The Unearthly (1957) User Reviews

Not as horrible as you might think!!

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 15 March 2009]

While I am sure my summary is not exactly a glowing endorsement, I do think that this bad movie isn't nearly rotten enough to merit its current listing among the "hallowed 100"--the 100 lowest ranked films listed on IMDb. Instead of being a 100% "stinker", it's actually a low-budget but watchable film....really! When the film begins, you are greeted with a house that is obviously a painting--from which the film's odd title emanates. Odd, because there is nothing "unearthly" about the film--no aliens at all.

The first scene you are greeted to is a closeup of Tor Johnson killing someone. Seeing Tor, I knew this film would be low-budget crap--heck, he's the unofficial king of these films with his luminous performances in such dreck classics as BRIDE OF THE MONSTER, PLAN 9 and THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS (my vote for the worst of his films). Interestingly, in this film he's named 'Lobo'--the same name he had in NIGHT OF THE GHOULS and BRIDE OF THE MONSTER. He's back again in THE UNEARTHLY as essentially the same guy (though he does talk some in this film, unlike the others). You must assume, then, that he's a freelance henchman--willing to work not for Bela Lugosi, Kenne Duncan and here for John Carradine. I could imagine his classified ad now: "Loyal, brutish henchman looking for a position. Ability to speak limited but hulking appearance more than makes up for shortcomings."

It turns out that Tor is working in a weird clinic in the middle of nowhere for the evil doctor (Carradine) and his devoted assistant, Dr. Gilchrist (Marilyn Buferd). Despite Gilchrist being a bit of a 50s horror movie babe, however, Carradine seems rather immune to her advances and focuses his energies on creating and implanting a supposed "new gland" in his patients. Sadly, however, the gland only seems to have the side effect of turning the patients into creepy and disfigured ghouls or werewolf-like creatures. Sadly, the victims have no idea that they'll be subjected to these sick experiments and so they just wait until it's there turn. Of course, considering the clinic is in the middle of no where and the patients are not allowed outside, you'd think they might suspect SOMETHING!

Into this lovely menagerie comes a wanted murderer (played by Myron Healey). Healey was a very competent and familiar supporting actor from television and so you wonder why with almost 300 performances to his credit he would have appeared in this film. His character is supposed to be a killer, but it's obvious he's more than meets the eye, as he quickly determines the doctor's true intentions as well as organizes the other patients into an escape team. When this fails, a little surprise takes place and the evil scheme unravels.

Okay, so much of the plot sounds a bit familiar. Carradine has played mad scientists in at least 19,390 other cheap movies. Tor has the acting range of a sprig of spinach. Sure, the creatures look amazingly cheesy. Still, despite all this, the film is watchable and campy fun. While far from good, for lovers of bad movies, it's well worth seeing and not nearly as unwatchable as its current rating might imply.

Don't be fooled by the tagline

[logz14 · 2/10 · 24 August 2000]

The tagline has nothing to do with the movie!There were no mutants on a mission from hell! All they were was harmless freaks manufactured by an evil scientist (John Carradine). The movie wasn't even scary. Just sort of dull and old.

MST3K saves another abomination

[VulcanPhil · 2/10 · 12 December 2004]

Before MST3K, I saw no purpose for movies this bad. This one had dreary cinematography, terrible pacing, poor scientific speculation, annoying acting, the list goes on. Unless you want to make fun of this one yourself, just get that version.

It gets a great MST3K treatment: they had a lot of fun with the above problems, the silly characterizations and most of all, Tor Johnson. I'm not sure if he really saw himself as an actor or just took whatever work paid the bills. :-) His screen presence is, well, just presence. He's just out there without any refinement whatsoever. Definitely funny to watch.

So don't take this one seriously.

IN DEFENSE OF THE UNEARTHLY

[zippyjimbo · 5/10 · 15 March 2000]

As a new user to this site, I couldn't believe that this movie was listed as one of the worst 100 of all time. How can that be? Without wanting to be a "spoiler" this movie has one of the greatest last lines of all time (right up there with Some Like It Hot), one that has stayed with me forty years later. Besides, how can a site devoted to the true movie lover rate a movie so low when Myron Healy receives second billing?? Mr. Healy is one of the screens all time leading villains (he's the one who has to fish his silver dollar out of the spittoon in El Dorado), and here he gets to play the hero!!! I was also very fortunate to meet John Carradine in 1968 when he appeared at one of my college's Artist Series. I told him how much I enjoyed this movie. His reply was, "Well, we all have bills to pay." So come on people, lighten up, and enjoy this movie for what it is - the dedicated scientist who tries to find eternal life for himself and his bride. And if a few of his experiments go wrong, so be it.

A Film That Needs More Love

[gavin6942 · 5/10 · 19 May 2014]

Mad doctor uses patients at his isolated psychiatric institute as subjects in his attempts to create longevity by surgically installing an artificial gland in their skulls, with disastrous results.

This film has a suspiciously low rating on IMDb, which I suspect can only be caused by one of two things (or both): its being shown on "Mystery Science Theater 3000" or its being associated with Ed Wood. Since the latter is not likely to impact it, I suspect it is the former.

And that is just too bad. Despite the lampooning, this is a decent film with good effects (the gland), a better than average plot and decent acting. We have John Carradine, a legendary actor and Carradine family patriarch. And he is surrounded by actresses who had been Miss America, a Playboy Playmate (around the same time the film came out) and more...

The script? From a man who went on to write some of the best episodes of "Star Trek". Certainly this cannot be as bad as it is made out to be. Another examination may be in order.

"Two of the ripest tomatoes in town..."

[Mike Sh. · 23 June 2001]

This movie includes a number of distinguished actors playing excellent parts. John Carradine, for instance, plays a gaunt, furrow-faced scientist with a big booming authoritative scientisty voice. Myron Healy plays the mysterious Mark Houston, an average Joe who goes after the ladies with some of the lamest pick-up lines in existence ("Grace? Hmm, pretty name for a pretty girl.") The truly lovely Alison Hayes, she of the sensational chest, plays the aforementioned Grace, a knockout of a girl up to her eyeballs in emotional problems. Sally Todd, a beauty queen in real life, plays Natalie, a relatively well-adjusted knockout blonde who tragically gets turned into a smoked meat sculpture (not on purpose, of course). Marilyn Buferd is the cold, frustrated lady scientist who's carrying a torch for the gaunt furrow-faced scientist guy. Roy Gordon is the scientist-in-cahoots-with-the-other-scientists who looks like the guy on those Monopoly cards. Arthur Batanides is the neurotic palooka who spazzes out at the drop of a hat. Harry Fleer is Jedrow (_not_ Jethro), the hapless victim who looks like Abe Vigoda. And. of course, there's Tor Johnson, who's just his sweet, lovable, playful old self.

With a cast like that, how can you go wrong?

Live MST3K Moment

[keifer-1 · 5/10 · 28 June 2006]

This movie created a live MST3K moment during it's World Premiere run.

The World Priemere was at the Roosevelt theater in Chicago. The top billed film was "Beginning of the End" (Yes, the one about the giant grasshoppers invading Chicago.) That this film got second billing should tell you something about this flick.

If you've not read other reviews, John Carradine has created a synthetic gland that he thinks will give eternal youth. About halfway through the picture, he implants his eternal youth gland (Which looks suspiciously like a pulsating jalapeño pepper.) into Sally Todd and moves her to his moldy basement to recover.

When they check on her later, instead of remaining eternally young, she's all wrinkled and shriveled up and looks about a hundred years old.

At this point, someone waaaaay at the back of the balcony yelled out, "YA GOT IT IN UPSIDE DOWN!!!"

It must have been at least five minutes before the laughter subsided and you could hear the movie again.

THE UNEARTHLY (Boris Petroff, 1957) **

[Bunuel1976 · 5/10 · 23 January 2010]

I decided to acquire this (albeit from other sources rather than the legitimate Image DVD) following Michael Elliott's solid *** review of some time ago. Surprisingly enough, I found this modest genre outing to be quite engaging and enjoyable most of the way and certainly undeserving of the dubious honor of being currently positioned at #95 on the IMDb's "Bottom 100" list! John Carradine gives his usual commitment to the standard 'mad doctor' role; the hero Myron Healey is quite sympathetic and the film's three female leads (Allison Hayes, Marilyn Buferd and Sally Todd) very attractive. On the debit side are Tor Johnson's amusing blazer-tie-sandals attire and moronic speech ("Time for go to bed" he blurts out to the guests at one point) as Lobo, Carradine's all-purpose assistant (valet-cook-bodyguard- guinea pig) and the incessant histrionics of the other male inmate (Arthur Batanides) – although the insults the latter hurls at the former during breakfast are fairly hilarious! Despite the misleadingly other-worldly title, the villains and crimes perpetrated here are decidedly mundane (especially given the clumsy and panic-stricken antics of Carradine's elderly partner Roy Gordon). It is all well and good that the would-be escaped convict hero is revealed to have been an undercover cop all along but it seems improbable that he would discover Carradine's underground lair of Dr. Moreau-esquire failures (including a creepy pre-CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962) wraith-like creature) so easily and it would have been much more convincing if, say, Gordon had inadvertently mentioned it to Hayes or, better still, left them unlocked for some reason. Equally silly is the fact that Carradine reveals the full extent of his experiments to Healey from the get-go and then allows him to roam freely among the potential (and, as I said, good-looking) victims themselves!! Besides, how anyone can mistake a Southern mansion in the middle of a swamp for a health spa is beyond me. In any case, despite the above-mentioned absurdities, the film contrives to end with a bang as we get a good look at the results of Carradine's previous guinea pigs.

At least John Carradine is in it.

[Aaron1375 · 3/10 · 10 March 2003]

John Carradine is one of those actors from a bygone era that seemed to look at acting as an actual job rather than something to do every now and then while living in multiple homes and living life of luxury. No, he seemed to go from one movie to another taking parts in really good films and really, really bad films. That being said, he has been in more than a couple of films that were featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 and this was one of them. Not an entirely bad film, Red Zone Cuba was a much worse film that was featured on the show, this film is a bit slow paced even for a film that has a run time of just over an hour. Basically, just your typical mad scientist film that features a mad scientist, strange monsters and Tor Johnson as a sidekick named Lobo! Yes, Tor appeared as a sidekick named Lobo in like two other films other than this one, but while those two Lobo's were the same character, this one is a totally different Lobo...the distinction is apparently this one speaks. So, it has its moments and the film is upgraded a bit by John Carridine's performance, but overall, just seems like it needed a bit more going on.

The story has a mansion that seems to be in the middle of nowhere, but near the end of the film seems to be right in the middle of the city housing special patients who seem to think they are there for some sort of mental health treatment. Unfortunately for them, the good doctor who resides in the house plans on using them for his experiments to prolong man's life to an eternity using a special gland that he apparently created or something. A man caught outside the mansion and who the doctor believes is an murder on the run ends up being recruited to be a part of the experiments, but this man seems to know something is not right and tries to uncover the truth.

This made for a pretty good episode of MST3K as most films featuring Tor Johnson do. This film had not one, but two shorts which is a bit puzzling seeing as how the film ran 72 minutes which might merit the inclusion of one short, but not really two. Makes me wonder what they edited out of this one. A lot of the riffs in this one were geared to Tor Johnson's Lobo character and John Carridine's mansion that is just about the only place you see during the duration of this film.

So, not a horrible film, but just kind of slow. I would not really want to see the film in its entirety as I cannot imagine it really adding anything to this film. What I did see seemed pretty cut and dry as it was a mad scientist using people as guinea pigs for his crazy experiments. You get to see people misshaped by his experiments and I like how they treat the one girl as if she is dead. It's like, "Oh my, she is now unattractive, let's just leave her here to rot because her life is now over." So if you want to see a film featuring strange experiments, a mad doctor and Tor as Lobo this film fits the bill! Along with like at least two other films...

Doctor looking for a surgical procedure that will be the key to eternal life creates monstrosities

[snicewanger · 5/10 · 30 September 2015]

The Unearthly was a 1957 Republic Pictures production released on a double bill with "The Beginning of the End" . Director Boris Petrof shot this movie in six days. The script had characters originally developed by Ed Woods Jr.It clocks in at just under an hour

John Carridine is back as Dr Charles Conway a mad scientist who is trying to find the key to eternal life,a role he is playing for the umpteenth time and could emote in his sleep. This time he is using glandular transplants and electric shock to achieve his ends. Instead of immortal super people, he has a basement full of grotesque human monsters. As the old saying goes, "Madness is to keep doing the same thing over and over and expect different results'

Carridine is joined in the cast by stalwart B movie leading man Myron Healey, sexy Allison Hayes, Playboy Playmate Sally Todd, 1946 Miss America Marilyn Buferd, one of Televisions busiest character actors Arthur Bananides, and Ed Wood Superstar Tor Johnson recreating his classic Lobo role.

Okay movie fans, Citizen Kane this ain't. What it is, is an entertaining little horror shocker. Carridine is at his hammy best, particularly when he sees the final results of his surgeries. Healey handles his good guy role with athletic vigor as he tries to thwart Dr Conway's planes. Hayes is sexy as the sheer nightgown clad object of both Carridine and Healeys desires. Tor Johnson once again shows why he was Hollywood's most underrated heavy....literally.When they finally get the basements hidden room, and its filled with Conway's previous failed experiments, they all look the guys of Duck Dynasty.

This movie was created for the smaller neighborhood and drive in theaters, where the primary audience would be teenagers, and they would be engaged in other pursuits rather then watching what was on the screen.

For Granted! For Granted! In Science nothing is taken For Granted!

[sol1218 · 5/10 · 11 April 2006]

(There are Spoilers) John Carradine in one of his many mad scientist roles as the crazed Dr. Charles Conway who's obsessed with finding the elusive secret of the legendary Fountain of Youth. Getting people to be patients at his secret medical clinic deep in the woods and miles from civilization Dr. Conway plans to experiment with them to make his subjects perpetually young like the portrait of Doren Gray. In the end he turns them into horrible and deformed mutants cursed to live forever in a cloistered sanitarium, like leapers. Never to see the light of day because of their shocking deformities that he inflicted on them .

One evening an escaped convict Mark Huston, Myron Healey, is caught snooping around Dr. Conway's residence by his hulking and trusted servant Lobo, Tor Johnson. Dr. Conway sees the perfect specimen for his youth experiments with Huston in no position to run and go to the police for help since he himself is wanted for murder.

Dr. Conway also has a number of other people at his place one of them Harry Jedrow, Harry Fleer, who's suffering from what the good doctor did to him by being in a totally comatose state. It's Jedrow who in the end spells the doom of Dr. Conway and his insane experiments by having his sister, whom he wasn't supposed to have, insist on having him released. This lead Dr. Conway to get Lobo to bury the poor man alive who was later rescued by Huston when Lobo took a lunch break, the big guy gotta eat, from shoveling dirt over Jedrow's coffin.

Making a play for one of his patient's the beautiful Grace Thomas, Allison Hayes, has Dr. Conway's assistant the former 1946 Miss America Marilyn Buferd playing Dr. Sharon Gilchrist mad as hell and not about to take Dr. Conway's two-timing her anymore insisting that he use Miss. Thomas in his next experiment. Hoping that it will be as unsuccessful as the one he just had with Natalie Anders, Sally Todd a former Playboy Centerfold, who's face ended up looking like an over-baked pizza with extra cheese.

As usual Dr. Conway's plan to bring eternal youth into the world is doomed to failure since the magical 17th gland, that looks like a pickled jalapeño pepper, that's supposed to bring on the miracle of eternal youth only makes his subjects freeze in time looking like a cross between the Munchkins in the Wizard of Oz and Lon Cheney Jr in his role as the hairy Wolf Man.

With Huston now throwing off his cover and revealing himself to be police Let., not wanted escaped murderer, Mark Huston everything starts to unravel for Dr. Conway. Huston and fellow patient Danny Green, Authur Batanides, overpower the brutish Lobo with Danny losing his life in the process and the zombie-like Jedrow coming back from the grave to pay Dr. Conway back, in spades, for everything he did to him over the years.

Average 1950's horror movie with the so-called brilliant Dr. Conway flopping in every one of his experiments that had you, and the movie audience, wonder what was so brilliant about the crazy and arrogant kook in the first place. Tor Johnson's Lobo for once does have a few lines of dialog, which is very rare for him, notably the movies most quoted and remembered saying "Time Fahh Go Ta Bed".

Sadly unrecognized

[HSauer · 10/10 · 2 May 1999]

More fun than a cellarful of monkeys. Carradine goes over the top as the haughty, flawed (mad) scientist. Tor Johnson is Lobo is Tor... proving his bad acting in "Plan 9" and "Bride of the Monster" was his own idea, not Ed Wood's. The three female leads are all famous beauties - Dr. Gilchrist was Miss America in 1946, Natalie was Playboy's Playmate of the Month in 1957 (the year this film was released), and B-movie giant Allison Hayes adds a sultry touch. Unfortunately, almost everyone in this film is INSANE.

Los Lobos

[ferbs54 · 6/10 · 17 December 2007]

John Carradine's character, Dr. Conway, has a big problem in "The Unearthly." His experiments on a newly discovered synthetic gland keep going wrong, and as a result, all his human guinea pigs have been transformed into mutant critters that are now overcrowding his basement. We get to see this mutant collection at the end of the film, and it is both the funniest and most horrifying section of this surprisingly well-done little B picture. I say "surprising" only because most film books downplay this movie as hopeless shlock, but I found it to be fairly entertaining. Not too many unintentional laffs, and with fairly good acting, too, especially from Carradine and cult fave Allison "The 50 Foot Woman" Hayes. Tor Johnson, everyone's favorite lumbering mound of monstrous blubber, is also on hand, as Carradine's imbecilic helper, and his is always a welcome presence. Surprisingly, his character's name is Lobo...the same name he sported in Ed Wood's "Bride of the Monster"!!! This may very well be Tor's finest film...but when your other credits include "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and "The Beast of Yucca Flats," two of the worst ever, I suppose that's not saying too much. Compared to the other John Carradine "mad scientist" film that I saw recently, "The Astro-Zombies," "The Unearthly" is a little gem of script, acting and direction. Again, I suppose that's not saying too much. But the bottom line is, I really did have fun with this one. Give it a try!

Twisted Like a Lemon

[whitewolf121 · 3/10 · 18 July 2006]

This movie only gets this score from me because of its ending. The whole film is dull and poorly shot, but the twist ending (which I won't reveal) is rather startling and would have been brilliant in a better movie. Unfortunately this is not a better movie. I would like to attribute this ending to the immortal Edward D. Wood Jr. but we can only thank him for the characters and the appearance of token Wood actor, Tor Johnson, who seems to be going for that Don Johnson look. Even as a Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie, The Unearthly is barely watchable. Even the 'bots could hardly joke and save this poor piece of film with an ending deserving of a different movie.

"Privilege has its own odor."

Top notch 50s Drive-in B movie treat for those with a taste for them

[Mikel3 · 3 June 2015]

Mini Review: 'The Unearthly' (1957) - I watched this the other night and it was pretty good ! I wasn't expecting much since the IMDb only gave it 2.7 stars. Allison Hayes and John Carradine were both fun to watch. Tor 'Plan 9 From Outer Space' Johnson is also along for the ride and did well as a sympathetic type 'Monster'. The story is mostly predictable yet I really didn't care, the acting and B-film makeup made up for it. There was a slight twist in the plot that was fun. When will those mad scientists ever learn ! If you like 50s Drive-in type horror films this is one to see and enjoy. I give it a 6 out of 10 for its genre as fun drive-in B-movie fare.

The Pinnacle of Moviemaking

[DarkMog · 1/10 · 11 November 2000]

Before I begin my review, I would like to say a few words about Tor Johnson. Tor Johnson... ah, yes, Tor Johnson, the immovable slab of granite. His illustrious movie covering John Carradine, Ed Wood, and even Coleman Francis. Oh, his roles often resembled each other, all right, and he never really said much, but when he spoke, the audience listened. "Time for go to bed," he would say, and darn it if the characters in the movie didn't listen to him. And his speaking role-heavy movies such as the masterful "Plan 9 from Outer Space" proved him the versatile actor he really was. If he were to say "I'm a big boy now, Johnny," as he so spiritedly did in that movie, you believed him. However, though many would disagree, it could be said that Tor reached his performing peak in the movie "The Unearthly" as the unyielding lab assistant Lobo. His major lines, such as "I found him in he garden" and "time for go to bed" have retained permanently a place in the annals of great movie lines along with "Flag on the moon... how'd it get there?" from "Night Train to Mundo Fine." However, it is "time for go to bed" that especially stands out. Never has a single phrase conveyed so much emotion, so much feeling, so much hidden meaning. In all seriousness, the movie "The Unearthly" places itself firmly alongside such classics as "Manos: Hands of Fate" and "Hobgoblins" as being one of the worst movies ever, although it remains somewhat more bearable than most. The plot, revolving around the demented experiments of John Carradine's mad scientist character, is ludicrous, while much of the filming focuses on disfigured faces and the movie's leading ladies. Above all, this is an unpleasent movie, and wanting to turn it off is about as unavoidable as a gag reflex (watching it is about as fun, too). Have fun.

Problems

[jgreen8824 · 3/10 · 23 January 2004]

When compared to films such as Cave Dwellers and Manos the Hands of Fate, the Unearthly was not really too bad, but it still had problems. Mainly it seemed like the film was dragging along most of the time, and the plot seemed convoluted. If it hadn't been for Joel and the 'bots, I would've probably fallen asleep about halfway through the film.

Surprisingly ok for a Mystery Science Theatre Movie

[rec26 · 2/10 · 22 September 2002]

Surprisingly ok for a Mystery Science Theatre Movie. I have seen much worse. And the MST version was not really all that funny either although the shorts at the beginning make it worth seeing. ("Posture Pals" and "Appreciating Our Parents")

Nothing 'unearthly' about this routine mad-scientist yarn

[jamesrupert2014 · 4/10 · 30 August 2020]

Mark Houston (Myron Healey), a man on the lam, stumbles into the clutches of Dr. Charles Conway (John Carradine), a scientist attempting to hormonally induce immortality (needless to say, with disastrous results). The film touches on most of the standard 'mad-scientist' tropes: gaunt B-movie perennial Carradine hams it up as an organ-playing megalomaniac with a secret lab in the basement of a creepy old house, supported in his villainy by an assistant who is in love with him (former Miss America Marilyn Buferd) and a hulking inarticulate henchman (the always diverting Tor Johnston). There are sexy girls at risk (buxom, former '50-foot woman' Allison Hayes and Playboy Playmate Sally Todd) and a horrible secret locked away in the cellar. Not a lot happens but the ending makes the brief film worth sitting through, especially the police captain's final line when confronted with Conway's misbegotten horrors. There are some oddly set-up scenes, notably the lengthy exchange between Huston and Conway, with the two characters framing an anatomy model that ends up looking like a mute participant in the conversation. Given the film's obvious budgetary limitations, Harry Thomas' make-up effects are serviceable, but otherwise most of the 'special effects' and sets would look at home in one of the lesser serials of the previous decade. 'The Unearthly' is a deceptively evocative title, the original title 'House of Monsters', while bland, was much more apt. Worth watching only for genre fans, Tor Johnson groupies, or people attempting the Herculean task of seeing all of the 200+ films in which John Carradine appeared.

So-so horror, but great-looking women

[scsu1975 · 4/10 · 15 November 2022]

This is pretty much what you'd expect of a movie starring John Carradine as a doctor trying to create immortality.

The film opens with gorgeous Allison Hayes being delivered by her doctor, played by Roy Gordon, into the hands of colleague Carradine. (Gordon, coincidentally, played Hayes' doctor in "Attack of the 50-Foot Woman," and we know how well that worked out. I wouldn't trust the guy to remove a sliver.) Apparently, Hayes has suffered a nervous breakdown, so what better place to recuperate than in a home/laboratory/looney bin run by Carradine? Naturally, Carradine has an assistant, played by famed thespian Tor Johnson. Tor plays Lobo, which is obviously short for "lobotomy." Tor actually has some lines of dialogue: "Time for go to bed, " "You eat," and "Get my agent on the phone." What's unusual is that Carradine has another assistant, an icy blonde played by former Miss America Marilyn Buferd. Buferd has the hots for Carradine, which is probably the first and last time that's ever happened. Rounding out the cast are Myron Healey as a suspicious character picked up on the grounds of Carradine's home, Arthur Batanides as a druggie, and former centerfold Sally Todd as another "patient."

Carradine explains to Healey that he has created a 17th gland, one that will cause the aging process to be arrested (well, somebody should be arrested). Of course, his experiments thus far have been failures (Lobo for instance), but there is no reason to believe his next one won't be successful. His next operation is on Todd, and he uses "scalpel 23" to insert the gland. How did that work out? Let's just say he turns the former Playmate into Play-doh. Eventually, we get to see his entire collection of "wonder why this didn't work."

Despite the overall awfulness of this film, it appeals to me, probably because of the babes. Hayes and Todd look great, so that's enough to keep my interest. Hayes is miscast as the demure type, but then again, who cares why she was cast? Healey is okay, and had a decent career in film, but he doesn't have the appeal of a leading man. He also arches his eyebrows so much that he could be mistaken for a Vulcan. Tor is Tor, but never goes on a tear. However, he does get to wear a necktie. Batanides' scene of drug-craving is a little over the top, and he seems to calm down way too fast after his injection of R-16. I have no idea what the hell that is.

As usual, Carradine manages to rise above the material, and in this case it was quite a climb. He enjoys himself, parading around in Hugh Hefner-like garb, sitting on Hayes' bed, and even playing Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" on his organ.

A bad film that is NOT fun to watch

[robertmurray-70637 · 1/10 · 16 September 2019]

Even the crew at Mystery Science Theater 3000 couldn't do much with this low-budget horror movie. It is not scary, just stupid and boring. Lots of talk, and no action. Too bad, as the cast is pretty good for a bad movie.

The title is interesting, though. It has absolutely nothing to do with the story. The producer probably chose it because it sounds spooky. I always like to read about the various titles movies go through from development to release.

Dr. Conway is GLAND to see you!

[thejcowboy22 · 3/10 · 13 November 2019]

I had a dear friend that suddenly left high school. I was saddened to learn that she had a nervous breakdown. She was so full of life and vitality on the outside but inner demons were destroying her on the inside. Such a serious subject when it comes to mental disorders. Now on to frivolous matters. I watched this 50's schlock Horror Movie entitled "The Unearthly" on Chiller one Saturday eve. It had all the typical components of that genre. The leading lady The evil Doctor the burly brawny assistant and Male protagonist and the sacrificial best friend . Dr. Charles Conway (John Carridine) runs a sanitarium for mentally stressed people; i.e., Depression anger management and schizophrenia. In reality the rest home is only a front for Dr. Conway who covertly is experimenting with an artificial gland that inserted into a human subject should produce eternal life. With the help of assistant Dr. Sharon Gilchrist ( Marilyn Buferd) and Butler/groundskeeper massive bald servant Lobo (Tor Johnson), The evil Doctor has plans for his patients who reside on his estate. Associate Dr. Wright (Roy Gordon) constantly sends would be patients to Dr. Conway thinking they will be cured over time with rest and therapy when in truth the evil Conway does experimentation on his subjects with horrible results. One of his failures is Harry Jedrow who is disfigured and can bearly move siting in a catatonic states in his basement.. Jedrow's sister keeps hounding Dr. Wright for information on her brother's whereabouts.. Enter our next subject the lovely Grace Thomas (Allison Hayes) who has depression issues. She meets her fellow patience . The Lovely Natalie (Sally Todd) and the angry who would flip on a dime Danny (Arthur Batanides). One night Lobo picks up a would be prowler and brings him to Dr. Conway. Dr. Conway deduces that it's the escaped convict Frank Scott (Myron Healy) who was reported in the newspapers as on the lamb. Instead of reporting him to the authorities Conway makes him take part in his experiments. The movie has a nice and even flow to it without run on dialogue. Tor Johnson has a speaking role and for once Myron Healy plays a "Good Guy" part instead usual antagonist. Allison Hayes plays a soft sweet woman who is anything but what she claims to be. Sally Todd is her usual drop dead gorgeous self but is the sacrificial lamb. But I've told enough. The movie does have surprises in store for all who view. I just enjoyed seeing all my Horror stars from that bygone era assembled in this picture.

Only "second rate" if you're talking Budget...

[poe-48833 · 9/10 · 10 August 2016]

THE UNEARTHLY may be regarded "second rate" by some, but it's actually First Rate Entertainment. Allison Hayes, whose job is to just look beautiful, holds up her end of things very well, thank you, and John Carradine adds his VERY distinctive voice to the unearthly goings-on (a voice that ITSELF lent an air of Unearthliness to many a Monster Movie, a voice right up there with that of Horror Great Peter Cushing); even Tor Johnson as Lobo does a commendable job here. THE UNEARTHLY is very well directed and boasts perhaps one of the Greatest endings you're ever likely to see in a Fright Film (it rates a 9.5 on the Richter Scale). The "glands" that Carradine would beneficently bestow upon Mankind remind one of the parasites in David Cronenberg's classic, THEY CAME FROM WITHIN/SHIVERS.

Watchable 'mad scientist' flick.

[bux · 6/10 · 24 October 1998]

Acceptable scare-fare here, with two of the B movie greats, Carridine and Healy, and the prince of the C,D,E,and F movies, Tor Johnson. Not as campy as an Arch Hall Jr. or Dennis Ray Steckler effort-the production values are too good-but still some good giggles at trite dialogue and silly plot.

The inmate is running the asylum...

[mark.waltz · 1/10 · 4 September 2015]

In "Bride of the Monster", Bela Lugosi described Tor Johnson's Lobo as being as "gentle as a kitten", and here, with John Carradine as his "master", he's "Lobo II", and indeed, he does seem "as gentle as a kitten", but "with the brain of a chicken". The child-like Lobo II takes care of seemingly comatose patients, giving them sweet little sponge baths, but obviously underneath is a monster awaiting to explode, and for experimental psychiatrist Carradine, that's a dangerous fact which he has chosen to overlook. "I am a scientist! Thinking is my business!", Carradine bellows, telling convicted murderer Myron Healey on the run, "The 17th gland is the secret of youth and eternal life. With it the aging process can be arrested!" Now, Healey is one of his patients, hiding out from the law, but refuses to go as far as to be one of his guinea pigs. Fellow patient Allison Hayes (whose "50 Foot Woman" was a mental institution inmate as well) becomes Healey's confidante, certain that there's more going on than meets the brain.

Carradine spends his free time (when he's not inserting the 17th gland in patients) playing "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" by Bach on the organ, unaware that Johnson is mumbling "Pretty goil" as he strokes a female patient's blond hair. All sorts of other weird goings on and nefarious operations turn this into yet another bad mad scientist film where the ending is so predictable and the dialog so idiotic that it comes down to a bad acting contest between Carradine and fellow mad doctor Marilyn Buferd during a botched operation where Carradine all of a sudden starts counting down from ten like he works at NASA. Their overacting makes Johnson's light babbling seem all the more realistic. The only good thing about discovering these movies out there for free is it saves me the mistake of buying them.