Thanks again for sharing the screen shots, as well as the meaningfully witty commentary.Two things really show how old this movie is, firstly it was made way way back in 1972 before I was born and way way before fancy special effects. ![]() It's almost as if I found a support group for people who experience PTSD from the film, who experienced the same terror and phobias that developed from this little TV movie. And as I see from the volume of comments over the years on your blog it seared the young minds of many others. Without a doubt, it was one of the best sci-fi/horror films from the 70's one which was scorched into my psyche. I'm not sure where they shot the on-location scenes, but as a young adult I had the opportunity to travel the state of California, and I came across a few mountain ranges that seemed eerily similar to the profile of where the hatchling lair was located. ![]() Unable to help poor old Uncle Willie, Boley and his daughter escape with the skull of the creature, fighting off a something big that leaps onto the roof of their car as they speed away.ĪTo this day, I remember the little town we lived in, the apartment, and layout of the living room down to the placement of the 'f'ing' TV, because I was convinced gargoyles would come out from the TV late at night. Willie is killed by a falling timber, knocking over the kerosene lamp and setting the shack ablaze. But they still stay to interview him about his knowledge of local Indian exorcism rites, and after nightfall the shack is attacked by something that rips into the roof with claws. The item turns out to be a skeleton of what he claims was from a living creature, which Boley laughs off. His teen-age daughter Diana (hotly played by Jennifer Salt) arrives on the plane, and together they drive off into the Nevada desert to meet with an old man named Willie, who claims to have something of interest to show him. Mercer Boley, (played by Cornell Wilde) an anthropologist who specializes in the occult and demonology. "I calls it "Nicatakachinko" which is injun fer "Makum Me Heap Big Wapum."Īs the appropriately goopy-fonted credits play over a scene of a plane landing, we meet our hero, Dr. ( Spoiler alert: from here on out, if you don't want to know the details, just look at the pretty pictures and skim over the text.) ![]() Stan Winston's first break in the movies netted him an Emmy for the makeup effects, and little did I know as I watched the movie how often his work would later figure in so many of my favorite horror and sci-fi movies. Obviously, they are proud of the makeup job and monster suits they paid for, as they take every opportunity to show them as prominently as possible, even in bright zipper-revealing close-ups in sunlight. (Perrin also does the voice of the lead gargoyle, dubbed in over Bernie Casey's acting, with a scratchy sound effect laid in.) We even get a glimpse of the main creature, as though they couldn't wait to reveal it. careful there, Mercer."īefore the credits we hear the "Outer Limits" control voice, Vic Perrin, as he tells us the history over images of medievel art of devils and photos of gargoyle statues. "Dang, my little girl's growing up! Look at those.
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