Best movie of this year hands down!

Too much of everything

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Admirable film.

The Hideous Sun Demon (1958) ** (out of 4) Dr. Gilbert McKenna (Robert Clarke) is working on an experiment when something goes wrong and he's exposed to radiation. At first it appears that he's going to make it through okay but once he's put into the sunlight he turns into the title creature, a hideously deformed creature (looking like a lizard) and soon she's out on a killing spree.THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON marked the only time character actor Clarke stepped into the director's chair. The film has the reputation of being one of the worst horror movies of the decade but I think those who say that are being way too tough on the film. Just looking at the picture you can tell that they were working on very little money. Yes, the story too isn't all that original or inspiring. There's also some questionable performances scattered throughout the picture. Even with the countless flaws here, I've always found the film at least watchable thanks in large part to the terrific looking monster.I really thought the look of the monster was excellent and this alone kept the film from reaches the levels of the worst of the decade. I guess it's best to say the creature looks like some sort of lizard but I liked the design of the make-up (or mask) and I especially liked the way the mouth was designed. Towards the end of the film the character has its shirt ripped off, which gives us even more views of the work and to me it's quite impressive. Another good thing is the music score and the recycled music that would turn up in other films including the same year's PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE.The film really isn't all that original with the screenplay pretty much being a copy of Universal's THE WOLF MAN with the exception here being it's the sun instead of the moon that turns the lead character. For the most part Clarke remains watchable in the film and his direction isn't too bad either. Of all the supporting players it's probably Nan Peterson that gets the most attention but not for her performance. No, her rack is pretty much on full display throughout the picture so I'm sure teenage boys seeing this at the drive-in back in the day were very happy.

Definitely one of the more enjoyable low-budgeted SciFi/horror hybrids of the late 50's, thanks to a combination of interesting plot and characters and – oh yeah – a whole lot of unintentionally hilarious incompetence! The film distinguishes itself from contemporary efforts in two important areas, namely more fast-paced action and less polished lead characters. There were most 50's Sci-Fi flicks always feature eloquent & sophisticated male scientists and their docile female love interests, this one comes up with a pompous and alcoholic protagonist and a bimbo bar singer with the most dazzling cleavage and voluptuous hips ever seen throughout the entire fifties decade! Whenever the script does attempt to get scientific and intellectual, it only provokes laughter and disbelief, like for example during the evolution-backwards theory speech and the totally irrelevant insect slide show. During his research on radioactive isotopes, for the sake of science of course, the rather self-centered Dr. Gil McKenna accidentally becomes exposed to a whole lot of radiation for too much time. Only later, at the hospital, he discovers that ordinary sunlight now causes him to turns into a hideous and destructive monster. Whirling in self-pity and rage, McKenna crushes into the night life and develops an (even heavier than before) drinking problem. His obsession for the hot blond bar singer Trudy also drives him to murder… Lead actor Robert Clarke also signed for the direction and he neatly divides the film into three equally exciting parts. The intro centering on the Doc's strange and still largely mysterious condition is quite compelling, whereas the middle section about his wild escapades with Trudy are delightfully trashy. The movie ends with a tense and adequately staged manhunt for a monster that lost all control. If you're a fan of cheap old science-fiction, you simply got to love the flamboyant monster design! He's supposed to be a lizard creature, but he actually looks more like the bastard baby of Creature from the Black Lagoon and some character from Sesame Street. Nevertheless, a truly magnificent monster and it's a damn shame that the film is shot in black and white, because according to the DVD-cover he's bright green! By the way, did I mention already that actress Nan Peterson is one cute hussy with enormous blouse bunnies...!?!

My dad seldom went to bed after 10 p.m., but one night we stayed up late to watch The Hideous Sun Demon: I was what, maybe 12? Dr. McKenna's exposed to radiation (back in the "duck'n cover" days), & sunlight turns him into a raving reptilian savage. Actor, writer, & director Robert Clarke gets lotsa mileage out of quick cuts, extreme closeups, & his in-laws, with three of them making their film debuts. (Clarke was married to one of the singing King Sisters.)Nan Peterson as Trudy is Dr. McKenna's beachfront fling, & when I watch this now on DVD, the kissy scene where her blanket drops to expose her legs must've been highly erotic for a 12-yr-old in the early 60s. Eventually, Dr. McKenna, during his flight from his fate, spends the night at Trudy's apartment, so the censors must've been taking a welcome respite from their moral chores.Sure, the acting is stiff & the premise absurd, but Hideous Sun Demon is a compendium of 1959 Los Angeles in a way that no public TV documentary could ever be.

My score of 3 doesn't really mean that I hated this film. In fact, I enjoy watching cheesy 1950s and 60s horror films. However, no matter how much I enjoy them, I have to be realistic and admit that their technical merits are usually horrendous. With THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON (a rather inappropriate title, by the way), the budget was next to nothing and it really shows. The script also is not particularly inspired or original, though the film is watchable.Actor Robert Clarke stars in this film he also wrote and co-directed. While his name is probably not one you've heard of before, he did a ton of TV appearances over the years--particularly in the 1960s in such shows as "Dragnet". He's a competent actor though given the budget, you really can't blame him for coming up with a silly film.This is another nuclear radiation film where a scientist is exposed to the stuff. But, instead of turning really big (THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN) or tiny (THE AMAZING SHRINKING MAN), here the guy cannot go into sunlight or he becomes a hideous looking monster--at least until he's left the sunlight and allows himself to become normal once again. To me I kept wondering why Clarke's character was so stupid that he'd "forget" and suddenly realize it's becoming daytime throughout the film. People with Porphyria learn to avoid sunlight, yet this dummy keeps making the mistake of being out too long. Unfortunately, when he is out in the sun, he seems to become a bit emotionally unstable, though he's nothing like a "sun demon". He's more like a guy who's a bit cranky and stupid, that's all! Overall, very watchable for fans of the genre but don't expect it to be among the best. Just a typical film you'd find on a typical exceptionally tiny budget.By the way, look at the box art that is shown on IMDb. I think the yellow artwork might just rank as the ugliest in film history.