Hideous Sun Demon (1958) — Triskaidekafiles

HIDEOUS SUN DEMON

WRITERS: Screenplay by E.S. Seeley, Jr.

Additional Dialogue by Doane Hoag

DIRECTOR: Robert Clarke

STARRING: Robert Clarke as Dr. Gilbert McKenna

Patricia Manning as Ann Russell

Nan Peterson as Trudy Osborne

Patrick Whyte as Dr. Frederick Buckell

Fred La Porta as Dr. Jacob Hoffman

Bill Hampton as Police Lt. Peterson

Donna King as Suzy's Mother

Peter Similuk as George Messorio

Robert Garry as Dr. Stern

Xandra Conkling as Suzy

QUICK CUT: A man discovers the effects the sun can have on your body.

THE MORGUE

Gil - A doctor who gets blasted with radiation in an accident. He’s a big fan of ladies, and drinking. Also, once he has the accident and realises the ramifications of it, he spirals into loneliness and bitter reclusiveness.

Ann - Gil’s coworker, and constant defender. It’s never outright dealt with in the movie, but it feels like there’s a bit of an unrequited situation with Gil.

Trudy - A singer at a bar Gil frequents, who hits it off with him when he needs companionship. She seems friendly enough, and finds herself sweet on Gil, until things turn south. Hell hath no fury like a Trudy scorned.

That’s rude, I’m sure he’s actually quite pleasant.

TRISK ANALYSIS: Welcome back, Triskelions! Summer has it's hot, sweaty grip on all of us in he Northern Hemisphere, so this week I found an appropriate movie, I think. We are also continuing the look back at black and white movies, which was accidental more than intentional, with the Hideous Sun Demon.

The movie wastes no time, as moments after an accident at a nuclear facility, that will be delved into a bit later. We see Dr. Gilbert McKenna being wheeled away on a stretcher, after he spent too much time exposed to some radioactive material before the movie even started.

At the hospital, we meet Dr. Stern, one of the top doctors at the hospital, and several of Gil's coworkers, to explain the incident.

Wait is this a danger alarm made by Atomic Research Inc., or a warning that Atomic Research Inc. is a danger?

When they were moving some radioactive material, something went wrong and the container fell off the cart. Gil was in the process of retrieving it when it happened, and called out there was an accident. They went through procedures, but when a team showed up to deal with the spill, they found the doctor strangely unconscious near the material, and he had been there for several minutes.

Continuing the strangeness, Gil shows no signs of being exposed now that he's in the hospital. No after effects, no radiation burns. They're not sure if he's okay though, so keep him under observation.

Later, the nurses check on Gil, and since he's doing well enough to hit on her, they decide he can get some sun. They wheel him up to the roof where he can sit with other patients, and read some magazines, getting much needed fresh air.

Unfortunately, Gil reacts badly to the sunlight, first just basking in it, then getting increasingly sweaty, and then there is a horrible transformation. When one of the other patients sees him and screams, Gil runs off to smash a mirror.

Stern tries to explain to Ann and Gil's boss, Dr. Buckell, the science behind what happens, and it's something I might need better drugs for. He sets things up with how we all evolved from one celled organisms, and the human body itself goes through the same evolutionary process from egg to foetus. And it's not inconceivable that this process could be..reversed!

Huh...didn't we see that in another movie? That’s gonna bug me.

Stern shows some slides to illustrate his point. He shows several insects affected by radiation, including "a grasshopper" that is actually a tarantula. This seems like a weird waste of stock footage.

But the good news is, Gil changes back once he's out of the sunlight, and since he is physically well, the doctors decide he can leave the hospital, as long a he remains out of the sun.

So you see, what we have ehre is…a reverse werewolf.

Gil heads home to be alone, resigning from his job, and the movie spends some time showing him driving, and wandering the beach, and just really hitting that he is alone.

He does some driving around, to the point this starts to feel like a Coleman Francis movie, while he wears dark sunglasses, and heads to a bar.

While at the bar, a singer on stage catches his eye, despite his intense desire to just be alone. The pair eventually hit it off after their see-cute.

I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can, so I can...not become a hideous sun demon.

Meanwhile, Gil's coworkers receive word that a leading radiation expert, Dr. Hoffman, is on his way, and they all believe he can help Gil. So, Ann heads to Gil's house to deliver the good news.

Before she gets there though, Gil heads back to the bar, and really meets Trudy over drinks. Another guy interested in her noses in, and tries to assert his dominance.

Gil leaves it up to Trudy, and she definitely does not seem interested in going anywhere with the brutish guy. So, he tries to take a shot at Gil.

Where’s your hideous sun demon now, pal??

Trudy stops Gil before he can beat the guy to death, and the pair of them do some more driving. And I swear, they are coming dangerously close to taking the road that leads up to the Motel Manos.

So the new couple head down to the beach, continue their talk, and frolic in the sand. There's a little bit of horseplay, Trudy falls into the water, and they stay on the beach while her clothes dry.

As new lovers are wont to do, they lose track of time, and fall asleep on the beach. Gil gets woken up when he feels the warmth of the sun coming over the horizon...oh wait, that's bad.

Gil rushes to his car, and gets home just as he transforms. I feel like it's worth noting that he is still cognizant enough to run inside, and seclude himself away, even though he has very much transformed by this point. It is never made clear just how much his mind is affected.

Ann arrives at roughly the same time, and follows him to his shame closet. The movie tries to build up suspense as she goes to open the door, but once she does, Gil has been out of the sun long enough to have returned to normal.

Unfortunately, Gil is at his absolute lowest, and despite Ann's potential good news, he's not having any of it. He thinks his life is over, and no one can do anything. But, eventually, he does agree to see Hoffman.

Hoffman shows up, and does his examination. He also raises the stakes, as we're sneaking up on the third act. The exposure time needed for the transformation is becoming less, and it might start taking longer periods to change back, with the unspoken threat that he might never change back.

Gil is given orders not to leave the house, as it is clearly too dangerous. Also, he should stop drinking, which is probably the worse fate. Unfortunately, he immediately ignores this advice, and heads back to the bar where Trudy works.

We don’t serve hideous sun demons around these parts, pal.

Unfortunately, after being left on the beach when he rushed off, Trudy is in no hurry to rekindle their relationship. She has George and a few others take Gil outside and roll him.

Trudy has immediate regrets, since the three on one brawl is a bit much, and she takes Gil home so she can fix him up.

George shows up to see how Trudy is, and is not happy when he sees Gil is there. So to take care of the problem, he forces Gil outside at gun point.

But don't worry, I'm sure George will be fine as...aww shit, the sun is up.

Don’t make me sunny, you wouldn’t like me when I’m sunny.

Gil runs off after killing the guy, and comes across a bunch of kids at a picnic. They all run, and Gil continues on his way. But he is followed by a barking dog, which he takes care of in the worst way possible.

Welp, there goes all my sympathy for the guy.

He hurries home, where the rest of the plot is waiting for him. Ann rushes to him, forgetting he's a hideous sun demon when he's been out in the daylight, and screams.

Don’t look at me before I put my face on!

Once Gil turns back, his mood continues to spiral, now that he's killed a man, and knows he wanted to kill him. So, again, he is at least somewhat aware and himself during these episodes.

Before too much sobbing can occur though, the police show up, what with the, y'know, murder. The various doctors unintentionally distract the cops long enough, for Gil to sneak out the back.

Unfortunately, he makes his situation even worse, when he runs over a cop as he peels away in his car.

Nooooo, he was thousands of days away from his retirement!

The police commence a manhunt, or a hideous sun demon hunt, and Gil goes into hiding. The plot kinda grinds to a halt as the cops tracks his movements, by saying he was here, then here, then here while sitting around the precinct...instead of showing us.

We then jump to a mother and her daughter, living out near an oil field. The kid goes out to play, and runs into her new friend, Sunny.

The little girl says she'll bring Gil some cookies, but she runs into her mom, and gets an interrogation. The woman puts things together, and calls the cops with Gil's location.

Honestly, this is the most mentally stimulating conversation I’ve had in awhile.

Suzy runs off to try and warn her new friend, while mommy is distracted on the phone. With no other choice, Gil runs off into the sunlight, as the cops arrive.

This all leads into a lengthy chase, of pretty much just one cop trying to get him. Which, I'll give the cop this, at least one of them is tenacious.

Gil runs up a water tower, which seems like a bad idea to try and get away. Finally, after all this chasing, the cop finally shoots him. We couldn't have done this 10 minutes ago??

AND THEN HE THROWS THE GUN AWAY!

Gil eventually runs out of up to climb, and he scuffles with the most persistent beat cop ever. He picked the gun back up earlier, and puts a few more bullets into Gil, and he falls to his death, and the end of the movie.

TRISK ASSESSMENT

Video: Not bad for a 1950s flick. There’s some weird glitches from the negative, but nothing terrible. I wish it wasn’t so dark at times, but…it’s about a guy hiding from sunlight, so I get it.

Audio: Decent enough

Body Count: Barely any even worth mentioning, and I only included the cop so it wasn’t just one guy and a dog.

1 - A massive 49 minutes and change into the movie, and Gil finally kills a guy.

2 - And a puppy.

3 - A random cop gets run over as Gil escapes

4 - Gil plummets to his death with the help of some bullets pushing him off the ledge.

Best Corpse: George deserved it so much.

Blood Type - F+: It was the 50s, nary a drop. The monster makeup is at least striking and memorable.

Sex Appeal: Nope!

Drink Up! Every time Gil transforms.

Movie Review: This isn’t terrible. It’s all right. More of an interesting idea that needed more meat on the bones. The movie focuses more on Gil bemoaning his lot in life, than doing anything interesting. It feels rather dragged out at times, and it feels like there’s more that could have been done here. This could use a modern day remake. It’s really just very basic with not much to really take note of, but nothing terribly bad about it, either. Two out of five beach blankets.

Entertainment Value: The single scene of real entertainment is the slide show that makes you go “Wait…what?” And the chase scene, while a bit overlong, has some interesting bits to it. Fun to see some neat makeup, and an interesting idea that could have been done better. Two out of five canisters of radioactie material.