Sunday, December 30, 2018

THE NIGHT CALLER (1966) ***


John Saxon stars as an American scientist in England who tracks a strange meteorite to an unlikely crash site.  There’s no crater or point of impact.  It’s almost as if the damned thing just… landed.  Along with some fellow scientists, Saxon performs some experiments on it, which results in the death of his mentor (Maurice Denham).  John then teams up with a Scotland Yard inspector (Alfred Burke) to investigate the disappearance of some local girls that may be somehow connected with the meteorite.

The first half of The Night Caller is gripping stuff.  It was done on an obviously low budget, but the way director John (The Reptile) Gilling manages to milk the suspense from the bare minimum he was given is rather impressive.  Most directors would’ve been hard-pressed to create tension with nothing more than John Saxon, a glowing watermelon, and a rubber hand at their disposal.  Gilling rises to the challenge admirably.

This portion of the film hinges heavily on suggestion.  The monster is mostly kept in the shadows, with Saxon relying on secondhand accounts from potential victims for a description of the beast.  The moody lighting and stark black and white cinematography help to enhance the atmosphere.  Imagine if Val Lewton had directed a Val Guest movie.  If that isn’t enough to make you want to see it, nothing will.

In the second half, The Night Caller takes an odd, but amusing detour.  It’s such a dramatic turn that it almost feels like an entirely different movie in places.  It’s here where things become slightly more lurid as the alien lures unsuspecting bikini models to their doom.  This twist is unexpected and kind of corny, but it’s diverting enough.  (It almost seems like a Hammer remake of Mars Needs Women.)  

It’s only in the last ten minutes does it really fall apart.  That’s partly because the ending is so anticlimactic, but also because Saxon gets less and less to do as the film goes on.  We do get a fun turn by Aubrey (Tales from the Crypt Presents Bordello of Blood) Morris as the creepy bookstore owner in cahoots with the alien, and his hammy antics helps inject a little life into the uneven third act. 

AKA:  Blood Beast from Outer Space.  AKA:  Night Caller from Outer Space.

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