dougdoepke Talk about your 50's juvenile delinquents. This one makes Lon Chaney's Wolfman look well groomed. But it's not the kid's fault. Seems something unexplained fell from the sky and turned the boy into a teenage yeti with lockjaw. But Mom keeps him hidden away in her house, otherwise he has a habit of throttling people he meets. Just how she's managed that for years is one of the unexplained mysteries of teenage drive-in. But hey, I really like the twist with sweet little Ruthie. She's every guy's ideal prom date. But what a calculating little brain behind the charm. In fact, I'd say she's the real teenage monster. After all, our wolfman is more pathetic than evil. A good barber, a few skin grafts, plus a speech coach, might introduce him to semi-polite company. But I guess that's why the setting is back in the 1800's. Anyhow, Gwynne shows her acting chops as long-suffering Mom, while Gloria Castillo scores as Bad Ruthie. I just wish our grunting outcast got more screen credit, maybe the Drive-In Golden Comb for the biggest Elvis pompadour. Now don't laugh, but I take the movie more as a human-interest story than as a scare feature. Plus, it's a rather effective one, despite a plot with more holes than grandma's sieve and a budget of about a buck eighty including bus fare. It's also rather sneaky— that is, see if you think the moral scales properly balance at movie's end. After all, this is the straight-laced 1950's.

ferbs54 Conflating the Western, horror and teenage movie genres as it does, "Teenage Monster" (1957) is a unique experience indeed. It also features the most frightening monster in a late 1800s Western setting since Mercedes McCambridge stalked through the plains of "Johnny Guitar" (1954). In this film, a meteor that looks like a July 4th sparkler crashes near the mine of the Cannon family, killing Paw and turning young Charles into a mutant of sorts. Seven years later, Charles is the eponymous teenage monster, killing cattle and the occasional passerby, while his Maw must hide him from the townsfolk and deal with her new blackmailing hussy of a housekeeper. Charles, as a teenager, looks like nothing more than a long-haired and long-bearded hippie with bad teeth (I've seen worse walking the streets of the East Village!), despite the makeup work by Jack "Frankenstein" Pierce. His garbled, whining attempts at speech are reminiscent of a constipated canine and are quite pathetic, but still had me cracking up somehow. Anne Gwynne, who was featured in any number of 1940s Universal horror films, is fine as Charles' sacrificing mother, and, actually, their relationship is kinda sweet. Still, the film, fun as it is, is patently ridiculous, and with a very rushed ending to boot. Even my revered "Psychotronic Encyclopedia" calls it "awful." My tastes must be getting more and more dubious, though, because I did have a good time with this unique little quickie.

dbborroughs Scifi Western Horror film about a boy changed into a werewolf like psycho by a meteor crash that kills his father. The only one who can control the boy is his mother who keeps him locked away when he isn't working in her goldmine. Of course she can't watch him and he gets out from time to time and kills or kidnaps members of the surrounding area.Give it points for being something different, I mean how many Westerns have scifi and horror elements? But at the same time you have to wish it was at least marginally better than it is. The acting is okay, about what you'd expect from b movie like this. The problem is the plot line is so full of holes that nothing makes sense. To begin with how could the teenage monster have wandered around for 7 years and no one have been the wiser? Explanations in the film don't ring true as much of the plotting. This is a real turkey of a film. (and it serves me right for trying a 50's horror film that was completely unknown to me.)

thefountainmenace Hey - it's a 50's horror movie, what can we expect, kids?This one is truly original in that it actually combines werewolves, meteors, and the Old West. However, the sci-fi aspect (meteors) is particularly tenuous - the 'meteor' appears to be a lit sparkler held close to the camera in soft focus. And the 'grown-up' Charles is just unbelievable, even if he is a werewolf - it's seven years later, but he looks at least 40. But if you can deal with 50'd Sci-Fi - you'll find this fun. Nice comment on manipulative women as well -actually a fairly coherent, if more than a bit far out - plot.