Bickering couple Norman (stolid Corveth Ousterhouse) and Leilla (pretty blonde Shirley Bonne) find themselves hopelessly lost in some remote rural region. They seek assistance from deranged redneck farmer Greely (a game performance from beefy veteran exploitation picture regular Bill Thurman), who locks them both in a cave so he can feed them to his beloved pet lethal carnivorous reptilian humanoid monster (also played by Thurman). Flatly directed by legendary Grade Z schlockmeister Larry Buchanan, with a dull, talky, uneventful script, a sluggish pace, cruddy, washed-out color cinematography by Robert B. Alcott, a tedious drawn-out flashback that's just tossed in to pad out the running time, a generic film library orchestral mush score, a simply pathetic some-poor-zhlub-in-a-lousy-rubbery-suit creature, no tension or momentum to speak of, and a spectacularly fumbled less-than-thrilling explosive conclusion, this hilariously horrendous hunk of unmitigated junk possesses all the right wrong stuff to qualify as a real four-star stinkeroonie. Former Disney kid thespian Tommy Kirk seems asleep on his feet as paleontologist hero Wayne Thomas while Annabelle MacAdams does her best with the thankless role of Greely's scared and abused housekeeper Bella. Moreover, the misty cavern setting is genuinely cool and creepy. A tasty slice of prime celluloid Velveeta cheese.
Review of It's Alive!
