Panamint There are a few good things to be said about this schlock- I wouldn't just say its all bad and forget it. Yes it is slow at times, but better than you might expect with Chester Morris staying totally in character for every second he is on screen displaying acting skill and supreme polish. He is good as a strange, creepy hypnotist, although you don't get the impression that he relishes this role.Marla English is a cut above the average 1950's big-chested b-actress in her role as the she-creature. Tom Conway is obviously washed-up but is OK in his role as a sleazy, cynical "event promoter".The director framed Morris in most scenes to enhance his screen presence. Also there is some directorial skill in a few other scenes, such as when you have a three-layer deep scene with Ms. English close to the screen, the leading man in mid distance, and a carny operator in the background- this scene is a good piece of directing and staging as it ends focused on the carny who was in the background to start. Most 50's cheap-o films would not take the time and effort to plan and stage scenes as well as this.The hypnotist (Morris) and the creature at times are menacing and overall Morris is hypnotic to watch, if at times slow-moving.Washed up cheap cast and cheap 50's B&W but somewhat entertaining and not just a time-waster, despite its basic schlock nature.

AaronCapenBanner Chester Morris plays Dr. Carlo Lombardi, a mysterious hypnotist who claims that he can revert a hypnotized girl(played by Marla English) into a past life, not only recent past, but ancient past, when she was an aquatic prehistoric "she-creature"! Though his colleagues are understandably skeptical, he is proved correct when she does indeed revert, becoming a hulking killer monster who emerges from the sea. Can the authorities stop this menace, before it is too late? Despite a memorable monster suit, and some atmosphere, this is an uncomfortably slow and tedious, not to mention preposterous thriller. Some potential here, but poorly handled.

Carolyn Paetow And now for something completely different: a woman is hypnotically regressed to reveal a former life as a seventeenth-century lass and one of the primeval sea creatures from which--didn't ya know--humanity evolved. The beast looks like a cross between Gillman and a gargoyle, but the really odd thing about it is that it emerges from the ocean as a ghostly figure and quickly materializes into a solid man-size monster that dispatches victims with a karate chop to the shoulder with a crab-like, but apparently non-prehensile, fin/claw. This female of the species goes on rampages as rapacious as any male and only once demonstrates any discrimination in the attack. It's difficult to tell what, if anything, might kill or even repel her, since the cheap sets call for such tight shots that she's on top of her prey before they scarcely begin to fight. And when the sieve of a script does try to explain anything--let alone the monster--it just causes more confusion. The slimy hypnotist who controls the latest carnation/evolution of the creature somehow does so despite her profound hatred for him and desperate resistance to trance. He's seen leaving an apparent murder scene, yet these pre-Miranda-era cops fear lack of evidence and a suit for false arrest--which of course means charging someone for something that's not a crime. As anyone knows, murder IS a crime, and the police think the large, reptilian tracks left at the death site were faked by a human being. Of course, the cops in this film also finger half the items in sight and phone the lab boys only after throwing flour all over the floor to check the footprints. Much of the plot and dialogue are just as dopey, so it can be fun to anticipate the next oddball occurrence. The acting is adequate, though Tom Conway appears to sometimes stare too obviously at cue cards. Even the (unneccessary) comic relief is rather weird. It's a loquacious Scandinavian butler who keeps losing his bow-tie.

lqueral Acting is hokey, but it was fun to watch anyway. I really thought Marla English, who plays Andrea, was an extremely attractive woman. She reminded me a LOT of an old girlfriend. The creature is really funny looking, as were a lot of other creatures of the era (The Day The World Ended, Horror of Party Beach, etc.). The guy that plays the hypnotist I've seen around in quite a few of these older movies, and overacts in this one. What's really funny is how I was actually spooked when I saw these films as a kid, and now they're a riot to watch. That's what 40 years later will do for you (grin). Remember, don't look for Academy Award performances here, but it will entertain.