Caltiki, the Immortal Monster (1959) User Reviews

Best of the blob monster movies

[ebiros2 · 6/10 · 18 April 2009]

I've seen this movie on TV when I was small. I couldn't remember the story's premise except for the fact that it was a Blob like creature that grew when hit with radio activity. Recently, thanks to the internet, I got to watch this movie after so many years, and was surprised to find that archeology was the basis of its sub plot.

Archeologists goes on an expedition to a cave near Mayan ruins of Tikal, and accidentally discovers the monster Mayans associated with goddess Caltiki. Piece of Caltiki arrives back in Mexico city with the scientist which it tried to consume. Meanwhile, a comet is due to pass close to the Earth - the same comet passed near the Earth at the time the Mayan civilization mysteriously collapsed. Will Caltiki rise again, this time to end our civilization ?

Seriously, this is one of the best sci-fi movie from the late '50s. I saw this movie before I saw Steve McQueen's "Blob", and the Blob was somewhat lukewarm compared to Caltiki. There's been many movies featuring slime monsters, but this in my opinion is the best. The movie has the monster placed in middle of a pretty serious background where all the actors and scenery looks real. This is what makes this movie extra creepy, and also interesting to watch. To categorize this as a common B movie don't do justice. One of the better movie from the '50s.

Remarkably well-photographed little Italian monster flick

[funkyfry · 6/10 · 9 November 2002]

Amusing, cheap Italian imitation of "the Blob" (along the same lines as the British "X: The Unknown", this film exchanges heroic teenagers for the more usual scientists). Involves scientists who have dug too deeply into the mysteries of "Caltiki" and awakened the giant jelly after his centuries-long snooze. The lead scientist is so smart he leaves a chunk of Caltiki on a table near his kitchen.

Poor direction, hilariously impossible dialogue in the best 50s American style. The photography is noticeably better in quality from the rest of the film, so I wasn't too surprised to see genre pro Bava's name attached (looks like he may have directed some of the more fast and furious climax scenes, too).

All in all, a fun entry in the 50s horror cycle that holds up to the better American camp films of the same period.

CALTIKI, THE IMMORTAL MONSTER (Riccardo Freda and, uncredited, Mario Bava, 1959) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 28 February 2007]

This Italian sci-fi/horror film has been mentioned so often ever since I've been browsing the Internet (and prior to that on the occasional reference book) that it had practically acquired legendary status! Now that I've watched it myself, I can say that it's an effective blend of THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT (1955) and Mexi-Horror – though it's not as intellectual as the former, nor as campy as the latter (on the accompanying Audio Commentary, Luigi Cozzi also mentions the Japanese sci-fi THE H-MAN [1958] as a possible influence); the climax, then, seems to have been inspired by QUATERMASS II (1957) – while the archaeologists' discovery of footage shot by their missing/deranged companions actually looks forward to CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1979).

For its miniscule budget (which shows in the distinct lack of extras during a conference held to announce to the world the historic find!), the film's look (Rome standing in for Mexico!) and make-up effects (quite repulsive for the time, with the monster scenes themselves being perhaps more extensive than contemporary genre efforts) are very convincing; the attack by the blob-like monster on lead John Merivale's house (with his wife and daughter trapped inside) is especially well done – and reasonably scary. The cast – also featuring Gerard Herter (an unsympathetic variant on THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT's Richard Wordsworth), Daniela Rocca and Arturo Dominici – is interesting as well and there's a fine, suitably rousing score by Roberto Nicolosi.

The DVD supplements are superb (I'm lucky to be fluent in Italian) and include two separate interviews featuring genre exponent Luigi Cozzi – who attempts, firstly, to restore to its proper place screenwriter/designer Filippo Sanjust's undervalued contribution to the film and, then, outlines Bava's exact function behind-the-scenes (he didn't actually direct any of it but, following Freda's departure, took charge during the editing stage) – and critic/historian Steve Della Casa – who talks about Freda's place in the history of Italian cinema and mentions an especially amusing anecdote involving Freda and another cult film-maker, Vittorio Cottafavi, on meeting one another in their old age at a Film Festival (each thought the other would look down on his work only to discover that they were secret admirers of one another!). It's a pity, therefore, that film buffs unfamiliar with the language can't enjoy the Audio Commentary either, as it's a truly fascinating discussion: among other things, critic Giona A. Nazzaro voices his regret over the lost art of Italy's genre cinema; there's also an interesting sideline into the unusually creative contribution of editors to Italian films during this era, among whom Mario Serandrei (responsible for CALTIKI itself) was one of the undisputed masters; Cozzi, however, mistakenly refers to John Merivale as having played Sherlock Holmes in A STUDY IN TERROR (1965), when it was actually John Neville (Merivale didn't in fact appear in that film!).

Finally, since Image's DVD of an earlier Freda/Bava collaboration – I VAMPIRI (1957) – hasn't gone out-of-print and, so, will probably not be part of Anchor Bay's upcoming Mario Bava releases, I may well spring for it in the near future along with THE GHOST (1963), an unwatched classic Freda that's been coupled with a German Krimi – DEAD EYES OF London (1961) – on the Retromedia DVD

WILD! Monsters Italian Style

[gortx · 7 March 2002]

This is not one of those slow-moving B-Movies from our youth. This is a wild and fairly exciting Italian-made/Mexico set hybrid. Very much like THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT (aka THE CREEPING UNKNOWN) with a little THE BLOB, X-THE UNKNOWN and THE BRAINIAC thrown in, this is a highly enjoyable little lark. Track it down if you can!

Interesting and inventive fifties monster movie

[The_Void · 6/10 · 27 October 2008]

I'm not a big fan of fifties monster movies in general, but this one is pretty decent. The film was directed by Riccardo Freda, although he was going under the pseudonym 'Robert Hamton' in order to fool audiences into thinking that the film was an American picture. The film does take obvious influence from the American monster movies and is similar in style, plot and execution; and actually credit does have to go to Freda in that respect as if it wasn't for the awful dubbing, one would have no reason to think that this wasn't an American film. The plot is rather well worked and focuses on the demise of the Mayan civilisation. We focus on a team of archaeologists studying some ancient Mayan ruins when they come across a cave which houses a lake. After diving into the lake, they discover that it is full of gold; although things go a bit awry when they also find out that the lake is inhabited by an ancient blob-like monster. They end up taking part of the creature back to the lab where upon studying it, they realise it could threaten the whole world...

It was unveiled that many of the films which Riccardo Freda took credit for were actually directed by his young apprentice, Mario Bava - and Caltiki is one of those films. I have no idea how much of the film was directed by Bava, but I'd hesitantly say that I think it was mostly done by Freda as the film does not feature much in the way of Bava's trademark styling's; although in truth the filming style is all very by the numbers and there's not a lot of room for stylish visuals. The plot is well done, however, and is certainly more inventive than I thought it might be. The special effects are not particularly spectacular; though they certainly are serviceable for the type of film and are used well. There are a handful of good ideas on display - the fate that awaits a particularly greedy archaeologist being one of the best parts of it. The film tries to a bit spectacular towards the end, and it does work somewhat, although many of the American pictures did the spectacular ending better. Still, this is a decent little monster movie and I'm sure fans of this stuff will enjoy it.

FOND MEMORIES of ITALY'S 1959 "GLOB of DOOM!"

[lrrap · 6/10 · 11 February 2020]

In early January, 1961, my older brother and I noticed an ad for CALTIKI in the Chicago Sun Times. A few weeks later, one of my brother's 6th-grade classmates actually saw the film, and reported something about "...a guy who goes down...and comes back up a skeleton." Sounded like something I had better avoid.

In Spring of 1963, my brother borrowed an off-brand monster magazine from a friend that included a big picture-story article on Caltiki, featuring all of the commonly available stills. Significantly, they did NOT show any of the FOUR BIG SHOCK SCENES--so I had no idea what I was in for when, on Saturday night, May 18th, 1963, a Chicago station showed CALTIKI for the 1st time on local TV. My brother and I sat in our den with the lights out, attentively following the film as it unfolded. Suffice to say, when it ended, I was grateful for the phony looking doll-house furniture and toy tanks used in the final scenes, since they helped alleviate the sense of SHOCK caused by the first 25 minutes of the film.

CALTIKI is an astoundingly dark, disturbing film experience....up until and including the first hospital scene. Mario Bava and the Italian horror culture of that era were masters of the ominous, morbid, and grotesque, possessing that unique ability to probe the depths of the truly horrific, stomach-turning---but subtle--- fear that lurks within us all. For a low-budget film, the first 25 minutes of CALTIKI are remarkably well designed and directed---and the script and acting are also generally above average.

Of the four big SHOCK scenes, the fate of the hapless Bob (the diver--played by Daniele Vargas) was undoubtedly the most traumatic for me. WOW-- what a stunner! Expertly staged and edited.....the terrifying underwater scenes (and extremely effective musical score) and the intense pacing as the wet-suit clad body is pulled out of the water...and the fact that the guy is still BREATHING when he is unmasked..really knocked me out on first viewing. It's an image that keeps on giving over the years, a moment that I never recovered from as the film progressed.

Then there's Max's gory, outrageous death scene--but by the time it came around, my 12-year old brain was fried. And how about the infamous and truly disgusting hospital scene, when the hunk of Caltiki is peeled off of Max's arm....GEEZ, guys...could you have thought of anything more sensational and sickening? But that's the peculiarly gory "sensibility" of the Italian/Mexican/Spanish horror industry of the time. (However-- if you look closely, as the nurse walks toward the camera with the blob encased in glass, you clearly see Max's right arm stretched out on the table, looking perfectly normal).

The fourth SHOCK (for me, at least), which is rarely mentioned, is the sight of Ulmer's corpse...deeply disturbing, yet almost beautiful in its nightmarish way--a bizarre piece of cinematic high art that confirms our worst fears about Ulmer's fate, points to the upcoming plot developments, and explains Nieto's delirious rants about "the mummy...!"

Viewing CALTIKI again on this superb new DVD is quite an experience; the very generous commentaries perform a valuable service in documenting the Bava/Italian cult-like appeal of the era, and Tim Lucas' expert observations are greatly appreciated--especially his explanations of the techniques used to create the opening jungle montage with glass-paintings, miniature set pieces, mattes, etc, which have always mystified me. I wish, though, that one or these expert commentators had something REALLY unique about the film to show us: behind-the-scenes production photos, an original script or storyboard, the National Geographic clippings that Lucas mentions were matted into the opening shot...ANYTHING that might still remain of the film. But there's nothing. We DO get a lot (and I mean a great deal) of chatter about the influence of the British Quatermass films on Caltiki...which gets a bit tiresome, especially in the absence of any of the above mentioned rarities which would have greatly enhanced the disc's special features.

My overall opinion of the film hasn't changed much in the 57 years since I first saw it: after the first 25 minutes--in which the sense of dread and ominous, suffocating terror slowly, methodically build and overpower the intrepid band of scientists---- the film really takes a nose-dive, becoming a rather drab, uninspired, routine sci-fi action/melodrama. The only scenes which really maintain the creepy, lurid tone of the opening are the scenes in which Max (Gerard Herter) is onscreen. He's one fascinating and crazy guy to watch.

In any case, this new DVD rescues one of the great, low-budget cult horror films from obscurity. Who knows?-- maybe CALTIKI will now get a little more respect, thanks to this new, admirably documented release.

PS-- If you'd like to see and hear Gerard Herter's (who played the demented "Mad" Max in CALTIKI) real (German accented) voice, check out the episode "The Great Casino Caper" from TV's "It Takes a Thief" (posted on You Tube), and the scene at 21:55". Herter lived and worked in Italy, where this episode was shot (with Robert Wagner, Fred Astaire, and Ed Binns). Make sure you watch an ENGLISH-dialogue version, not the Italian dub that's also posted. LR

solid, enjoyable, worth a watch

[localbum24-1 · 7/10 · 5 April 2020]

Pretty darn decent little sci-fi horror flick. A really excellent story that loses steam in the last 20 minutes...but slick direction and some incredible makeup/gore for the era put it over the top.

Vintage Italian monster movie with primitive but effective special effects from Mario Bava

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 6 July 2022]

This shocking movie provides great load of screams , terror, creepy atmosphere which becomes pretty sinister with the mound of glop appearing here and there . Set in Mexico , this sci-fi picture has blob-ish fiend pursuing members of a team of archaeologists . As the scientific people in Mexico encounter an amorphous , blob-like monster that shows up to be connected with the collapse of the Mayan civilization. This monster is stripping human flesh from bone , creeping, multiplying, devouring and hungry for the blood of a world . Along the way , a comet from exterior space is due to pass close to the Earth , resulting to be the same comet passed near the Earth at the time the Mayan civilization mysteriously collapsed. And at a house and a hospital are besieged by the enormous, man-eating amoebic mass and fast-growing .Will the first life on Earth be the last terror of Man?. Terror amok! Hungry for the flesh of the world! . Towering over Jungle and City... Creeping, Multiplying, Devouring! Man is no longer the supreme being on this planet ! . Now, terror has no shape !. Scream now, while there's still room to breathe. Terror has no shape. If it had a mind, you could reason with it. If it had a face, you could look it in the eye. And if it had a body, you could shoot it. Slimy Glob of Doom Engulfs The World! . Crawling, Crushing Colossus of Terror!. None Can Stop It! Nothing Can Kill It! The Ever Growing Thing! Armies of the World Combat Deadly Menace! Death Dance of the Voodod Virgin! Whole Cities Swallowed Up By Gruesome Mile-High Glob!

A camp classic that was shot with medium budget from the Fifties containing intrigue , suspense , grisly murders and lots of blood and gore , while shocking when the large Glob exploding through the theater screen and the spectators are watching. The plot is plain a simple, a group of archaeologists investigating some Mayan ruins come across a blob-like monster , then things go wrong . The movie belongs to Italian Horror genre , in which Riccardo Freda (¨Secret of Dr. Hitchcock¨ , ¨Il Vampiri¨) along with Mario Bava (¨Planet of vampires¨, ¨House of exorcism¨) are the fundamental creators . In fact , both of whom collaborated deeply among them , as Bava finished two Fedra's films , this ¨Il Vampiri¨ and ¨Caltiki¨ . Although being poorly conceived , however being entertaining and fun enough . It's a sleek production with genuine chills , tension, shocks and nice special effects by Mario Bava himself , making an exciting slimy jello invader and frightening and horrifying to the audience . This thrilling film was well starred by an unknown but functional duo : John Merivale and Didi Sullivan , accompanied by a plethora of familiar Italian actors , such as : Giacomo Rossi Stuart , Daniela Rocca , Daniele Vargas , Gérard Herter , Arturo Dominici , Nerio Bernardi and Renzo Palmer as narrator . This¨Caltiki il mostro immortale¨ or ¨Caltiki, the Immortal Monster¨ (United States title,1959) takes parts of ¨The Blob¨ (1958) by Irvin S Yeaworth with Steve McQueen , the latter was followed by a remake that rips off Irvin S. Yeaworth's version ,¨The Blob¨ (1988) by Chuck Russell with more gore and guts than original, being again remade by Larry Hagman in ¨Beware, the Blob¨ (1972) .

The motion picture was professionally directed by Riccardo Freda assisted by Mario Bava. Riccardo Freda used to sign his works with a number of aliases during his career, including Robert Hampton or George Lincoln and as screenwriter Riccardo Freda . His artistic spirit led him to a strong belief in the importance of visual composition in filmmaking . Freda worked in many popular genres, including viking films, Peplum, spaghetti westerns, action, and even Softcore, but it is his horror films and Giallo mystery films which stand out and for which he is best remembered . Freda along with Vittorio Cottafavi continued to realize films in the historical-spectacular style , at which he developed a considerable skill and mastery . From the mid-50s Freda's liking make for atmospheric and colorful scenes of shock began to itself apparent , especially in such Musclemen epics as ¨Teodora¨ , ¨Spartacus¨ , ¨Giants of Thessaly¨ , ¨The seventh sword¨ , ¨Maciste all's inferno ¨, the latter a gripping/horror Peplum and , of course, ¨Maciste in the court of the Great Khan¨, one of his best films . In the early 60s , he was a pioneer in Italy of horror-fantasy films frightening audiences the world over , especially with ¨I Vampiri¨ and ¨L'Orrible Segreto del Doctor Hitchcock¨ as he combined with that wide-staring of actress , the British-born Barbara Steele . He also made adventures as ¨Black Eagle¨ , ¨The son of Black Eagle¨ , ¨White devil¨ , ¨Son of D'Artagnan¨ , and uncredited ¨Daughter of D'Artagnan¨ ¨. From there he went to melodrama and spy films as ¨¨Mexican Slayride¨and ¨Coplan FX18¨ and even made some westerns as ¨No killing without dollars¨ with Mark Damon and signed under pseudonym as George Lincoln . Freda's movies had popular appeal , and were usually commercial hits . Several were French/Spanish/Italian or other European co-productions . He has been called a filmmaker "who brings some style to exploitation pictures", and has something of a cult following . Rating : 6.5/10 , better than average horror/monster movie .

The Blob always gets more Credit. Caltiki is the real lost treasure!

[thejcowboy22 · 5/10 · 19 May 2017]

Caught this movie way back in the 60's on Supernatural Theater. The movie The Blob Starring Steve McQueen was made one year earlier to American audiences. The success of the film despite the poor screenplay and acting gave Italian film makers an idea, a spin off.This movie was filmed in Black and white with poor dubbing. A group of archaeologists stumble across a cave laden with gold with the Mayan Goddess Caltiki. They find skeletons near the gold but fail to realize that a blob like substance is in the adjacent pool. Greed gets the better of our explorers as the first diver is consumed and the second diver Max (Gerald Haerter) barely escapes but has his arm consumed by the blob. Then you see the mass rise up from the pool ready to digest anyone in it's path. The crew barely escapes as the mass follows them out of the cave . Luckily a gasoline truck crashes into the mass/blob and destroys it. Next the team returns to Mexico City as their injured colleague is tended to to remove the blob scraps from his arm. Dr John Fielding (John Merivale) takes the blob substance and puts in his mansion for further analysis. Ironically a comet that passes the Earth every 850 years causes the blob to grow. Reminds me of the George Romero narrative in the Night Of the Living Dead. The Good Dr. Fielding tries to convince the Mexican government to destroy the blob but they arrest him instead. Meanwhile Dr. Fielding's house is being consumed with his lovely Wife and Daughter inside. I just enjoyed the ride from start to finish . Till this day foreign film buffs wonder who handled the bulk of the direction in the film. Was it Ricardo Freda or Mario Bava? I enjoyed this picture much more than the Blob despite it's many flaws especially in the special effects department. At times the mass looked like heavily stained bed sheets being pulled too and fro. The English voices were very distinguished, especially Max's character deep and throaty in nature. Just another 50's spaghetti sci-fi production that will leave you full.

Good job, big blob!

[Bezenby · 7/10 · 12 December 2017]

I'd never heard of this one until yesterday, and now I find out that Mario Bava was involved too. That's nice, seeing as I've just watched Baron Blood. This is a proper creature feature, and the creature featured is one of my favourites – a man-eating blob!

This one is called Caltiki and our very white scientists discover him while mooching around some Mayan ruins looking for some cool jewellery to pawn at the local Cash Converters. We begin with one scientist staggering back to the camp, howling about Caltiki and how his mate has gone missing. Our other scientists (one is our square-jawed, married hero and the other a snivelling snidey guy who's hitting on our hero's wife) go looking for the missing guy and find some camera footage, which makes the film turn in Cannibal Holocaust for a couple of minutes.

The film shows the two guys finding a cave revealed by a recent volcanic eruption which leads to a temple to Caltiki. Suddenly, they are attacked by some unknown creature, which prompts the rest of the expedition to head down there and instantly forget about finding the missing guy after they find a huge stash of gold at the bottom of an underground lake. Dismissing the many, many skeletons lying around, a diver goes for the gold, gets attacked, and comes back to the surface minus his face. As the huge blob Caltiki attacks the rest of them, the snidey guy tries to get the gold and gets all the skin from his arm dissolved.

Our hero is having none of it and drives a truck full of gas into the cave, cooking Caltiki and saving the day. However, this is only fifteen minutes into the film, so maybe everyone should start worrying about that small piece of blob stuck to that guy's melted arm…and the fact that the guy's going nuts…and the radioactive comet that's passing by Earth (don't dwell too much on that plot point or you'll go nuts).

I wasn't expecting too much from a horror film made in 1959, but I was wrong. Freda (or Bava, depending who actually made it) knew that if you have a giant blob, you've got to have it eat people, fight the military, and destroy things, so that's what they have Caltiki do here. The special effects are quite well done (using tripe…very Roman!) and there's a lot of miniature effects on display too. There's the added bonus of the film only being seventy-five minutes long.

Giacomo Rossi-Stuart appears as a professors assistant who is dubbed with a rather camp voice and is there mainly to explain the strange comet sub-plot which barely makes any sense. Talking about not making any sense, I'm not sure quite what forced the professor to swerve off a cliff (unless it really was because he was thinking too much about the blob), and I'm also not sure why the military were dispatched before the hero could convince the cops there was such a thing as a giant man- eating blob.

Nice!

Caltiki

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 26 April 2023]

After the success of Hercules, Galatea Film began production on films made for the international market. They hired Riccardo Freda to make this movie, but he left before it was done, supposed to allow Mario Bava - the cinematographer and special effects artist on this - the opportunity to direct and earn more money. This same situation - Freda leaving and Bava finishing the movie - also happened during I Vampiri (The Devil's Commandment).

There are different stories over who did what. Freda told Luigi Cozzi that he "left it when there were just two days of shooting left. I did shoot it yes, but it's Bava's type of film. I don't enclose it in my body of work. The only thing I remember with pleasure about it are the statues that decorated the sets: I sculpted them myself," while Bava referred to this as his first film and claimeed that Freda left the movie"because everything was falling to pieces. I managed to carry it out, patching it up here and there."

Cozzi would come back to this interview thirty years later, setting the record straight by stating that "the director of Calitiki il mostro immortale is Riccardo Freda, full stop. Mario Bava did take care of the cinematography, the special effects and directed the scenes with the miniatures (that is, mostly the tanks....) and in addition to that he filmed some shots of soldiers with flame throwers. That's all, and of course it cannot be enough to say that Bava directed that movie." That said, in the last two or three weeks of filming, Bava directed and shot over 100 special effects shots.

Honestly, the answer depends on who you ask and when you ask them.

A group of archarologists discover a large statue of Caltiki, a supposed Mayan goddess who demanded human sacrifices. When one of them descends into a pool, he finds skeletons covered in gold and jewels. He keeps going back for more before he's melted into a skeleton himself.

Now, Caltiki is a made up deity. But man, who cares, because soon a blob like creature emerges and tries to devour everyone. The monster was created from cloth and tripe, which is the stomach of a cow. It made a horrific smell, so no one wanted to be around it.

Anyhow, the blob-like organism attaches itself to one man's arm and, of course, replicates and feeds on radiation. It's about to have a buffet, because a radioactive comet that last appeared in our orbit during the time of the Mayans is about to come back and every little blob will become gigantic unless the smart brains in this can figure something out. How do you destroy a blob in the world of this movie? Flamethrowers. It's that simple.

Nasty and Scary for the late 1950's

[podysefus · 8/10 · 10 October 2009]

I saw this when I was 8 years old, and it scared me so much I had to momentarily leave my seat. I ran back to the men's restroom and hid inside for a minute or so, then slowly came back out and stood in back by the usher and watched for another minute or two more, and finally returned to my seat for the rest of the movie. This never happened to me in any other movie, and as an adult, I was very curious to know just what it was in this otherwise standard black and white B-Movie Monster fare that could cause such a reaction. I just watched it again, for the first time since 1959, and I believe it was a combination of having my wits scared out of me when I identified with the little girl and her mother trapped in the bedroom with Catiki swelling up against the door, and stomach churning revulsion at the nasty looking mess that was left after Caltiki started digesting its victims. Unlike Steve McQueen's Blob which looked almost like an edible piece of cherry Jello, Caltiki sometimes took on the appearance of a soiled cloth rag completely saturated with thick dark mud (or some unmentionable organic substance), and the mess that was left after it digested its victims was indescribably disgusting for the era. The plot is corny and hackneyed, with the obligatory hysteria over the evils of radiation, and knuckle-headed careless scientists. But it is campy and scary, and worth watching. I ended up springing for a DVD, since I never see this shown on television anymore, apart from once seeing it offered by Showtime many years ago. Why do movies like this just vanish?

Mexican Gothic-Horror

[phatdan · 7/10 · 19 June 2007]

Somewhat of a "Blob" rip-off. Still, its unique style was apparent. One of the characters infected by the creature made this film memorable. Interesting cinematography added to the intense weirdness (typical Mexican/Italian). But, the monster was not half as interesting as the cast.

I hope someone makes a remake. If not this film, perhaps the Blob, which would be a second remake. With computer graphics, anything can happen. Just don't give it to Peter Jackson. He made King Kong almost an endeavor to watch.

I believe this film was made in Italy. Was on VHS, but I can't find it anywhere now.

Garbage

[13Funbags · 1/10 · 24 September 2017]

The other people who reviewed and rated this mess must have watched a different movie than I did. This movie has absolutely no plot and it almost never makes sense. It takes place in Mexico yet there are no Mexicans. You can quickly tell that it's been dubbed into English without ever looking at the screen. They say "mustn't" a lot. Have you ever said "mustn't"? The star has a three year old nameless daughter who is clearly voiced by an adult. At one point her mom even calls her "the child". Normally I would tear apart a movie like this but I'm not writing ten paragraphs about a movie that no one should see. Just know that if you watch this, you can never get the 75 minutes back.

This movie taught me an important lesson.

[reptilicus · 20 July 2001]

Back when I was young this movie used to be on television frequently and I watched it with my aunt Carol. She is a thoughtful, sensitive woman and during the scene where Max (Gerald Haerter) runs back to grab the bag of gold and has his arm absorbed by Caltiki my aunt cautioned me "You see? That wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been greedy." So she found a way to teach me one of Life's lessons via an Italian monster movie! Meanwhile I like this movie because it is one of the best "blob" movies around (I don't count THE H-MAN as a blob movie because the H-beings are intelligent). These days the age of the movie shows. A computer takes up an entire room and is referred to as "an electric brain", poster art depicts the wounded Max as a Frankensteinian style mutant and serial buffs will recognise the scene of a car plunging off a cliff as coming from KING OF THE ROCKETMEN (1949)! Still, we watch these movies for the monster, right? Caltiki is an effective monster but such a messy eater. Unlike THE BLOB who absorbed all his (its?) victims Caltiki just takes the good stuff and spits out the bones. The scene of one victim being crushed and then absorbed is especially memorable. Lamberto Bava, son of Mario Bava who (it is said) finished this film after Ricardo Freda walked off the set (I heard a similar story about THE DEVIL'S COMMANDMENT) once recalled that the house destroyed by Caltiki at the end was actually a model of his father's real home and the miniature furniture was contributed by Mario's father Eugenio. That explains the meticulous attention to detail in the miniature sets. All in all a very well done movie and worth seeing again to-day. It used to pop up now and then on Showtime and would someone please hurry up and put it out on video? Oh and Aunt Carol . . .thanks for watching this with me so many times.

Solid enough if still flawed early creature feature

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 7/10 · 12 November 2018]

Heading to a Mayan village, a team of scientists looking to understand the mystery surrounding the disappearance of a long-dead city only to come across a living blob of radioactive material that kills whatever it touches and continues to grow in size, forcing the team to stop its deadly rampage.

For the most part, this one wasn't all that bad of an effort. One of the most impressive efforts featured here is the absolutely stellar and imposing atmosphere created by the ruins within the temple. The large, elaborate caverns that make up the majority of the spaces within the temple that we witness here as well as the excessive and extreme look of the different statues and decorations placed through offers a really enjoyable and creepy opening. This is greatly enhanced by the rest of the atmosphere around the village outside, where the local tribe being shown hanging around the temple gives this some extra benefits. The scenes of them warning the team away through their somewhat suggestive dancing and their customs about dealing with the figure within the area gives this one a rather enjoyable setup. As well, the film's most impressive and important feature here is the action scenes with the giant blob in action, getting off some really impressive scenes. The creatures' first appearance in the underwater cavern and attacks the member of the expedition starts this off with a great sequence, leading into the wild attempts to stop it that drives the film going forward as the second half gives this some more wild creature action in the village as now only does the rapidly-growing creature running loose but also the deformed victim trying to seek help for his condition in the wrong manner yet still leaving this one with a strong and frenetic finale that has so much to like. Coupled with the fine gore effects for the devoured bodies, these manage to hold it up rather well over its flaws. The main issue to be had here is where the middle section of the film bogs down to the point of being utterly bland and boring. Once the monster is released and thought dead, it drops the creature feature format into being more about the research into the creatures' origins to the complete detriment of scenes featuring it still being active and around. Normally that would be changed around into keeping the monster around during that time-period as this one is just dull to get through with the technical jargon describing the creature and its history so this becomes rather boring. The other big letdown is the surprisingly obvious cheap-jack nature of the film, from the low-rent sets to the lack of extras and overall look of the film that's somewhat hard to get over. Otherwise, there's not a whole lot really wrong here.

Today's Rating/PG-13: Violence.

Mario Bava to the rescue

[kevinolzak · 7/10 · 31 March 2019]

"Caltiki the Immortal Monster" is an exact translation of the original Italian title "Caltiki Il Mostro Immortale," a co-production between Italy and France, and an early peek at the work of Mario Bava, using the pseudonyms Marie Foam for special effects and John Foam in his usual capacity of director of photography (it was believed that pseudonyms would hide the fact that it was an Italian production, assuming that international audiences would reject a picture made there; Robert Hamton is listed as director of the US print, Robert Hampton in Italy). The director who started the project was Riccardo Freda ("The Horrible Doctor Hichcock"), but like their earlier collaboration "I Vampiri" ("The Devil's Commandment" in its shortened US version) Freda left after a few weeks and Bava added the finishing touches, including all the gruesome death scenes. In saving this somewhat forgotten movie from disaster, Bava finally earned a chance to helm any picture he wanted, and that became the hugely successful "Black Sunday," which ably kick started the Italian Gothics of the 60s, many starring the raven haired British beauty Barbara Steele. A final addition to the shapeless monster mini genre that kicked off with "The Quatermass Xperiment," followed by "X the Unknown," "Quatermass 2," "The Unknown Terror" (soap suds as fungi), "The Flame Barrier," Japan's "The H-Man," and most popularly "The Blob," Galatea Film was clearly targeting the international market after their success with Steve Reeves' "Hercules," setting this picture entirely in Mexico (though apparently shot in Spain in 1959), with Britain's "Quatermass" its main influence. A massive Mayan deity rises from a cavern lake to dispense with fortune hunters after its treasure of gold relics, one unfortunate losing his arm, which is shown to be nothing left but pieces of flesh after the removal of the single celled creature, easily destroyed by fire. The film continues because the head archaeologist (John Merivale, "Circus of Horrors") keeps the blob in a glass tank in his home laboratory, not realizing that its capacity to grow to enormous size is connected with the radioactive tail of a passing comet last seen during the Mayans' time. The one armed madman goes on a mild rampage, rightfully meeting his doom against the monster's voracity, inside the home where the specimen was kept (we see the dead man's skull being devoured in another gory touch). Much of this was tough to take for drive-in audiences, where Allied Artists raked in the cash during its modest play dates, exiled to decades of obscurity after its few television showings. Bava alternately described his creation as 'sheep's entrails' or just tripe, the smell of which was so god awful that the poor actor nearly succumbed in real life! The behind the scenes tale is just as fantastic as that on screen, flagging a bit after the expedition returns to Mexico City from the Mayan jungle hell, the opening narration depicting a completely fictitious legend out of thin air, while today audiences can enjoy the roots of Bava's handiwork at their leisure since its 2017 DVD/BluRay release.

Cool flick

[ebeckstr-1 · 7/10 · 20 July 2021]

Very cool movie combining almost lovecraftian elements, with folklore and blob elements. It features some pretty cool miniature effects and also some fairly lame miniature effects. Despite its flaws this is a highly atmospheric movie with beautiful black and white photography by Mario Bava before he switched primarily to directing.

Monstrous blubber pudding à L'Italiano

[Coventry · 7/10 · 19 February 2009]

With Mario Bava being my favorite filmmaker of ALL time, I couldn't afford myself to miss out on "Caltiki" as this film – along with the equally impressive "I, Vampire" - marks his debut as a director and then still the poor man didn't receive the proper credit he deserved for it. Riccardo Freda, the official director of the two films, is also a fairly prominent and admirable name in the Italian horror/cult industry, but both films simply have Bava's style and trademarks written all over them. His already gained craftsmanship as a cinematographer and his visionary look on directing built up during the fifties undoubtedly are the main reasons why Bava became one of the greatest of all time; starting from the early 60's already (with the tremendously brilliant "Black Sunday") and onwards. "Caltiki" clearly is a blatant rip-off of other and hugely successful "unidentified monstrous substance attacking people" Sci-Fi movies from throughout the 50's decade, like "The Quatermass Experiment" and most obviously "The Blob". But there were "The Blob" is an overall disappointingly dull and politically correct thriller, this Italian dish of deliciousness is a downright outrageous and extremely fast-paced shocker. The main characters are much more vivid and identifiable, the body count lies much higher, the violence is more confronting and the special effects and make-up art are more explicit than those featuring in American and British horror productions of that era. And still, in spite of the familiar concept, the screenplay of "Caltiki" nevertheless attempts (and often succeeds, I may add) to bring some variety and inventiveness. The titular monster doesn't come from outer space, for once, and it doesn't necessarily have to consume human flesh in order to grow in size or strength. "Caltiki" has always resided here on earth and relies on radiation instead to become more dangerous. It very much likes to turn victims into skeletons, but doesn't have to! How cool is that? A group of scientists and their whiny women embark on an expedition near an ancient Mayan temple in order to finally find out why an entire civilization just disappeared in a nick of time. Shortly after a volcano eruption it becomes clear to them that the lake underneath the temple homes a hideous and unstoppable monster. They have the opportunity to bring back a piece of the monstrous substance when the greediest member of the crew nearly loses his arm trying to reach for a piece of treasure when he clearly shouldn't have. Instead of researching the matter, they quickly find themselves battling the thing again as it grows in size and hunger. "Caltiki" is packed with suspense and an unexpectedly large amount of violence and disturbing imagery.

The exact opposite of "The Blob!"

[NerdBat · 5/10 · 4 June 2017]

This movie was alright, but it was somewhat of an exact copy of the blob, but reversed so that it isn't as obvious. The blob is from space, while Caltiki is a prehistoric life form. Fire is Caltiki's weakness, while the blob is weak against ice or extreme cold. This may not be obvious for everyone, but for a sci-fi nut like me, it was pretty irritating. The movie unfortunately tries to fit two stories into one film, which many have attempted to do, but rarely succeed at. We have two problems to deal with. Caltiki, the creature herself, and a man who has been injured by Caltiki, who as a doctor explains may have been driven insane by the poisons of the amoeba. I noticed as well that the "Mayan dancers" whom we see performing a dance to ward off evil spirits, are most certainly not meso-Native American actors, but who actually appear to be African. In fact, the songs which they sing sound more like voodoo culture rather than that of true Mayans. Of course that aspect may not bother everyone. Was it a good film? Well let me put it this way, it's worth watching at least once, especially if you are a true lover of the classics!

Mario Bava's Glorious Debut

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 21 April 2017]

Archaeologists investigating some Mayan ruins come across a blob-like monster. They manage to destroy it with fire, but keep a sample. Meanwhile, a comet is due to pass close to the Earth - the same comet passed near the Earth at the time the Mayan civilization mysteriously collapsed. Coincidence?

As the story goes, director Riccardo Freda intentionally dropped out of the production early on in order to allow his cinematographer (Mario Bava) to take over and get the first film under his belt as director. Whether this is accurate is unknown, and ultimately neither of them ended up taking credit, the director being some pseudonym. What makes this historically important is that, of course, today Bava is celebrated and Freda is much lesser-known outside of hard-core movie geek circles. Though we have to credit Freda for "The Horrible Dr. Hichcock" (1962) and "The Ghost" (1963), both starring Barbara Steele, as well as the under-appreciated "Tragic Ceremony", it is Bava who is considered the father of Italian genre cinema.

Now, "Caltiki" is not a perfect film. Most noticeably, the film or camera used did not allow for a high amount of contrast. Some scenes, particularly the darker ones, make it hard to see exactly what it is we are supposed to be seeing. But this is made up for with the ingenuity of the slime monster. Even knowing that it is "tripe", it still has a very effective appearance and the growing / splitting movements are quite good. Comparisons to "The Blob" (1958) are inevitable, but this film and its effects are plenty strong enough to be more than a cheap knock-off. Even the makeup on Max (Gerard Herter in his debut) looks great, far better than Italian horror films are often given credit for.

As noted by others more knowledgeable than myself, "Caltiki" was given a successful run on a string of double and triple bills by Allied Artists in America, but has been largely elusive on TV and home video with only a couple of token VHS appearances in Europe. The first official DVD release came from NoShame as a Region 2 Italian release in 2007. Those of us in Region 1 territory had to settle for poor quality bootlegs from a mid-quality original.

The Arrow Video Blu-ray is packed tighter than a clown car, and is sure to be one of the most sought after releases of 2017. We have a new audio commentary by Bava expert Tim Lucas, as well as a new audio commentary by the other major Bava expert, Troy Howarth. One commentary probably would have sufficed, but we got the best of both worlds here.

And that is just the beginning. There is "From Quatermass to Caltiki", a new discussion with author and critic Kim Newman on the influence of classic monster movies on Caltiki. We get "Riccardo Freda, Forgotten Master", an archival interview with critic Stefano Della Casa and "The Genesis of Caltiki", an archival interview with filmmaker Luigi Cozzi. And, just to put the cherry on top, an archival introduction to the film by Stefano Della Casa.

Fellow reviewer Dan Day writes, "I have a feeling this Blu-ray is going to wind up on my annual top five list at the end of the year." I whole-heartedly concur. A Blu-ray of a little-known film from a beloved cult director packed with extras? No doubt this will be a must-have for many fantastic film buffs and may likely even get a Rondo nomination.

It's Easy to Get Absorbed in This One

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 16 December 2016]

Caltiki has some connection to the Mayans. The monster is a big bag of jelly that has the ability to ingest human flesh. The plot has to do with a cave and lots of gold and trying to deal with this thing. I remember that the monster is amorphous, unlike the blob which was more like a congealed wad of bubble gum. The production value on this one is really lacking, but, in fairness, they probably only had a few bucks and a coupled months to pull it off. As is usually the case, people do lots of stupid things as they encounter this menace. I feel sad now that we have become so jaded that we can't produce a tacky equivalent to this. It would never make the screen.

Me and my brothers and sisters ran out of this movie in fear in 1960

[pgspat · 10/10 · 22 July 2005]

Yes, this is the movie we ran out of ... my younger sister crying and the rest of us equally scared out of our pants. For years on end we have remembered this movie but never been able to find it. Finally I got a copy on DVD and enjoyed watching the rest of the movie... a great 50s Blob movie and one that brings back memories of that day when me and my brothers and sisters went to the Saturday matinée and were scared out of our wits... having to leave soon after the greedy scientist loses his hand to the Blob after he goes back for the bag of gold jewels. This review has to be longer so without giving away the ending I will just say that the only disappointing part of the movie is that the Blob is kinda slow... and needs radioactivity to grow and move. I would have like for him to cause more death and destruction before the end of the movie. There are some cool graphic death scenes and plenty of comic relief from the dated but entertaining acting and even a tribal belly dance. Plenty of greedy evil crazed scientists too.

Ahhhhhh...those were the days!

[kullthevalusian · 6/10 · 26 February 2005]

We Italians have made lots of things in our history but the funniest of them all were our cheap exploitation movies...when we took whatever genre was all the rage in the international arenas and took it to extremes: monster movies, violent westerns, tough cop movies, zombie horrors, 'giallo' horrors, cannibal movies, sexploitation flicks. I find almost all reviews listed here to be kind and to the point so I am writing this one merely to add a colorful detail that will delight you monster buffs out there. Have you ever wondered what 'caltiki' was made up of? Rubber? Latex? Plastic? Paper-mache? No...no...no! 'It came from a butcher's shop'-Caltiki was nothing else but TRIPPA! That is, entrails...which have a place of prominence in many a tasteful recipe of "poor man's" Italian cuisine. The legend says that after days of shooting under intense lights the results were less than pleasant to the olfactory sense. MOVIES...THE STUFF DREAMS ARE MADE OF...;-DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Scary? Hardly, but it is fun.

[mhorg2018 · 5/10 · 24 May 2018]

As I read some of the other reviews, how kids were terrified by this, I have to laugh. I first saw it on TV when I was about 5, and even then found it inferior to The Blob. Having said that, it is a fun movie. The monster is creepy and for 1959, there are some really gruesome effects. I wish someone would re-release it with better dubbing. It seems that every foreign sf/horror/fantasy film from the 60's used the same six voices. This is a fun movie to see. In terms of Blob movies, I'd rate them: X-The Unknown, The Quatermass Xperiment, The Blob (58), The Blob (88). All fun movies.