Monster on the Campus

1958 "Co-ed beauty captive of man-monster! Campus terror! Students victims of terror-beast!"
5.8| 1h17m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 17 December 1958 Released
Producted By: Universal International Pictures
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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A college paleontology professor acquires a newly discovered specimen of a coelecanth, but while examining it, he is accidentally exposed to its blood, and finds himself periodically turning into a murderous Neanderthal man.

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Director

Jack Arnold

Production Companies

Universal International Pictures

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Monster on the Campus Audience Reviews

Clevercell Very disappointing...
Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!
Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation
KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
telegonus Spoilers abound: I've only seen Monster On the Campus a couple of times, find it entertaining and competently made. It's a nostalgic trip to the old Universal back lot of what's now a half-century ago, thus a lot of the sets are familiar to film buffs of the Hollywood of an earlier time.Arthur Franz plays the title character well and without a whiff of condescension. He's a better actor than the material requires, gives his all. Whit Bissell, like Franz, was also an old hand, a veteran of science fiction pictures of the period. Both actors had played professor-scientist types before, and both were good at it.The actors in the film consist of familiar faces and a few familiar names, most notably soon to be teen heartthrob Troy Donahue. Joanna Moore is the leading lady and, like Franz, does nicely with what she's given to do. Overall, the movie is a solid professional job, as director Jack Arnold had made a number of films like it before.My only complaint, and it's a minor one, is that the movie cues the viewer how it's going to end on the last leg of the journey, when the professor spends what's supposed to be down time in a mountain cabin. There are shades of earlier Universal films in Monster On the Campus, whose main character is not unlike the Invisible Man; and his fate is rather similar to that of the Wolf Man, with a needle instead of an autumn moon, but no matter.Those old, easy to guess plot twists,--it's pretty easy to guess who's going to "get it" next--were, to me, reassuring, and I think they would be for most viewers. The absence of much in the way of surprise in the story doesn't really hurt the movie, a road well traveled by those most likely to want to watch a film with a title that, well, says it all.
Lee Eisenberg "Monster on the Campus" was one of Jack Arnold's horror flicks for Universal that incorporated biology. In this case, a college professor (Arthur Franz) accidentally gets infected with the blood of a coelacanth -- how many movies even mention coelacanths? -- that was preserved with gamma rays, and the guy de-evolves into a murderous anthropoid.Yes, that's how sci-fi/horror flicks were in the '50s: a little radiation screwed everything up! Of course, no need to dwell on that. Just sit back and watch the vicious hominid do his stuff. True, the strings are occasionally visible and the overall plot is improbable, but the point is to have fun, which is impossible not to do. Really cool.And yes, my summary is a reference to the "Simpsons" character Troy McClure, who of course was named after Troy Donahue.
oscar-35 *Spoiler/plot- 1958, Another mad scientist movie. A university anthropologist gets his blood contaminated with an ancient prehistoric fish microbe to change him back into a dangerous primitive caveman that kills and destroys all.*Special Stars- Arthur Franz, Whit Bissell. Director- Jack Arnold. Early Bit Actor: Troy Donahue *Theme- Don't lose sight of you personal greed to find hidden knowledge.*Based on- Frankenstein, Doctor Jeckle and Mr. Hyde*Trivia/location/goofs- ONLINE. A memorable anthropology goof: The hoax 'Piltdown Man' face stature is shown in an early film sequence as a real human ancestor. It is not, it was found to be a fake.*Emotion- A forgettable film, except the weak laughable human physical anthropology film plot support.
Scarecrow-88 When infected by a coelacanth fish fossil's blood, the unfortunate victims revert back to their prehistoric ancestrial form with anyone it the path of these beings placed in certain mortal danger.Science professor, and proud voice of evolution, Donald Blake(Arthur Franz, stern voiced and serious, even when others deem him perhaps bonkers for insisting his unpopular theories)suffers two encounters with the fish's blood entering his body causing him to shift into a ferocious, unhinged half-ape hominid who murders those that he might consider a threat. A German Shepherd dog is our first victim after it drinks some of the bloody water that leaked from the truck carrying the fish to the science lab from it's past location of Madagascar..the dog attacks it's owner in a bloodthirsty rage. Second is when Donald accidentally gets the dead fish's teeth imprinted in his hand, causing infection when some of the coelacanth blood seeps into his bloodstream. After one female victim dies of fright, the police find hominid footprints and hand prints which guide them away from the true suspect..Donald Blake. When a dragonfly draws blood from the coelacanth, it grows to an enormous size, with two of Blake's students bearing witness to this freak of nature. Blood from the dragonfly, after Blake murders it on accident with a knife, drips into his pipe infecting the scientist once again. After he kills a policeman on duty watching after him, Blake will dedicate his time to finding the killer. When he grimly realizes who the murderer really is, Blake will have to come to terms with the horrible fact and get proof for this discovery. The scientific community, and world at large, must learn the truth..will he sacrifice himself for that truth? Joanna Cook Moore is Blake's dish Madeline, Alexander Lockwood is Blake's doubting, worried boss Professor Gilbert Howard(..and Madeline's father), Phil Harvey is Sergeant Powell on the case towards finding the peculiar murderer, and great character actor Whit Bissell as Blake's non-believing "rival" Dr. Oliver Cole. The film often shows how Cole and Professor Howard clash intellectually with Blake and his far-fetched theories regarding atomic radioactive gamma rays causing the coelacanth's plasma blood to revert whoever comes in contact with it to prehistoric origins..the whole idea that a hominid is committing the crimes they find absurd.I realize that the plot gives one the giggles, but Arnold somehow directs this straight and the cast perform in it admirably. Rubbish that is beneath Arnold's standards, but it's a testament to the great B-movie director that it comes off so entertaining. The ape disguise at the end might remind many monster fans of the future "Planet of the Apes" franchise.