Trailer—The Unknown Terror

source: The Unknown Terror

The Unknown Terror

A film that starts slowly but builds up towards the end with fungal foam (!) cascading down the sides of a hidden cave where strange denizens of the dark live. It's a trifle bizarre (was puzzled by the human sacrifice angle and what the mad doctor's motives were) and it isn't livened by the mainly dull cast. It is perked up by two things though; legendary calypso singer Sir Lancelot and his band singing a couple of numbers and May Wynn as the lovely Concha. Her sad character unfortunately disappears at the end. What happened to her? Does she have a happy ending? Dunno.

When an explorer goes missing, a team is assembled to track him down, leading to the dreaded "Cave of Death". On their way, they encounter the bizarre Dr. Ramsey (Gerald Milton). He's a scientist of the mad variety, who also cans his own fruit. Ramsey is working with local fungi. He's very enthusiastic about his work. We soon discover that something sinister and unnatural is going on. THE UNKNOWN TERROR sort of plods along, becoming a caving adventure / rescue mission. This goes on up until the final revelation of the "terrible truth". Is it worth the wait? Well, not really. That is, unless gurgling soap bubbles freak you out. To be fair, they're somewhat effective in a low-low budget way. Recommended for sci-fi fans who love sentient sludge and / or seeping slime...

A man disappears in Central America and his sister and her husband (Mala Powers and John Howard are planning on searching for him. Pete Morgan (Paul Richards) goes along with them and together the trio meet up with a weirdo doctor who has set himself up as a primitive tribe's god. He also has been doing diabolical experiments to make a fungus monster. This film is about what you'd expect. While the acting is a tad better than you'd expect for such a film, the story itself and the monsters are pretty dull. Making it all sillier might have actually helped, as the film is pretty low on energy. A decent time-passer and not much more.

It's the old genre. Some guy has gotten himself trapped in some horrible caves in South America. His sister sets up an expedition to find him. They go to the Cave of Death. But there is an American doctor playing God who is in the way. He knows the superstitions of the native population. He is evil. Hs is also an expert at fungus. His experiments have led to a horrible mess in the caves that threatens the world. Off go the rescuers but they end up facing a group of mutants and an unending explosion of fungus. Actually, it looks like someone went crazy with giant bottle of dishwashing soap. This stuff absorbs human tissue. One problem is that the people are able to understand what they are facing, even though they shouldn't. It is a fight for survival with some scenes of bravery. An OK B-movie. Lots of overacting.

Not too bad B-grade late 50's horror film. A trio of Americanos head for a Latin-American country where a family member disappeared while exploring a mysterious cave. When they get to their destination they find surly, silent locals, threats, no cooperation, and a thoroughly creepy, somewhat mad doctor who resides there for the excellent conditions for fungi. It seems the reason the natives are completely rattled is that there is a cave there. It's full of fungi that drips all over like a waterfall of oatmeal and victims, consigned there by our mad doc, who've become walking fungi freaks. A weird time is had by all.

Pretty Much Wasting a Widescreen Format, this Dull, Dreary Horror Fails to Deliver. The "Monsters", or Unknown Terror of the Cave are Never Shown to in Close-Up and are Fleeting Non-Entities at Best. The Fungus, a Co-Unknown-Terror is Free-Flowing, Fast-Moving Soap Suds. The Movie Plods Along with an Uninteresting, Never Clearly Articulated Story About South American Natives and some Mumbo-Jumbo. The Villainous Scientist would be Better Cast as a Bartender or Hard-Hat. The 2 Females are a WOW. The Beautiful Marla Powers, who also had Acting Chops, was Prolific in TV and also Taught Acting. May Wynn as a Helpful Native, both Make this Boring Film a Pleasure to Look at Now and Then. Calypso Star Sir. Lancelot (of Val Lewton fame) Sings a Song that We are Told has "Special Meaning" but that Meaning is Forgotten Almost as Soon as it is Uttered. Overall, a Serious Misfire with its Greatest Sin...a Total Mishandling of the Material. Worth a Watch Only for Die-Hards and Completist.

A search for a lost spelunking brother leads to the "Cave of the Dead", which is infested with a fast-growing, parasitic fungus. Despite the supremely silly, sudsy climax, 'The Unknown Terror' isn't a bad bargain-basement sci-fi/horror. The actors are serviceable in pretty standard roles, the script better than usual for the genre, and the music is very good (especially the foreboding calypso number "Suffer to be born again", apparently written for the film and performed by early calypso star Sir Lancelot). The scenes in the caverns are nicely done and generate a considerable amount of tension considering the foamy nature of the threat. The film might have been a minor (or cult) classic if a better story had been spun (the rogue-fungus scenario just doesn't match the imagery) and the ridiculous fungus-covered 'monsters' dispensed with. Still, it's not too bad for what it is, but for a masterful malevolent mushroom movie, check out Toho's freaky fungal-fantasy 'Matango' (1963).