1958 ‘The Trollenberg Terror’ Directed by Quentin Lawrence
An American investigator for the U.N., a German scientist and a British reporter join forces to investigate a series of disappearances and mutilation-deaths confined to a Swiss Alp and involving a thick, mobile cloud, a telepathic girl, an animate dead man, and tentacled, cyclopean beings from another planet.
I mostri delle rocce atomiche, Mysteriet Trollenberg, Creature from Another World
You remember madballs from the eighties? I used to have so much fun with them and was genuinely distraught when a random dog at my Dads hockey club destroyed my favourite Screamin Meemie. Fast forward 30 years later and I am watching a film from the fifties that felt like an origin story of the madballs as we have huge ball shaped eyes causing havoc and decapitations.
This is fifties craziness at its best. We get insane monsters that scream real screams and a mind reader played by the brilliant and well ahead of her time Janet Munro who predicts destruction. The story strolls along nicely without anything too mundane.
Apparently John Carpenter was influenced by this for THE FOG…
This one is a 1950's science fiction horror flick based off a BBC series. It was a pleasant surprise.
I am glad that I did not see any posters or see the American name for the movie as that allowed the tension to be more genuine.
There is a small Swiss town at the base of a mountain where climbers are disappearing. Plus, a strange cloud is hovering on the mountain. The two are obviously connected but how? Well, the posters and the American name for the movie give it away leaving many viewers uninpressed.
I was quite surprised to see decapitations in this movie from the fifties. They weren't graphic but none the less were still there.
There was…
There's a rash of decapitated mountain climbers on a remote European range and a crack journalist is on the case. And a geologist. And a psychic. And various government officials. Eventually there are zombie attacks and giant radioactive eyeballs with tentacles in the mix too. This movie kinda goes for it.
The movie's actually a little slower going than all of that would suggest, but it's a good deal of fun on the whole. If nothing else, stay tuned for one of the most endearingly awful miniature effects ever committed to film.
Way hyped-up British siege horror about a bunch of ex-pats fighting aliens in the Swiss Alps (recreated on a Middlesex soundstage). Real kitchen sink movie, with zombies, axe murder, mad science, psychics, radioactive decapitation clouds and aliens that look like Grells from the Monster Manuals, basically giant eyeball brains with tentacles.
The lead guy Alan (Forrest Tucker) is kind of a drag (his catchphrase is “Do as you’re told!” which he says to other adults several times) but Janet Munro and Jennifer Jayne are great as psychic sisters Anne and Sarah Pilgrim, supernaturally drawn to the Trollenberg mountain observatory. Stanley Black’s music is a feature, a mix of traditional bombastic orchestration with heavy reverb delay and sci-fi theremin flourishes, as is Henry Richardson’s expressionistic editing.
Enough ideas for ten movies, but never exhausting. The absurd Deus Ex Machina ending is forgivable. Good movie!
For a movie made in 1958, there are a surprising amount of heads getting ripped off in this film.
Honestly just kind of a cut above your typical 50's monster movie. The concept itself - giant crawling eyeballs from space terraforming mountainous peaks, hidden by a radioactive cloud and protecting themselves with psychically dominated zombies - is just so much more original than most of it's competitors that it's impossible not to enjoy. The eyeballs are dumb looking, sure. They look something like a turtle with a fake eye strapped on the front. But that's still so much better than a guy in a silver jumpsuit.
Damn fine scifihorror about a mysterious radioactive cloud that keeps decapitating mountain climbers in a small town in the alps. A good script and awesome monsters overcome the low budget and make this a minor classic.
Classic cosmic horror set amidst an alpine backdrop.
This was surprisingly entertaining! I watched this as had heard it was an inspiration for John Carpenter’s The Fog. I went into it with an open mind, as often these older horror movies from UK studios had a limited budget and pacing issues. This one, however still held up and had some elements which make it suitable for modern viewing still.
The story follows the increasing disappearances of climbers around a fictional Swiss resort town. It begins with a reveal that something mysterious is beheading it’s prey as they get closer to the mountain. Meanwhile, scientists are observing that a strange cloud seems to move and have a will of it’s own.…
On a Swiss mountain a strange cloud is causing disappearances, death and chaos. I can’t believe I’ve never seen this before. One of my favorite sci-fi/horror flixs from the 50s.
Pare che Carpenter vi si sia vagamente ispirato per il suo The Fog, così come qualcuno dice che possa aver influenzato King nella scrittura di The Mist. E in effetti negli ultimi venti minuti la situazione funziona, tra banchi di nebbia fittissima ed affascinanti mostroni tentacolari dotati di un solo occhio. Peccato solo ci voglia troppo tempo ad ingranare, l’ora precedente viene persa in chiacchiere e dissertazioni pseudo scientifiche che inizialmente alimentano il mistero ma che a lungo andare stancano un pochino.
Conosciuto anche come The Trollenberg Terror, in Italia arriva come I mostri delle rocce atomiche.
Rating: 👨🔬🧿🐙
MST3K Rating:👨🔬🧿🐙🧠1/2
Viewed: Streamed on Shout TV
Lists Added In:
MST3K I Own
Mountainside
Winter
Mad Doctors & Scientists
Its a Giant
Ahhh Monsters
1950's Sci-fi
1950's Horror
Pyschic, Mind Control, & Mental Powers
MST3k Version
🏔️☁️👁️👨🔬
"That eye is lashing out at society."
"Joel is really getting Eye-rate."
Everything you could want in a 50's sci-fi film, it's British, giving that posh scholarly feel, a cool Swiss location, nice creepy atmosphere as a strange cloud hovers over the town, some gruesome decapitations, psychic sisters, walking dead and one of the most hilarious alien creatures ever to make it to an afternoon matinee. Enjoy.
This one is a 1950's science fiction horror flick based off a BBC series. It was a pleasant surprise.
I am glad that I did not see any posters or see the American name for the movie as that allowed the tension to be more genuine.
There is a small Swiss town at the base of a mountain where climbers are disappearing. Plus, a strange cloud is hovering on the mountain. The two are obviously connected but how? Well, the posters and the American name for the movie give it away leaving many viewers uninpressed.
I was quite surprised to see decapitations in this movie from the fifties. They weren't graphic but none the less were still there.
There was…
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