During the late ’50s, the major studios didn’t believe in massive releases. Instead of 4,000 screens on the first day, a blockbuster film would take it’s time to open up around the country. Studios also wanted their films to pay prestigious theaters first. Months later a major movie made it to a small town drive-in theater. Its 35mm print was battered and scratched from projectors at nicer theaters. This meant there was plenty of opportunities for the independent distributors to work with these theater owners to give them something fresh. The independent producers knew theater owners were excited to book genre films that were as good as a studio film without the same fees. Science fiction films in the late ’50s were packing in audiences. If you couldn’t book Creature From the Black Lagoon, a theater owner might find a movie about a different creature terrorizing teenagers. Later these same indie films found a home on television since the stations didn’t have to pay as much as Universal’s Shock package. The indie films could be run on Night Owl Theater or Saturday afternoon with a horror host. Many of them were probably aired on Svengoolie over the decades. Monster Mayhem Collection revives four indie films from the era with Monster From Green Hell, Brain From Planet Ardous, Giant From the Unknown and Frankenstein’s Daughter. These are perfect for an all-Saturday marathon of classic scares.
Monster From Green Hell (1957 – 70 minutes) opens with a rocket being shot up into space with dozens of test animals inside for the ride. The scientists including Dr. Quent Brady (Dallas‘ Jim Davis) do their best to locate the lost spaceship as it returns to Earth. Six months later, the scientists learn the landing spot is in Central Africa’s Green Hell district. This isn’t good since supposedly animals exposed to the cosmic rays of space can grow. Since the rockets was up for 40 hours, they have become gigantic. Brady and Dan Morgan (I Was A Teenage Werewolf‘s Robert Griffin) pack their bags and fly into the jungle. The effects are fun. They found footage of animals in Africa jungles running away from the camera and smartly worked their giant monsters into the shots to give giraffes a reason to flee. This is an extremely smart use of stock footage instead of merely padding the movie. They are even able to lift an attack by African tribesmen from a different (and larger budget) film into this one. If you want giant monsters attacking normal size people, Monsters From Green Hell is glorious. Must be mentioned that along the way Brady and Morgan encounter actress Barbara Turner. Along with acting in numerous TV show such as Ben Casey and Mike Hammer, Turner would become a successful screenwriter with Petulia, Georgia and Pollock. She’s also the mother of Jennifer Jason Leigh (Fast Times At Ridgemont High & Georgia).
Brain From Planet Ardous (1957 – 71 minutes) is an independent film that features one of the big stars of Universal’s ’50s science fiction scares. John Agar was in The Mole People, Tarantula and Revenge of the Creature (the sequel to The Creature From The Black Lagoon. After his contract ran out, Agar found himself in demand by indie producers. Thus he kept up his sci fi credentials with this movie about alien possession. Scientists Steve March (John Agar) and Dan Murphy (Emergency!’s Robert Fuller) are out in the desert mountains tracking something that’s setting off their instruments. They go inside a cave. After exploring around, they get attacked by a giant floating brain. This ends with the brain creature merging with Steve. Steve’s girlfriend Sally (Bad Influence‘s Joyce Meadows) senses something is different about her man, but she’s not complaining. Why? Because Steve kisses better now. Things get weirder because the brain that possessed Steve is evil and another alien brain has arrived to bust him. The floating brain effect must have freaked out kids at the drive-in. For fans of Svengoolie, Joye Meadows appear on three episodes of Perry Mason!
Giant From the Unknown (1957 – 78 minutes) has things not going right for the picturesque mountain town of Pine Ridge. Something in the forest has been mutilating farm animals and they just claimed their first human victim. Indian Joe (Billy Dix) swears the land is cursed. Local geologist Wayne Brooks (Space Patrol’s Ed Kemmer) is a suspect, but is also discovering something unusual in the area. There’s a spot so cold it creates suspended animation for lizards. They’ve also discovered relics from Spanish Conquistadors. His girlfriend Janet Cleveland (War of the Colossal Beast & Earth vs. the Spider‘s Sally Fraser) wonders if they’re linked. Not to give too much away, but the Giant in the title is played by boxer Buddy Baer, the brother of boxer Max Baer and uncle of Max Baer Jr best known as Jethro on The Beverly Hillbillies. He also played the giant in Abbott and Costello’s Jack and the Beanstalk.
Frankenstein’s Daughter (1958 – 85 minutes) has sweet teenager Trudy Morton (Thunder Road‘s Sandra Knight) suffering nightmares about roaming around her town. Her Uncle Carter Morton (Star Trek‘s Felix Locher) keeps telling her that it’s just a dream. But it isn’t a dream since his assistant Oliver Frank (Lord Love A Duck’s Donald Murphy) has been transforming her into a monster at night. Turns out his real last name is Frankenstein. Is Trudy doomed to be a monster? Trudy’s only real hope is her boyfriend Johnny (Beach Blanket Bingo‘s John Ashley). Sandra Knight was married to Jack Nicholson during the early ’60s.
While these are four indie films that were each cranked out in about a week’s worth of production; they look really good. The crews were already working on low budget studio films or TV shows. They knew how to make things well-lit and move fast. These aren’t Ed Wood productions. The films are entertaining and it’s easy to feel why Monster Kids over the decades have embraced them. Monster Mayhem Collection is a perfect viewing on a Saturday while waiting for Svengoolie to come on MeTV.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The films have been restored to their black and white glory. I’m willing to say that these films never looked this good when they ran on UHF stations at 2 a.m. The Audio is DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono for all four films. They’ve cleaned up the soundtrack so you can hear the weird science fiction sounds in the mix. The movies are subtitled in English.
Audio Commentaries by Tom Weaver on Frankenstein’s Daughter, Giant from the Unknown and The Brain From Planet Arous. Weaver packs a lot of details into these short films. You get a greater appreciation. There’s a second commentary on Giant of the Unknown with actor Gary Crutcher remembering his week up in the mountains making the film. Stephen R. Bissette provides the audio commentary for Monster from Green Hell. The nice part is all of the commentaries come with subtitles.
Missouri Born: Films of Jim Davis (14:41) cover the career of the star of Monster From Green Hell. Writer C. Courtney Joyner gives the history of how Davis was signed by MGM straight out of acting school. He had a very up and down career until towards the end of his life when he became J.R. Ewing’s dad on Dallas.
The Man Behind the Brain: Director Nathan Juran (13:52) has C. Courtney Joyner get into how the director went by Nathan Hertz on The Brain From Planet Arous and Attack of the 50-Foot Woman. He was an art director originally. He did Harvey and Nightmare Alley. He designed the Munters house at Universal. While working on The Black Castle, the director quits and the producer asks Nathan to take over the director gig. He worked out and ended up making Drums Across the River with Audie Murphy. He also made Hellcats of the Navy with Ronald Reagan. This lead to him working with Ray Harryhausen on 20 Million Miles From Earth and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. He took on The Deadly Mantis. This all worked up to The Brain From Planet Arous.
The Man Before the Brain: The World of Nathan Juran (11:42) has historian Justin Humphreys give more details about the director. It really makes a case that Nathan Hertz or Nathan Juran needs to be considered a name director by the fans of Svengoolie.
Richard F. Cunha: Filmmaker of the Unknown (36:00) is what happened back in 1983 when Tom Weaver sent the producer-director questions for an interview. The director shot his own video with the answers. Richard was running the Video Depot rental store in Oceanside. He didn’t rent his own movies including Giant from the Unknown. The place also dealt in video hardware which explains how he shot this insightful piece. He was part of the photographic division of the Army Air Corp during World War II. He eventually was stations in California at the former Hal Roach studio. After the service, he got his start making a TV cowboy show for syndication. He explains how Giant from The Unknown came about. They didn’t want to have a complicated monster, but they met a 6’7″ guy who could look monstrous. The movie cost $54,000. They did say the legendary makeup man Jack Pierce (Frankenstein) was excited to work on the film. We learn how She Demons happened. He gets around to the budget on Frankenstein’s Daughter. They tried to shoot everything in six days.
Illustrated booklet with an essay on the films by Tom Weaver.
Film Masters present Monter Mayhem Collection: Special Edition. Directed by Nathan Juran, Kenneth G. Crane and Richard E. Cunha. Starring John Agar, Joyce Meadows, Jim Davis, Robert Griffin, John Ashley, Sandra Knight, Ed Kemmer & Morris Ankrum. Boxset set contents: 4 movies on 2 Blu-ray discs. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: April 7, 2026.
