SoTrumpBelieve Must See Movie...

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

lemon_magic If I have this right, Richard Clarke made this movie on his own (starred in it, wrote it, and directed it) after finishing up "The Astounding She-Monster" because he thought he could do better. Well, yes, that turned out to be correct. "The Hideous Sun Demon" is better than that movie in every way. So in that sense, Clarke's decision was vindicated. And to be fair, every aspect of this film is also better than anything Z movie maestros such as Ed Wood Jr, Larry Buchanan, and Coleman Francis ever put to film. Clarke may have had his limits, he may have over estimated his talents...but he was still a professional, and it shows. So it's not grade Z awful...but it's still not very good. The movie drags in spots and the plot has very little going for it after the initial idea of a man who becomes sort of a "reverse werewolf", because of, you know, radiation. Aside from that, the proceedings are kind of threadbare. Some of the acting is mediocre. Clark is OK-to-decent - when a guy is that good looking, sometimes he forgets he has to do more than emote. The monster suit sucks. The fight choreography is half baked and unconvincing. The final chase (although enlivened by some "arty" shots and compositions) is way too long. The sound track is composed of every cliché a sound editor could pull out of a studio music library. And you've never seen a worse "fake" music performance than Nan Peterson "playing" piano and singing a torch song called "Strange Pursuit". In fact, that's where I called it - things almost worked up until that point, but after "Strange Pursuit", the movie's brains leaked out of its ears and you knew the movie was just something you were going to just sit through. Still, there were flashes of something decent here...I can't help but wonder if the movie would have done better and been better if Clarke had better collaborators to help with some of the decisions that divide a good movie from a "wanna-be", and polish some of the cheesier edges. Or maybe the movie was actually unwatchable and the editor saved it...hard to say. You don't need to see this at all, ever...but as an episode of "Svengoolie", this would be OK.

Rainey Dawn I got this film in a 12 Movie Horror Classics pack. The pack has some pretty good horror movies but this one is terrible.I don't know what is worse: the cinematography, dialogue, the story, the acting, the directing - it's all bad. Really bad. Yet there is something watchable about this awful film. I think it's the sheer awfulness of it that makes the film watchable. LOL.A radiation experiment goes bad and a man becomes a horrible creature every time he is exposed to the sun. - That is the basic story.If you are looking for a creature feature that will get you sleepy or a few giggles then this is the film for you. If not, then by all means pass this movie up - it's terrible yet somewhat watchable for certain audiences.2/10

Paul Andrews The Hideous Sun Demon is set in Los Angeles where there has been an accident, obscure scientist Dr. Gilber McKenna (producer & co-director Robert Clarke) has been accidentally exposed to a radioactive isotope & has been rushed to hospital. McKenna seems fine but while outside relaxing he transforms into a prehistoric half-man half reptile sun demon creature because of the radioactive rays of the sun, McKenna becomes a recluse as he stays inside his house all day only daring to come out at night away from the harmful rays of the sun. McKenna's colleagues Dr. Frederick Buckell (Patrick Whyte) & Ann Russell (Patricia Manning) ask radiation expert Dr. Jacob Hoffman (Fred La Porta) to help McKenna. Things become complicated when McKenna falls in love with nightclub performer Trudy Osborne (Nan Peterson) & he kills her abusive boyfriend...Apparently shot under the working title of Terror from the Sun this was edited & directed by Tom Boutross along with Robert Clark who also directed, produced & starred in it & is a surprisingly dull late 50's monster flick that should really have been better. The script relies on that staple 50's standby of it's monster being a direct result of radiation, I wasn't around back then but I guess people's fears of radiation & it's unknown potentially harmful effects were at their height & maybe it would have resonated with audiences slightly better back in 1959 than it does when viewed now fifty years later in 2009. The main thing that struck me while watching The Hideous Sun Demon was just how padded out & rather dull the whole affair actually is, I was surprised just how padded The Hideous Sun Demon felt considering it lasts for a modest 74 minutes. The film is also plagued by the usual problems these 50's monsters flicks have, quite a bit of stock footage of cars driving around, the title monster is barely seen until the end & the romantic subplot between Gilbert & Trudy gets more screen time than the horror & sci-fi stuff which just isn't right in my book. Having said that the film is watchable, the central character of Gilbert is slightly better fleshed out than one might expect, it's quite fun when the hideous sun demon show's up & at least it's short. Not exactly brilliant by any means but not a complete disaster either, it's just stuck somewhere between the two.The film has a very static somewhat dull look to it as the camera barely ever moves. There are a couple of fairly poorly staged fights & probably the worst piano miming sequence ever, Tudy barely moves her arms yet manages to bang out a tune without so much as a misplaced note. There's not too much violence, the sun demon kills a couple of people, a dog & a rat but there's nothing graphic here. The sun demon itself looks alright as far as 50's men in rubber suits type monsters go but ultimately it never really looks anything like a man in a rubber suit, the face mask is quite good but I doubt it would scare too many people these days. For some bizarre reason this was retitled to & released under Blood on His Lips here in the UK in early 1961 which makes no sense as a title at all. It's amazing how much The Hideous Sun Demon influenced William Sachs when he made the infinitely better The Incredible Melting Man (1977) which copies lots of scenes especially the climax which is virtually identical in both films.Filmed in California on a supposed budget of about $58,500 the production values are decent enough if dated by todays standards, lets just put it this was The Hideous Sun Demon isn't as badly made as some 50's sci-fi films. The acting is alright but nothing special & does tend to be a little wooden & static at times.The Hideous Sun Demon is an OK 50's black and white monster flick that could have been better but also could have been worse, it's one of those films that I sat through without any problems but will probably have forgotten about within a week.

praxistens My dad seldom went to bed after 10 p.m., but one night we stayed up late to watch The Hideous Sun Demon: I was what, maybe 12? Dr. McKenna's exposed to radiation (back in the "duck'n cover" days), & sunlight turns him into a raving reptilian savage. Actor, writer, & director Robert Clarke gets lotsa mileage out of quick cuts, extreme closeups, & his in-laws, with three of them making their film debuts. (Clarke was married to one of the singing King Sisters.)Nan Peterson as Trudy is Dr. McKenna's beachfront fling, & when I watch this now on DVD, the kissy scene where her blanket drops to expose her legs must've been highly erotic for a 12-yr-old in the early 60s. Eventually, Dr. McKenna, during his flight from his fate, spends the night at Trudy's apartment, so the censors must've been taking a welcome respite from their moral chores.Sure, the acting is stiff & the premise absurd, but Hideous Sun Demon is a compendium of 1959 Los Angeles in a way that no public TV documentary could ever be.