Artivels Undescribable Perfection

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Diana Strange For any curious, this movie is a target of riffing in the new "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return". That is the format I watched it in and at least for me it was not the worst movie ever but in no way good. The biggest fault for the movie is that they did not hint at the dead livestock being killed by a monster at all. I had 0 expectations for a T-Rex in the last part of the movie. The acting and writing were actually decent for a western if you went in with 0 expectations for quality.

Michael O'Keefe Jimmy Ryan (Guy Madison) is an American cowboy working in Mexico and is upset about missing cattle. To be exact, cattle and farmers are mysteriously disappearing in southern Mexico near the location of Hollow Mountain. It is said to never have been explored and the swamp at its base is said to claim the lives of anyone brave enough to snoop around its banks. Ryan and a couple of cowboys will search for missing cattle and discover strange tracks. A giant prehistoric dinosaur appears and is obviously the attacker of farms, ranches and villages.Directed by Edward Nassour and Ismael Rodriquez with special effects by innovator Willis O'Brien's stop motion techniques animating the dinosaur. It is said that this film is one of the first and few American/Mexican co-productions.Other players: Carlos Rivas, Mario Navarro, Patricia Medina, Julio Villarreal, Eduardo Noriega and Pascaul Garcia Pena.

Scott LeBrun "The Beast of Hollow Mountain" would likely have more appeal for any viewer who first saw it at a young and impressionable age. If you're seeing it for the first time as an adult, like this viewer, you may well still find it to be fairly charming, an interesting combination of the monster movie and Western genres. The beast of the title, a dinosaur, doesn't show up until 3/4 of the way into the movie, and until then we get a likable enough human drama with a touch of mystery and mysticism: just WHO, or WHAT, is responsible for the disappearances of cattle in Mexico?One of those eager to find out is American rancher Jimmy Ryan (amiable Guy Madison, often to be seen with a smile on his face). In the meantime, Jimmy finds employment for local drunk Pancho (Pascual Garcia Pena) and loves the sweet Sarita (lovely Patricia Medina), although she's agreed to marry another man, Enrique Rios (Eduardo Noriega), a rival of Jimmy's in more way than one, and a constant thorn in his side.Co-director Edward Nassour does the decent stop motion animation in this reasonably entertaining little diversion; the concept originated with the legendary stop motion specialist Willis O'Brien of "King Kong" fame. The colourful CinemaScope photography is quite gorgeous, giving us an eyeful of all of the flavour of the Mexican locations; there's a lot to take in. The script by Robert Hill is dialogue heavy so less patient viewers may fidget a little while waiting for the dinosaur to show up. But things do get pretty exciting once it does.Madison and Medina are highly engaging leads, and the supporting cast features some fine performers. Julio Villarreal has a solid presence as friendly old Don Pedro, but Noriega captures the lions' share of the attention playing a man who turns out to be a real piece of work. The audience will be primed and ready to see this human antagonist get his comeuppance.This Mexican-American production is fun stuff - nothing great, but very easy to take while it lasts and it doesn't overstay its welcome at a running time of 80 minutes.Seven out of 10.

Wizard-8 With the movie sporting the title "The Beast of Hollow Mountain", you might think you know what you are going to get. I certainly thought so, though I was surprised - and not in a positive way. The biggest surprise is that while the title promises to be about a monster, it takes a LONG time for the monster to be introduced in the movie. In fact, more than HALF the movie goes by before the monster makes its presence known. Before then, the movie is a fairly serious drama about rivalries between cattlemen and trying to sell their cattle. As you can probably guess from this, the mix between this serious stuff and the monster stuff does not really mix that well. The monster portion of the movie does have some entertainment value, including some stop motion animation that's not bad for a low budget production. Though I'm not sure if it's worth the long wait to see this.