JohnHowardReid Producer: Roger Corman.Copyright 7 September 1954 by Palo Alto Productions, inc. A Lippert Pictures release. No New York opening. U.S. release: 21 May 1954 (sic). U.K. release through Exclusive in March 1956, in a version cut to 51 minutes. Never theatrically released in Australia. 64 minutes.Alternative titles: IT STALKED THE OCEAN FLOOR; MONSTER MAKER.SYNOPSIS: A Mexican coastal village is threatened by a sea monster, but two visiting Americans (a beautiful advertising artist and a husky marine biologist) save the day. NOTES: First films for producer Roger Corman, director Wyott Ordung, and players Kimbell, Wade and Haze. Corman went on to produce over a hundred more pictures, Ordung wrote a couple of scripts, Kimbell starred in "Girls at Sea" (1958), Haze in "The Little Shop of Horrors", "Invasion of the Star Creatures", etc.VIEWER'S GUIDE: Extraordinarily, the Australian censor in the year 2000 awarded the film an "MA" certificate — Mature Adults Only, with children excluded from cinema admissions unless accompanied by a responsible parent or guardian. This, despite the fact that the British Board of Film Censors way back in 1956, awarded the much faster- paced yet uncensored version a Universal Exhibition certificate! It's good to know that — despite all appearances to the contrary — Australia's space-age, computer kids are so shy and sensitive that a couple of tawdry shots of the tamest monster ever made will scare them witless. American and British kids of yesteryear were certainly made of sterner stuff.COMMENT: Produced by Roger Corman, this is a very efficiently made, little sci-fi thriller. Script and dialogue maintain the interest, the little-known principals are attractive, and the movie seems to have been lensed wholly on location by the resourceful Floyd "High Noon" Crosby. Actually, the photographic quality tends to be a bit variable, but this and some extremely long (but well-composed) takes are the only evidences of what was undoubtedly a very short shooting schedule. (The film was reportedly shot in a week and budgeted at only $12,000). Sci-fi fans will undoubtedly be disappointed that they see so little of the long-awaited "monster", though I found the delay more suspenseful than his actual appearance. The pace could be improved still further (this is a review of the British version, not the over-talky and rather static full-length movie currently being aired on cable) by slightly trimming the scenes with the miniature sub, which out-stays its welcome. The support cast is capable, whilst production values — aside from the tame special effects — are more than fair.

Phil Hubbs So when this movie starts we get the standard introduction for a watery monster flick, a live action shot of the ocean rolling and crashing against the rocks. Over said standard introduction we of course get the opening credits which lists our main players. The interesting thing was, once the credits had finished we get some narration. This narration informs us of where and how this movie was shot. I've never come across that before, it was odd to say the least, kinda took you out of the movie...for a moment.The plot to this deep sea tale is a very basic affair, let me explain in the simplest of terms. Julie, a beautiful young woman (Anne Kimbell) goes on vacation in Mexico. Whilst there she meets young handsome marine biologist Dr. Baldwin (Dick Pinner) and they slowly fall in love. The end...nah only joking.After Julie hears a mysterious story about the death of a diver she becomes curious and decides to do some digging. Naturally Dr. Baldwin is skeptical but because he loves her so much he goes along with the investigation. After much deliberating, various tests and chats with the locals, the duo eventually discover that there is indeed a large monster on the rampage in this sleepy Mexican coastal region.So what is the monster you ask? Well its obviously not gonna be a shark, crab or giant eel or whatever because that's too boring. At first I thought it might be a giant octopus, which we are presented with at one point. Luckily its not that either. During the brave duos investigation they actually discover (by accident) a strange piece of gloop. Now because Dr. Baldwin is of course a scientist he knows exactly what to do, stick it under his trusty microscope. After much important scientific type spiel which I'm sure nobody would really listen too intently, they come to the conclusion its a piece of mutated amoeba. Its right at that moment that you the viewer realises that the large roaming monster is in fact a large mutated amoeba. A result of atomic testing? Actually this time I don't think so.Yes the big beastie is actually a large, umm...octopus looking amoeba with one huge comical eye that glows. It looks more like a space alien really. The creature in question looks to be a puppet on strings against an underwater set of varying quality. The creatures large glowing eye is actually pretty cool I thought, definitely brought it to life and gave it some character. Alas it also made it look like a Scooby-Doo monster from the cartoons.Next to that you of course have a lot of stock footage of various sea creatures and a reasonable amount of underwater sequences shot with real divers. There does in fact appear to be a real sequence where a diver fights off a real shark with a knife, and the production does seem to have and utilise a real minisub. Its also worthy to note that this movie does appear to have a score that closely resembles a certain Steven Spielberg movie. Believe it or not but that famous/infamous musical tune does actually appear in this movie. Not the exact same score of course but its damn close. Hmmm I wonder Mr. Spielberg.Other than that its all business as usual really. The Mexican locals are all your bog standard, obligatory stereotypes. Horrendous accents, the men have huge moustaches and the women are all old and covered in veils (although the director, Wyott Ordung, is actually the main stereotypical Mexican local). Dr. Baldwin and all the other scientist blokes generally act like male chauvinists, patronising Julie all the time. Julie often speaks sense, is hard working and is willing to go the extra mile to get to the bottom of the mystery. On the other hand Dr. Baldwin merely thinks this is adorable and treats her like a puppy. Heck there's even a sequence where Dr. Baldwin serenades Julie on the rocks by the ocean in a highly cringeworthy scene that feels somewhat out of place. Not that it matters because the movie was lost way before this. The reason being its just too boring, nothing really happens...like ever! We only see some monster action right at the very end and even then its woefully brisk. We don't see any other creatures or people getting eaten, no carcasses, no tension, no thrills, just lots of talk, some romance and underwater jiggery- pokery. Yeah the giant amoeba is kinda fun to look at but there needed to be way way more of it.3/10

fertilecelluloid A low key monster movie from producer Roger Corman (his first) and director Wyott Ordung. What struck me as creepy were the rules the monster played by -- werewolf rules. He only came out at night and he only came into his own when the moon was full. He didn't rush about like one of those "humanoids from the deep" (another Corman production) and he didn't eat flesh (cow excepted). He simply menaced and eliminated his enemies off-screen. I liked that. I could handle that.I was always very impressed by the pedal-powered submarine. It was like something the Professor from "Gilligan's Island" might have pieced together. I wanted one of those. It reeked of adventure. I was also impressed by the film's title, an evocative title if ever there was one. I loved the title "Monster From The Surf", too, but after suffering through that one, I was happy to stick to the ocean floor.The score, as mentioned by another reviewer, really is effective and plain eerie, and the film's cinematography never betrays its poverty row budget.Corman knew, from the beginning, that good characters are the foundation of any good movie, whatever its genre, and this, his first, is a tinpot classic with charm and presence.

teuthis On the surface, this film appears to be just another entry into the 50's cinema monster mill. But when we dive deeper we find some subtle and entertaining differences. The heroine is remarkably modern. She is brave, independent, determined, and completely oblivious to what the rather effete male characters think of her. The film is actually developed around her persona, and her dogged determination to seek the monster lurking below. The underwater scenes are beautiful examples of early open water cinematography in the lush, cool Pacific Ocean. The submarine is great. I really wanted one when I was a kid and first saw this film. The spunky actress seems to have done her own diving too. The scene in which she tries to fend off the shark is exciting. If you forget the rather weakly done monster, its minimal time on screen, and instead, focus on the enchanting heroine and her quest, this is not a bad film at all. I certainly find it entertaining. I have it on DVD and watch if often.