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Creepy Classics Spotlight Movie Last Weekend - THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON (1958) Every week, readers here are selecting a movie to view...then we all try to watch it together utilizing our DVD/video library. This past Saturday night, many of us watched THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON (1958) with Robert Clarke. Suggested by Herb Salisbury, Everett, WA. Details about movie nights to come are HERE. Please include your name and location after your comments, so we can see how we're all joining together from diffeent locals around the globe! Let's all Synch-Up Saturday nights at 7:30PM, or catch this week's movie sometime over the weekend!
Now that's an all-out, just plain monster movie. I watched THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON on Saturday night and it brough back memories of seeing it for the first time back in the early 1970s on TV. Nothing fancy here. It's Robert Clarke's baby from the get go....producing, directing, starring (I think he might have wrote it too)!
It also made me think of all the rubber suit monsters of the movies -- THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE, MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS, etc. No frills and some rough songs from a torch-singer that gets involved with Clarke. Though the songs aren't quite as bad as the girl from WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS! Plus, can't fail to mention the wet-stained pants of Rober Clarke. Looks like the SUN DEMON could't quite make it to the restroom. But, it actually sweat from where the rubber suit ended under his pants. He was sweating like a DEMON while filming in the hot Califrnia sun. Low budget, but never boring --- just a fun monster movie. -Ron Adams, Ligonier, PA
One of the classic films of the late 50's stars Robert Clarke as a young scientist who is exposed to radiation and becomes a lizard This movie starts and never stops. I love the fast pace and of course the monster costume is a gem, especially in dim light. Kevin Coon
Hi Ron, Here are my thoughts on THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON. Alarm bells and an ambulance – now that’s what I call an opening! THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON is pretty much a rehash of the standard werewolf/J&H plot (an accidental tragedy places a curse upon the protagonist, well meaning secondary characters offer some measure of hope until it all ends in tragedy). And the low budget is apparent in almost every scene. But some good performances and a few interesting touches lift this film a notch or two above other drive-in fare of the 1950s. Two and a half stars. “Darwin never even scratched the surface. How could he?” Steven Thornton
Robert Clarke is cool. I am a big fan on The Man From Planet X and The Hideous Sun Demon (THSD). Granted one film actually has production value, a script, a budget and credible actors while the other was shot on twelve weekends so that they'd get a free day of camera rental. THSD has major story flaws and I'm guessing that alcohol was one of the top five production expenses, but it has an element that made some fifties B movies great for me -- man meets girl, man turns into monster and scares away girl and society hunts down and kills monster, while girl wishes for a better fate . Predictable but entertaining. Les Zuckerman
Hey everybody. The scene where he is hiding in the cellar after waking up on the beach, and Ann is about to open the door and we don't know if its going to be him or the demon is still pretty tense and after all these years I still get the creeps over little Suzy trying to help him escape. Finally, the finale on the oil rig is still one of the better chase scenes I've seen in a Sci-Fi/Monster movie, of course you can't help but laugh when you see his wet paints. Even the make-up is good and not a zipper in site. Makes you think what he could of done with a bigger budget and a better script. Once again just a good movie with an important message "radiation and alcohol don't mix".
One last thing, I know Nan Peterson is blond and beautiful, but couldn't someone teach her how to lip-synch and at least look like she's playing the piano. Maybe I'm asking too much. Talk to you all later. Bob Swaney
Above: Basil Gogos painting.
I managed to watch this fun flick last night starting at 9:30 P.M. {Hosted by the sexy, sultry "Mistress Of The Dark" herself, the one and only Elvira on her series "Movie Macabre" back in 1990!} I loved the jokes she cracked at this production after the movie was over! ---- It really makes me miss the 1970`s and 1980`s when network T.V. was much more fun than it is now! -- and horror hosts ruled television like never before or since! ....Anyway, about the movie itself....Robert Clarke deserves much kudos here for doing his best concerning the amount of money and time as well as equipment he had to work with. On top of that, a year and a half after this film was released, the company who released this picture to theatres went belly-up (I believe) causing Robert to lose all his money he had invested in this production. He never directed another film. Quite a shame.
Other points of interest in this movie include: 1) The Music (much of it is stock music- I recognized many intense cues used also in "Night Of The Living Dead" (1968) -especially when he turns into the Sun Demon and is attacking someone or being chased by someone) This adds to the suspense of this picture. 2) This film was released in December (during the winter) Wow!- What a Xmas present to horror/sci-fi fans back then-Huh?! and lastly 3) That eerie, film-noirish song sung by the immortal Marilyn King--- "Strange Pursuit"---- Hey- that was one of the ACTUAL working titles of this one!!! ---My rating for this B-Movie gem: 3/5 stars. Looking forward this weekend to viewing and writing about "Dracula A.D.1972 (1972) !!!---- Dan Brenneis- Monster Bash Staff Member And LifeTime FilmFan Extroadinairre.
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While watching it, it seemed like he was doing a reverse of THE WOLF MAN. This guys turns into the monster when exposed to the sun (instead of the moon). It's all because of an accident when doing experiments with radioactive material. 
That sun demon costume isn’t half bad at all.
Because of family commitments I wasn't able to sit down and watch the movie until Monday night. Boy was it worth it. This movie was another staple of Chiller Theater (WPIX-NY) and me and my friends would always get exited when ever it was shown. Robert Clarke doing his own version of Orson Wells/Citizen Kane by starring, directing, and producing the movie and even though he is not listed on the credits as the screen writer its based on a story of his. What he came up with is probably the only Sci-Fi, Monster, Film Noir movie ever made. I mean the movie is just plain good. 
Hi Ron and all fellow Synchmates out there, sorry that I haven`t written in a few weeks now but I sadly have been dealing with some tremendously stressful and important family issues for the last 2 weeks (all while being on vacation from my job) SOME VACATION. Anyway, It is nice to finally be able to get back to writing for the Simulcast again...(Hopefully on a steady basis once more?!) That being said... What a movie to watch to start my reviews again..."The Hideous Sun Demon" starring the wonderful Robert Clarke and the always beautiful Nan Peterson.
As far as his acting goes, I personally think he does a pretty good job in this one! (The basement closet scene is a chilling classic- how about him attacking and gnawing on that rat?!) YECHH!! --And the first transformation scene when he breaks the mirror is quite shocking! (TO US AS WELL AS TO THE OLD LADY ON THAT ROOF!) I really dig the monster suit in this picture, too! (Although I don`t think it looks like an IGUANA at all!) More like an GILA MONSTER deformed by radiation, perhaps! Also, the scene where he breaks down in his girlfriend`s arms inside the house at night (dealing with the effects of depression and anger at his awful plight) is well acted. You really feel bad for this guy. Talk about getting the short end of the stick while trying to help mankind. He becomes a human guinea-pig, so to speak! OUCH. 
