Teenagers Battle the Thing (1958) watch online HD

Teenagers Battle The Thing (1958)

** (out of 4)

A professor takes some of his students out into the woods where they discover an underground tomb. They locate some Indian items but the big discover is some sort of mummy. Soon the mummy comes back to life and it's a murdering ape-like creature.

TEENAGERS BATTLE THE THING has a bizarre story behind its production and one that I'm going to guess is a mystery since I wasn't able to turn anything up on it. This 58 minute movie was completed in 1958 but it never got released outside the filmmaker's hometown. The film remained unseen until 1976 when footage was added to it and it was released as CURSE OF BIGFOOT. The footage in that version is in color and I haven't seen it yet so my comments with be about the original version only.

As far as this film goes, I must admit that it's one of those movies that you can enjoy while watching it but then when it's over you get a little upset that there wasn't more. In other words, you stayed glued to the movie expecting something or anything to happen so that keeps you entertained. Then, the movie is suddenly over and you can't help but wonder what the heck you just watched and why there was so little of it. The ape man costume here looks extremely cheap and corny but in its own way it's a nice outfit and it certainly makes for a good villain. I'm a little confused on why they only feature the monster in a couple scenes.

It's pretty obvious why this never got released because they've got more talking than actual monster. I'd understand if they didn't have a monster costume at all but you've got one so why on Earth did they not have it in the movie more? I guess this question will never be answered. Technically speaking the film is your typical "C" grade horror picture with the type of performances that you'd expect from it. TEENAGERS BATTLE THE THING is certainly far from good but it's not as bad as some of the other monsters movies made in the 50s.

We've got sandwiches so we're all set!

Ultra dullsville science fiction/horror features a cast I won't bother even mentioning by name because, well to put it bluntly, who would care? It is an overly talkie, pretentiously written use of college science books in an attempt to create a script, combined with the popular drive-in trend of badly costumed monsters appearing in bits and pieces to occasionally cause menace to those who discover its existence. An overly dramatic use of symphonic music attempts to add a touch of tension to the film, but there really is absolutely no tension at all. Bad dialogue, such as when they come across a giant rock formation and say, "Hey, it looks like there is a ledge up there, let's go up and check it out!", like what else did they think there would be up there? The chisler from Mount Rushmore?

A pretentious narration of how certain creatures came to evolve from ancient times opens the film and is completely pointless, an absolute time-waster meant only to increase the length of this weak script. The college age kids, who look closer to 30, spend more time looking around then doing anything that constitutes any sort of plotline or action, and it becomes frustrating waiting for the monster outside a brief appearance at the beginning to reappear. The only chilling moment is the discovery of a closed off cave, found by the simple removal of a tablet like piece of concrete. Also, the "by the numbers" structure weakens the attempts for the intended use of real science in developing the story, which in reflection, ain't all that interesting.