The officers at a south seas Navy base are terrorized by a lethal army of carnivorous prehistoric ambulatory trees with acid blood. Boy, does this entertainingly atrocious honey possess all the right wrong stuff to qualify as a prime piece of hopelessly campy'n'crummy nickel'n'dime dreck: the fumbling (mis)direction by Michael A. Hoey (who also wrote the extremely talky and drawn-out script), unconvincing cardboard stage-bound sets, a plodding pace, an overwrought bellowing full-bore orchestral score by Gordon Zahler, rusty tin-eared dialogue (choice lousy line: "That's the heartbeat of a man in mortal terror"), zero tension or momentum, pathetic (far from) special effects, poorly staged attack scenes, the corny narration, a ham-fisted fiery conclusion, competent, yet static cinematography by Stanley Cortez, several clumsy moments of ill-judged comic relief, and the pitifully unscary and unpersuasive plant monsters (they look like giant shambling rutabagas!) all give this sublimely wretched swill a certain singularly inept and hence utterly irresistible rinky-dink charm. The cast of familiar B-flick faces struggle gamely with the inane material, with admirable contributions from busty blonde bombshell Mamie Van Doren as sexy'n'sassy nurse Noral Hall, Anthony Eisley as the stern Lt. Charles Brown, Bobby Van as amiable goofball Ensign Rutherford Chandler, Bill Gray as stalwart CPO Fred Twining, Edward Faulkner as cranky meteorologist Bob Spaulding, and William Sande as the friendly Dr. Arthur Beecham. A total cruddy hoot.
Review of The Navy vs. the Night Monsters
