a_chinn Poorly made cheap sci-fi horror film about fish-man creature mutated by radiation. There's a ridiculous story involving spies and espionage, but this film is so unbelievably cheap, poorly acted, poorly written, poorly directed, and overall poorly made that there are really no redeeming qualities to recommend watching this film. Overall, "The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues" is a bad creature-feature even by American International Pictures standards. Not even interesting on a so-bad-it's-good level of entertainment.

gulag There's obviously no point in claiming that this is anything like a good story. And yet... There is a strange emptiness that hovers over this film. Consider the opening shot of of a desolate boat in the middle of nowhere and the sound of bells tolling. Or when the body is found on the beach the odd poses of the people investigating the scene. 'Investigating' is not the right word. They stand like figures in a De Chirico painting. And then there is a sense that everyone is under observation. People watching each other. Then silent moments of anguish fill in the blanks. Milner holds reaction shots curiously long. Uncomfortably long. And it's fascinating. Were this film in a European language it might be seen as an existential statement.

Bezenby Fishermen are turning up dead on a beach, burned to a crisp. A g-man turns up to investigate and meet an mysterious doctor who's also curious about what's happening. Thus begins Phantom from 10,000 leagues, a film that involves a kind of mini-Godzilla preying on the locals while everyone in town sneaks around spying on each other.Dr Steve (or whatever he was called) is trying to find Dr King, professor at the local college who's acting awfully suspiciously. Dr King is being spied on by his secretary, and also his assistant George, and I'm guessing also Dr Steven and the G-man. Dr Steve heads out to investigate the water and finds a beam of light caused by uranium and a strange creature who tries to put the bit on him. Hooking up with Dr King's daughter, he tries to get to the bottom of what's going on, and not get killed in the process.Although it's a fairly decent man in a rubber suit film, Phantom spends an awful lot of time on the drama and intrigue sides of things as we watch everyone spying on everyone else, following each other around and blackmailing each other. The creature itself doesn't seem to do much of anything, as it doesn't leave the area where the uranium is. I could have done with a murderous rampage by the creature but it just sort of swam around a bit.Your tolerance for this film is going to depend on how much action you need from a film. There's not much to go on here but it wasn't that boring either, just an okay time waster. You've got to love a guy in a rubber suit so I've gone easy on this film due to that.

hung_fao_tweeze Is it just me or is there something grating with a movie that has a title that has nothing to do with the movie?? There is no phantom. It's a creature that sits just offshore at the bottom of the ocean protecting a glowing radioactive substance for some reason. And the creature is not from 10,000 leagues. People are able to dive down to the creature without being crushed by the water pressure, after all. Taking this into account and the length of time to get from the creature back into that leaking generic rowboat that absolutely everybody is using, I would place the creature at about 30-40 feet. Of course, the movie would have probably not fanned interest with a title like 'The Thing From 5 or 6 Fathoms'. Oh, well. Yes, it's a low budget capsule of a movie - not particularly well-acted and motivations are not consistent. For example, knowing that a creature you created is killing people in a body of water your lovely daughter may decide to swim in doesn't motivate you to want to eliminate the creature, I don't know what will? But when confronted with these facts, the 'scientist' is unable to decide. Yes, let's let the creature live so it can kill even more people. Good idea! And then there is this 'secret agent' woman that has somehow convinced this young hot-head that he must break into the scientist's lab to discover the secret that is being worked on because there is a lot of money involved. One assumes that the hot-head's life is in peril and yet he cannot figure out a way to break down a single wooden door (despite the locks) to get at the secret. This was before 'big-brother, folks. Wait until after-hours and ax that baby down. Even the so-called fisherman casting his net at the beginning of the movie obviously doesn't have a clue how to actually cast a net properly. Somehow, nearly all of the men in this flick have nothing else to wear on the beach except dress shoes, suits and ties. Formal business attire on a beach is somehow disturbing. Keep an eye out for the '3 Stooges-like' stunt where hot-head gets a fist in the face from behind the beach umbrella he expects to find the lovely 'secret agent'. Okay, okay. It is a low budget release with almost 4 sets, 1 boat, a creature that sincerely tries to be threatening. Oh, yes, and there is radiation involved - so that should be a cause of some trepidation for the 1950s crowd living in the dread fear of the time. And the script was based on a story someone had actually written!!But I like bad movies. This one isn't entirely terrible and does have some entertainment value despite the gaps in logic and credibility. Good for a rainy day, young kids who aren't dismissive of movies without color and special effects, and popcorn.