THE NAVY VS. THE NIGHT MONSTERS (1966)
Article #1570 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-2-2005
Posting Date: 11-29-2005
Directed by Michael A. Hoey
Featuring Mamie Van Doren, Anthony Eisley, Billy Gray

A small navy outpost on an island finds themselves contending with strange monsters that were brought over from the Antarctic on an airplane.

As an exercise in nostalgia, I have a certain fondness for this movie; I saw it on my local Creature Feature as a kid, and two things stuck in my head. It was the first movie I ever saw to feature a man’s arm being torn from its socket (the fact that it’s badly done doesn’t make it less memorable), and the title is hard to forget. I saw it again years later with full knowledge of its low reputation, but as a campy laugh-a-minute stinker, it really doesn’t satisfy. The acting and direction is poor throughout, but it’s consistent and it’s almost all on the level of “let’s just get through this to get our paychecks” bad. Also, the script is singularly lacking in real howlingly funny lines. So I think this movie works best as inconsequential timekiller; the movie avoids being actively annoying, the soundtrack does a good job of letting you know when you should be paying attention, and even though there are a number of dull stretches, it does manage to prod itself to a higher level of interest (just barely) to get you through with only occasional trips to the fridge. I find it a lot easier to take than most Jerry Warren movies. Incidentally, it was based on a novel by Murray Leinster.