The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959) on Netflix
Sturges keeps the lighthouse at Piedras Blancas and leaves food for a sea creature in a nearby cave. The townspeople ignore his warnings until bodies are found on the beach.
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- IMDb5.3/101,339 votes
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Trailer
Plot summary
Sturges is the lighthouse keeper in the California town of Piedras Blancas. He lives with his teenage daughter, Lucille, and he is superstitious about her safety. He leaves food for a sea monster that lives in a cave nearby. The townspeople disregard his warnings at first. They take notice when the bodies of people the creature has killed are found on the beach. A scientist in the area examines a scale found by one of the bodies and identifies it as coming from a diplovertebron, an amphibious prehistoric reptile thought to be extinct.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- For the film's prehistoric "diplovertebron", producer Jack Kevan cut cost and labor time by reusing existing molds: the monster's feet were cast from those of the Metaluna Mutant in This Island Earth, and its oversized hands were designed originally for The Mole People.
- Parts of the film's rubber monster suit turned up years later on the TV show Flipper, in the episode "Flipper's Monster", directed by Ricou Browning, who had performed the Gill-man's swimming scenes in Creature from the Black Lagoon.
- Several scenes in The Monster of Piedras Blancas broke new ground for onscreen gore, including the monster's shock entrance carrying a bloody human head and a later shot of that same head with a crab crawling across the face.
- The film ended up with a budget of only $29,000, helped by Universal's unofficial cooperation: the studio gave Jack Kevan and Irvin Berwick's Vanwick sweetheart deals on production vehicles and equipment as a way to employ its laid-off technicians.
- The film was shot entirely on location, but not at the real Point Piedras Blancas north of San Simeon: its lighthouse scenes were filmed at the Point Conception lighthouse near Lompoc, and its town was actually Cayucos, about 30 miles south.
- The Monster of Piedras Blancas gave Jeanne Carmen her only lead role; the B-movie actress and pin-up model was best known as a trick-shot golf expert.
