THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON (1959)
Article #221 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 10-23-2001
Posting date: 3-08-2002

A man suffering from a dosage of radiation turns into a monster after exposure to the sun.

I’ve heard that one of the reasons Robert Clarke directed this movie was to prove that he could make a better movie than the one he’d just appeared in, namely THE ASTOUNDING SHE-MONSTER. He succeeded, but on the other hand, it would have been harder to make a movie that was worse. This one is no better than okay, with a novel central gimmick and a decent monster head; I’ve never felt it was quite as bad as some people make it out to be (unlike THE ASTOUNDING SHE-MONSTER, which is every bit as bad). And he does avoid some of the pitfalls of low-budget movie-making, such as the heavy use of stock footage and narration. One of the interesting touches to the movie is that the main character (played by Clarke) isn’t a sympathetic character; he has pronounced character flaws (such as his drinking) that contribute to making his illness even more troublesome to him.