Teenagers Battle the Thing (1958) by #DaveFlocker
w/#BobClymire #BillSimonsen #JanSwihart
During an archaeological field trip, high school students accidentally release a hairy monster from suspended animation.
“It Could Pop Up Out Of Nowhere!”
2.4 on the IMDb!
#SciFi #Horror
#NotQuiteClassicCinema
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn
Teenagers Battle the Thing (1958) was apparently shot in 1958, but was only screened in director Dave Flocker’s home town. It didn’t receive any kind of wider release until 1975, when footage from it was included in Curse of Bigfoot (1975) – also made by Dave Flocker. Feeling like this might be a bad sign, I decided to give it a try last Friday….
An archeology professor takes a group of students out on a dig. They discover some ancient artifacts – but that’s not all. They also find a stone with some old markings on it – the oldest the professor has ever seen – and they were not made by indigenous peoples. Who could have put them there and what do they mean?
They pull up the stone, revealing a hole in the ground – out of which gas/smoke/steam emerges. So, of course, they decide to enter this strange hole. Don’t worry that the gas/smoke/steam might be poisonous, just boogie on in…
Inside the hole, they discover what appears to be a mummy, and decide to take it with them. Again, don’t take time to study it, and figure out how to safely move it – just pick it on up and take it out.
A side note about Teenagers Battle the Thing
I may have mentioned that this movie was shot in 1958, but didn’t receive wide release until 1975, when it was essentially used in another film by the same director called Curse of Bigfoot (1975). Some quick research reveals that the cast members of Teenagers Battle the Thing each have two acting credits; Teenagers Battle the Thing and Curse of Bigfoot.
Tell me more about this mummy
The mummy is extremely well preserved, and the professor spins a tale as to how this might have happened, which he admits is purely theoretical. “I might well be wrong,” he says (after wasting several minutes of screen time).
Would anyone be surprised to learn that the mummy is, in fact, still alive?
Is this move as cool as it sounds?
Teenagers Battle the Thing is true no budget independent cinema. It’s completely inept, but it’s kind of charming in its ineptness. It’s a sincere attempt to make a monster movie. It’s not trying to be clever. It’s not trying to be ironic or funny. It’s just an attempt to make a serious horror film.
Of course it’s a failed attempt, but there’s something about it that makes it very watchable. Unlike last week’s teenage horror film, Teenage Monster (1957), this one seems to understand the tropes of the genre. A creature stalks its victims at night, when no one really knows what’s going on. Someone suspects that the mummy is still alive, but no one else believes him – at least at first.
As I’ve often talked about, in order for a movie to be truly funny, in a campy sort of way, the filmmaker and the actors have to take it very seriously. And in Teenagers Battle the Thing they do – and consequently, it’s very funny in places. The characters are also fairly sympathetic, which is something else that Teenage Monster lacked.
So what’s the bottom line for Teenagers Battle the Thing?
Teenagers Battle the Thing (1958) is the kind of #NotQuiteClassicCinema that I find irresistible. It feels kind of like a 1970s drive-in film, crossed with a late 1950s monster movie – two of my favourite things. At not quite one hour long, it’s a very easy watch – even though some people may find it very slow. I personally could watch this again, and probably even a third time. It’s an interesting historical document; a window into extremely low budget independent filmmaking in 1958. It’s definitely not for everyone, but if you think it sounds interesting then why not give it a shot some #FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn?
#FridayNightAtTheHomeDriveIn
Teenagers Battle the Thing (1958) by #DaveFlocker
w/#BobClymire #BillSimonsen #JanSwihart
During an archaeological field trip, high school students accidentally release a hairy monster from suspended animation.#SciFi #Horror#NotQuiteClassicCinema pic.twitter.com/h0mwu0bBzJ— Angus Kohm (@AngusKohm) August 31, 2024
