her life in films and introduction to her movie THE WOMANEATER!
