What woman using a Geiger counter all of a sudden stops to pull out a compact and check her make-up in the woods? Sally Fraser, that's who, in this entertaining but sometimes silly science fiction tale of a Spanish conquistador who comes back from the dead, preserve in a petrified forest, and seeking revenge (and female companionship) as he finds a whole different world around him, even in the great outdoors. The film opens with an indication that something is already out there causing havoc: Killing farm animals viciously and leaving their tattered carcasses all over the countryside, and eventually attacking a farmer. Ed Kemmer escorts scientist Morris Ankrum and his daughter (Fraser) out to this desolate countryside where they find the skeletons of the long dead conquistador's army as well as some of his headgear and weapons. Ankrum has boxed up an ordinary lizard which he claims he found living inside a rock, a species that has been extinct for centuries. This explanation is used mainly to explain how Buddy Baer, as the giant head conquistador, managed to survive somehow, and indeed, his presence is a bit terrifying as he roams the countryside.
There is no explanation of the dead farm animals or murdered farmer other than to assume that Baer had come briefly back from his petrified state, killed these animals and returned to his dirt grave for a long rest. Veteran western actor Bob Steele plays a local sheriff who doesn't believe in the supernatural causes behind the murder, excelled when a young girl is approached by the grunting Baer, and later found dead, apparently raped before being murdered. Billy Dix is cast as a stereotypical native American ("Indian Joe", he's called in bad taste), cursing the white man for taking over the native's land, yet proclaiming friendship to Kemmer whom he had earlier shot at, claiming he was only hunting rabbits. Gary Crutcher, cast as a young local named Charlie Brown (!), gets the silliest moments as he vows revenge against the giant for killing his sister yet obviously stood no chance, being half the size of the giant. For some reason, the hot countryside all of a sudden becomes a snowy mountain as Kemmer and Baer go head to head near a rushing river that somehow leads into a volcanic cave that no man has ever explored. It ends on a thrilling note, even though it is utterly absurd of how it got there.
There is no explanation of the dead farm animals or murdered farmer other than to assume that Baer had come briefly back from his petrified state, killed these animals and returned to his dirt grave for a long rest. Veteran western actor Bob Steele plays a local sheriff who doesn't believe in the supernatural causes behind the murder, excelled when a young girl is approached by the grunting Baer, and later found dead, apparently raped before being murdered. Billy Dix is cast as a stereotypical native American ("Indian Joe", he's called in bad taste), cursing the white man for taking over the native's land, yet proclaiming friendship to Kemmer whom he had earlier shot at, claiming he was only hunting rabbits. Gary Crutcher, cast as a young local named Charlie Brown (!), gets the silliest moments as he vows revenge against the giant for killing his sister yet obviously stood no chance, being half the size of the giant. For some reason, the hot countryside all of a sudden becomes a snowy mountain as Kemmer and Baer go head to head near a rushing river that somehow leads into a volcanic cave that no man has ever explored. It ends on a thrilling note, even though it is utterly absurd of how it got there.