Monster From The Ocean Floor Blu-ray Review
“Monster From The Ocean Floor” is a fairly standard low budget 50’s monster movie.
Set in Mexico, writer William Danch’s “Monster from The Ocean Floor” revolves around an American artist/illustrator (Julie) on vacation. She meets a marine biologist (Steve) who is doing research on the coast with Dr. Baldwin. The vacation turns out to be anything but relaxing, however, as Julie and company get word of a legend of a “devil in the cove.” There seems to be some legitimacy to these claims as several people have mysteriously died in the ocean. Julie wants to investigate matters herself and she soon discovers a sea monster that comes out at night during a full moon.
Directed by Wyott Ordung, 1954’s “Monster From The Ocean Floor” looks and sounds like a rather generic and simplistic sci-fi creature feature, but it does have historical significance as being the first film Roger Corman (the undisputed B-Movie King) ever produced. The flick itself is a perfectly watchable albeit forgettable B-Movie. The titular creature itself barely appears (for better or worse), the dialogue is often stilted, the sound recordings are pitiful (see Pablo’s voice changing multiple times), and the romance subplot feels shoehorned in.
On the plus side, the cast (namely Anne Kimbell, Stuart Wade and Dick Pinner) is likable and the cinematography by Floyd Crosby is generally noteworthy. The underwater cinematography is especially impressive for the time period, especially the scenes involving the mini-submarine and the shark (all of which were NOT filmed in a tank). It was nice to see writer William Danch display some thoughtful ideas here as well in terms of the undersea farming/sustainable food source plotline as well as the general notion of exploring the many mysteries of the ocean. It made the film a little more than just a disposable creature feature.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 1.37:1 1080p. How does it look? Restored from a 4K scan from the original 35MM camera negative, this Film Masters released features a beautiful restoration of this B&W film. Yes, there are some expected print defects, but the image quality is undeniably sharp.
nice to see that even B-Movies can get this sort of restoration.
Audio Track: 2.0 DTS-HD MA. How does it sound? The sound recordings and dubbing were rather dreadful by themselves so this 2.0 track can only do so much. With that said, this is likely the best audio track that you’ll ever hear for this film. You can even hear all the audio deficiencies in all their glory like the overloud crashing waves and air bubbles! A Dolby Digital 2.0 track is also included.
Extras:
* Original theatrical trailer and a 2024 trailer.
* A booklet with photos and an essay by Tom Weaver.
* Commentary by Tom Weaver with Roger Corman snippets.
* Still gallery
* “Bob Baker: From Monsters To Marionettes”- A 14 minute interview with author/film historian Justin Humphreys about the life and career of special effects artist and puppeteer Bob Baker.
* “Roger Corman: Becoming A B-Movie Maker”- A short near 9 minute archival interview with Roger Corman.
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