Producer/director William Castle (that ballyhooing schlockmeister of horror whose films came, like a box of CrackerJack, with a gimmicky prize inside – a buzzer under your seat, aroma sprayed inside the theater, an on-duty ‘nurse’ for the fainthearted -- to hype the scare factor) was running on fumes by the time he made his penultimate film. But what am I saying? Castle was always running on fumes, that’s what made the goofy gimmicks fun. Here, a cryogenically suspended man from the 1960s is successfully thawed after 150 years and tossed into a town dressed to look just like the 1960s! How’d Castle get all those ‘60s details right in a film shot in . . . 1968! That’s Christopher George with the right stuff to save the planet from some horrid . . . oh, well, you get the idea. There’s some blather about his ‘matrix,’ his custom built new personality, designed to fit the latest situation. Just don’t get your hopes up for any deep-dish thinking on the idea or for moviemaking & art design more polished than a Third Season STAR TREK episode. The main reason to have a look is for a chance to savor the unique vocal cadence & off-beat humor of supporting actor Henry Jones. Enjoying every new crisis with a grin and a new plan of action, he’s ready for anything and a consistent hoot. As for the special effects on screen (double exposures and film negative imagery, Castle should have gone back to cushion buzzers.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK: Craftsman-like director John Sturges, of all people, made something along these lines in his overlooked sleeper THE SATAN BUG/’63. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-satan-bug-1965.html
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