How to Make a Monster (1958) by Herbert L. Strock

Director: Herbert L. Strock

Year: 1958

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Mad Doctor; Creature Feature

Plot:

After a strange spate of murders, the investigation into the events leads the police to believe that a recently-fired special effects master has created a series of monsters from his past projects and is instructing them to carry out his vengeance on those who wronged him, leading them to stop his plans before they continue.

Review:

For the most part, this here was a fun enough effort. The main point of this one here is the fact that there's a lot of great work going on behind the scenes of the movie-production system, creating a lot of studio in-jokes that are quite fun. This one has all the make-up and testing being done in their study, the near-constant talk about their slot of pictures and what it's going to mean to them to keep their projects going throughout the controversy the spree creates, which along with the shots actually filming work on other films there all makes for some nice times here giving this one quite a different overall feel. This is all helped by the fact that the rest of the film is pretty cheesy, especially in the monster make-up.

The creations here have that low-budget charm to them, which really captures the hand-crafted look that's perfectly telling, which is the result of the film's other rather enjoyable element being featured here, and gives this plenty to like in a few creepy scenes here and there. The early attacks in the theater and the kitchen, where the creations come out in some really thrilling encounters, and the later scenes of Frankenstein stalking the last owner and then fleeing afterwards through the town, which makes this quite fun, as each creature gets a chance to shine here in a fine sequence, while nicely setting the stage for the finale. Shot in color, this Gothic-flavored set-piece with the house-bound sculptures of the creatures settled around, and his growing paranoia forcing along the outburst that brings about the big fire throughout the house that ends this on a really high note. These give it some positive elements.

However, there are some detrimental issues found here. The main issue here is the film's rather bland and dragging pace, as the middle turns into a police investigation film rather than keeping the horror film segments in full segments, dropping the attacks to focus on the cops interviewing personnel or witnesses to them, which shows them as completely incompetent since there's ample evidence to support the main characters as the villains. That is another factor here in that his growing hysteria and paranoia do this no favors with the ludicrous ranting and motivations keeping this one quite goofy and silly, while clearly showing his deteriorating state as being obvious to spot, and with the lack of attacks, it's quite dull. Likewise, they may be fun, but the attacks are all the same and show the creatures popping up for a strangulation on each victim, which is quite bland and really hurts the creativity of this one. The last flaw here is with the finale, which is fun since it's shot in color, but looks more like a gimmick than anything else, as it comes up out of nowhere and doesn't have anything to signal that's going to occur, which really does stick out here. These here lower this one significantly, even though it does have some positives.

Overview: **.5/5

Troubling but quite enjoyable, somewhat for what it is, this one comes off better than it should be, even though the series of flaws present does manage to hold this down quite heavily overall. Those with an appreciation for this era of genre fare or who appreciate the style on display will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.