How to Make a Monster (1958)

Overrated and overhyped

Absolutely Brilliant!

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

After a strange spate of murders, the investigation into the events leads the police to believe that a recently-fired special effects master his created a series of monsters from his past projects and is instructing them to carry out his vengeance on those who wronged him, leading them to stop his plans before they continue.For the most part this here was a fun enough effort. The main point of this one here is the fact that there's a lot of great work going behind the scenes of the movie-production system, creating a lot of studio in-jokes that are quite fun. This one has all the make-up and testing being done in their study, the near-constant talk about their slot of pictures and what it's going to mean to them in order to keep their projects going throughout the controversy the spree creates, which along with the shots actually filming work on other films there all makes for some nice times here giving this one quite a different overall feel. This is all helped by the fact that the rest of the film is pretty cheesy, especially in the monster make- up. The creations here have that low-budget charm to them which really captures the hand-crafted look that's perfectly telling which is the result of the film's other rather enjoyable element being feature here, and gives this plenty to like in a few creepy scenes here and there. The early attacks in the theater and the kitchen where the creations come out in some really thrilling encounters, and the later scenes of the Frankenstein stalking the last owner and then fleeing afterwards through the town which makes this quite fun as each creature gets a chance to shine here in a fine sequence while nicely setting the stage for the finale. Shot in color, this Gothic-flavored set-piece with the house-bound sculptures of the creatures settled around and his growing paranoia forcing along the outburst that brings about the big fire throughout the house that ends this on a really high-note. These here give this some positive elements here, though there's some detrimental issues found here. The main issue here is the film's rather bland and dragging pace, as the middle turns into a police investigation film rather than keeping the horror film segments in full segments, dropping the attacks to focus on the cops interviewing personnel or witnesses to them that shows them as completely incompetent since there's ample evidence to support the main characters as the villains. That is another factor here in that hi growing hysteria and paranoia does this no favors with the ludicrous ranting and motivations keeping this one quite goofy and silly while clearly showing his deteriorating state as being obvious to spot, and with the lack of attacks it's quite dull. Likewise, they may be fun, but the attacks are all the same and show the creatures popping up for a strangulation on each victim which is quite bland and really hurts the creativity of this one. The last flaw here is with the finale which is fun since it's shot in color, but looks more like a gimmick than anything else as it comes up out of nowhere and doesn't have anything to signal that's going to occur which really does stick out here. These here lower this one significantly, even though it does have some positives.Today's Rating/PG: Violence.

Everyone knows that makeup artists are expert hypnotists and can make people do things no other hypnotist can do. You must believe this or HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER might make very little sense--as this IS the premise for the film! Let me back up a bit. A long-time studio makeup man who specializes in monsters is fired when his studio is sold. The big-wigs insist that monster films are a dying breed and so his services are no longer needed. So, to get revenge, the makeup man hypnotizes two young men who are in his makeup chair for one final monster film. Made up (very poorly) like Frankenstein and the Wolf Man, they kill studio execs yet have no recollection of it afterwords. That's because as they sit their getting the prosthetics applied, the makeup artist talks to them--hypnotizing them very subtly and giving them the command to forget.By the way, I really, really wish that hypnosis DID work that way--I'd use it for evil and global domination myself...or at least to get out of traffic tickets and get free stuff. I have a decent amount of graduate training in clinical hypnosis and believe me, if you could do this sort of brainwashing, someone would have done it a long time ago! This is the sort of silly drive-in movie that American-International excelled at in the 50s. None of these films were brilliant or had great production values, but they were entertaining on a simple level. And, despite the silly premise and bad makeup I mentioned above, you can't help but like HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER. It's a nice behind the scenes look at the studio and it is a pleasant little diversion.By the way, for a long-time makeup man, you sure think the guy would have done a better job with his Frankenstein. It just looked like some guy who was standing too close to an A-bomb blast and not the famous monster!Also, interestingly the film changes from black & white to color towards the end. At this point, the makeup man shows the actors his little home gallery of masks--it's really actually very cool, as many of the American-International monsters and aliens are there in this room. Cool stuff.

How To Make a Monster is the third of the movies from American International to feature teenage monsters and follows I Was a Teenage Frankenstein and I Was a Teenage Werewolf.A movie maker, Pete Dumond is fired when new people take over the studio where he works, American International. Instead of horror pictures, the new owners specialise in musicals and comedies. Pete gets revenge on the new owners by murdering them using his movie monsters, the werewolf, Frankenstein monster and also himself dressing up as a caveman. Victims include a security guard. He then takes his assistant and the two boys he uses for the monsters back to his place and after killing his assistant, he accidentally sets fire to his home but the boys manage to escape the inferno just as coppers arrive.We get to see heads from various other monsters from AIP movies in Pete's home, including the carrot monster from It Conquered the World.The cast includes Robert H Harris, Paul Brinegar, Gary Clarke, Gary Conway (Land of the Giants) reprising his monster role from I Was A Teenage Frankenstein and sci-fi regulars Morris Ankrum (Invaders From Mars, Earth vs the Flying Saucers) and Robert Shayne (The Giant Claw, Teenage Caveman).This movie is a must for all 50's sci-fi/horror buffs. Great fun.Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

Pseudo "behind-the-scenes" look at Hollywood from American International Pictures, filmed (naturally) on the cheap though still retaining a certain cheesy style that is both commendable and entertaining to watch. A nefarious make-up man for a movie-studio is up to no good, turning the actors he's working on into killers. Has some movie-monster camp appeal, and A.I.P. stable-hunk John Ashley has a fabulous scene midway through (singing "You Gotta Have That Eee-Uuu!" while surrounded by a bevy of fishnet-clad chorus girls!). It's a great bit, with Ashley snarling and snapping his fingers like a post-pubescent Elvis, but the rest of this horror outing is a bit too tame and talky. ** from ****