Three Monster Tales of Sci-Fi Terror is a two Blu Ray set from the guys at Eureka Entertainment. It takes in three films from between the ’40s and ’50s, released by Universal Studios- and as its title suggests the focus here is sci-fi horror- we have an electric man-monster, alien rocks that turn folk into stone/ grow when in contact with water, and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde meets Neanderthal man madness. This set features new prints of the pictures, a commentary track from genre experts for each film, and a collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the films including a write-up by film scholar Craig Ian Mann.

Each film gets a 1080p transfer and these look wonderful crisp and clean in their black and white stock. We also get a new commentary track for each film- but more on those later! Oh, and a selection of promotion/ stills gallery for each film as well.

The first disc features two films- we have Man Made Monster & The Monolith Monsters. So first up we have 1941’s Man Made Monster (aka The Atomic Monster, The Mysterious Dr R, The Electric Man). This was directed by New York City-born George Waggner- who has sixty plus credits to his name- these took in eighteen feature lengths, and shorts/ TV episodes such as the original Batman (ten episodes), and The Man from Uncle (seven episodes). On the film front, he jumped around a few genres going from cowboys like Western Trails (1938) & Honor of the West (1939). Moving onto plane-based action/ adventure Stunt Pilot (1939), on to the comedy-horror Horror Island (1941), romantic crime comedy of Shady Lady (1945), wartime drama featuring John Wayne Operation Pacific (1951).

The film comes in a brief fifty-nine minutes runtime, and is best described as mad doctor meets lumbering electricity fuelled monster fare. It’s a well-paced and trimmed of all the fat slice of 40’s Sci-fi horror. It kicks off with a vehicle ploughing into an electricity pylon- with four of the five passages killed straight away- the only survivor is Dan McCormick (Lon Chaney Jr.)- he’s an affable, and no-nonsense fellow who works on a cranny doing tricks with electricity. Local older scientist Dr John Law (Samuel S. Hinds) shows interest in Dan’s case and sees if he’s willing to help him research how electricity affects the human body. He moves into the doctor's mansion-come-lab, and all seems to go well- Dan has befriended the family's dog, Corky, he’s getting on well with the doctor's niece/ assistant June (Anne Nagel) and eating good food/ relaxing.

Unfortunately, also working in the lab is the obsessive and intense fellow scientist Dr Paul Rigas (Lionel Atwill)- who is focused on creating the ultimate soldier, who can be controlled by electricity. Dr Law goes away for a few days, and Dr Rigas gets his evil hands-on Dan.

Acting-wise Chaney is great, shifting from being affable and charming, onto troubled and wild-eyed, before he starts literal starts to glow, becoming an unstoppable lumbering force. Hinds works well as the good and caring Dr Law, and Atwill is perfect as the sinisterly focused to the later deranged mad doctor. On the whole, Man Made Monster, is a most entertaining ride- with some nice moral & emotional touches along the way.

On the extras side we get a commentary track from author Stephen Jones and author/critic Kim Newman, and this as you’d expect is a very pro and informative track. They begin by discussing the opening credits- mentioning the missing hyphen in the film's title, and the rather neat falling forward titles. They mention the film's original title The Mysterious Dr R, other possible titles for the film, and why they landed on the title they used. They talk about this film being one of the first of the more modern Universal horror films, which blended in sci-fi tropes. They talk about Lon Chaney Jr's career at this point, how he was rather used and abused by the studio, and why this might have been the reason for his drinking problems. They discuss the actor's love of dogs, and how the dog in the film had a twenty-year career. They talk about the origin of the film's story, and how the script developed. Later on, they talk about other members of the cast, and how the glow effect was done- apparently it had to be hand traced onto the negatives. They comment on how good the cast is throughout, and mention that this film had one of the smallest budgets of a Universal film in 1941. They discuss that there could well have been a longer cut of the film, which was snipped to fit a double bill. Comment on Chaney’s better later acting scenes, and much more. All making a track one could easily play a few times.

The other film on the first disc is 1957’s The Monolith Monsters (aka Monolith). This was directed by New York-born John Sherwood- who only had two other feature lengths to his name, romantic western Raw Edge & Gill-man horror The Monster Walks Among Us- both from 1956. Though he has sixty-four assistant directors’ credits.    

The Monolith Monster is a small desert town based sci-fi horror, where a strange meteorite full of black rocks crashes nearby. When water hits the rocks, they sudden grow/ expand, and seemingly turn whoever nearby into a flesh rocks. Lead characters wise we have brill creamed geologist Dave (Grant Williams), his teacher girlfriend Cathy (Lola Albright), Dave’s former professor in from Los Angles Arthur (Trevor Bardette).

At first, things begin fairly small- as folk get water on the rocks either in offices or in their homes- with this result most of the occupants been turned to flesh stones. One surviving young girl is taken to Los Angles to see if she can be saved, as she slowly turns to stone. But back at the desert town it’s starting to rain, which is causing the rocks to grow into the huge towers of glinting black- which fall to regrow again. So, they either have to evacuate the town, or figure out how to stop the rocks growth.

Early on in the films one hour and seventeen runtimes, we get some neat moments of chilling eeriness when the bodies are found, and as the film moves on it slips from Sci-Fi horror to more disaster film territory. The whole thing moves along at a good enough pace, with the acting being good to passable throughout. The rock effects are rather neat, especially when they are rapidly growing into angled towers. The resolve feels somewhat rushed, but overall, The Monolith Monster is an entertaining sci-fi horror ride, which does really make you wonder what could be floating around in space ready to drop down on earth, and screw things up.

On the extras side for this film, we get a commentary track from genre experts/ authors with Kevin Lyons and Jonathan Rigby, and it’s another very classy/well-researched track. They begin by pointing out the pre-credit voiceover from Paul Frees- who did a lot of similar work in other films/ TV shows. They talk about the rather neat rock like credits, moving on to discuss the early valley location. On the subject of locations, they talk about the main town setting- which was one universals' backlot, which was used on the likes of Psycho 2, Gremlins, and Back To The Future. They give informative actor bios, even on those in smaller roles, and discuss the turn to stone element in the film/ how it got used in later films. Later on, they talk about the wonderful faces of the film's character actors, and how we just don’t get them anymore. They mention how they feel that the second half of the film rather lags, and how they feel if say seven or so minutes had been cut it might have flowed better. They give more informative bios, and discuss other worthwhile films the actors appeared in. They talk about adding water horror element, and how this appeared in later films like Gremlins. They discuss the films basic science concepts/ plot points, and much, much more. Again, this is easily a track you could play more than a few times.

On the second disc, we have a single film 1958’s Monster on the Campus (aka Stranger on the Campus). And here we get a 1950’s spin on Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde's story, with a prehistoric artefact twist and werewolf monster, likes touches. The film was directed by Connecticut born Jack Arnold- who had a good pedigree in 50’s monster/ sci-fi films, helming titles like It Came from Outerspace (1953), Creature from The Black Lagoon (1954), The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), and The Space Children (1958).

The film is set on a college campus and focuses on thirty-something biology professor Donald Blake (Arthur Franz). When we first met him, he just received a receipt of a prehistoric fish from Madagascar, during moving the frozen fish into his lab, one of his student's dogs drinks the water from the dripping box- and it suddenly becomes aggressive attacking people, as well as grow tusk-like teeth.

As the film under folds, the professor's hand gets scratched by the fish, and smokes its blood in a pipe by mistake- this causes him to change into a primate, causing chaos, even death. He finds out the fish has been persevered by Gama Rays- so it’s up him and his girlfriend Madline (Joanna Moore) to convince her father the dean (Alexander Lockwood), and doubtful police officer Mike Stevens (Judson Pratt) about what’s really going on.

The film rolls in at the one hour and seventeen-minute mark, and it keeps up a good and even pace. As we move from eerier at night campus footage were scared to death bodies stand to hang up, and lovers get jumpy surprises. Onto shadowy dramatic, to light action-packed lab interactions We have a neat giant mosquito prop, and of course the transformation from man-to-primate footage. 

The cast is serviceable enough, and the whole thing heads to a rather downbeat ending. Comparing it to the other two films, there’s no doubt there are more tense horror and threat elements in the film. So, on the whole a great end to the set, though it would have been nice to have a second film on this disc to even up the set a little.

The commentary track on this film is by author Stephen Jones and author/critic Kim Newman. They start by commenting that the film was released by Universal International, which was a name the company used in the 50s- discussing this change in the company name. They talk about the similarities between this film and the early The Neanderthal Man. They discuss Jack Arnold being a journeyman director- with his work shifting from Sci-fi horror, kooky comedy, blaxploitation fare, and TV shows- apparently, this was his last film for Universal. They touch on David Duncan's script, talking about his other pulpy sci-fi work, and the elements he uses in this script. Later on, they discuss how the monster make-up alters throughout the film, and the effects/ make-up artists who worked on this film. They talk about the film's poster art, and that like many exploitation films it doesn’t fully fulfil its promise. They comment on the film's initial slow ‘n’ creepy pace, and the more monster action-heavy last quarter. They point out that the teens look very clean-cut and much more. Again, another excellent track- which could be played more than a few times.

It certainly is wonderful to see more Universal sci-fi horror films from the folks at Eureka- with this set featuring great prints for all three films, and most interesting/ worthy commentary tracks for each film. Let us hope we get another similar set down the line, as I do have a big soft spot for these 50’s sci-fi terror films.