Teenage Monster (1958)

Talk about your 50's juvenile delinquents. This one makes Lon Chaney's Wolfman look well groomed. But it's not the kid's fault. Seems something unexplained fell from the sky and turned the boy into a teenage yeti with lockjaw. But Mom keeps him hidden away in her house, otherwise he has a habit of throttling people he meets. Just how she's managed that for years is one of the unexplained mysteries of teenage drive-in. But hey, I really like the twist with sweet little Ruthie. She's every guy's ideal prom date. But what a calculating little brain behind the charm. In fact, I'd say she's the real teenage monster. After all, our wolfman is more pathetic than evil. A good barber, a few skin grafts, plus a speech coach, might introduce him to semi-polite company. But I guess that's why the setting is back in the 1800's. Anyhow, Gwynne shows her acting chops as long-suffering Mom, while Gloria Castillo scores as Bad Ruthie. I just wish our grunting outcast got more screen credit, maybe the Drive-In Golden Comb for the biggest Elvis pompadour. Now don't laugh, but I take the movie more as a human-interest story than as a scare feature. Plus, it's a rather effective one, despite a plot with more holes than grandma's sieve and a budget of about a buck eighty including bus fare. It's also rather sneaky— that is, see if you think the moral scales properly balance at movie's end. After all, this is the straight-laced 1950's.

mother's acting! just get him fixed Kathy uses him"Teenage Monster" is a bad film...period. Anyone who sees any brilliance in this film is not to be trusted--they MUST be insane! However, on the positive side, I have seen worse and there is a certain silly charm that make it worth seeing if you are a bad movie buff. Otherwise, you should avoid this film like Ebola!The film is set in the old western times. It begins with what looks like a sparkler falling out of the sky--killing a man and injuring his son. The mother is, somehow, unhurt. Years pass. Now the mother lives with her son--who is hidden from everyone because he looks a lot like a wolf-man and Dan Haggerty put together! Despite looking like a large adult, he's supposedly a teenager with the mind of a child. The problem is that he periodically escapes and kills people. Oops! And, when a local lady learns about this, instead of telling the authorities, she blackmails the mother AND turns the creepy were-thingy into a hired killer!It's pretty easy to read this and know that the plot was stupid. Additionally, the makeup for the 'kid' was simply awful and looks like it cost about $8 to make! Combine this with some really bad acting (particularly from the mother) and you have a film with very little to recommend it. Other than kitsch value, I can't see anyone caring about this monstrosity.

This movie came out in the late 1950's when science fiction/monster/teenager movies were all the rage, so I guess the producers of this picture decided to try and combine all three, plus throw in a western setting to come up with 1957's "Teenage Monster". This movie is cheesy, but is actually not bad, if you can get past the "monster", who is not scary looking at all, but instead looks like a 50 year old half man, half ape in cowboy boots and jeans. It's unintentionally hilarious. The premise of the movie is that a teenager turns into a hairy beast after being exposed to a meteor that fell to earth and killed his father when he was a little boy. The movie never explains why the father was killed and the boy survived, and why being exposed would turn him into a cross between the incredible hulk and an ape who mumbles when he speaks and is several sandwiches shy of a picnic.Ann Gwynne plays the monster's mother. She is a good actress, but she is pretty much reduced to scolding the teenage monster and crying throughout most of the movie. Despite these flaws, this movie really a hoot. I love cheesy 1950 drive in movies, and this is one of the better ones in my opinion.

MORD39 RATING: ** of ****This is not a classic by any means, and it shouldn't be expected to be one. The 1950's gave us simple, cheesy fun from more innocent times (which we could all use again).TEENAGE MONSTER succeeds in providing us with all the things we love in these half-baked films: A laughable monster, former Universal Forties film star Anne Gwynne looking embarassed just having to BE in it, and a scant running time of just over 60 minutes that breezes by with good, clean fun. I'll watch this over a a true modern piece of manure (like 1999's THE MUMMY) any day.