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Hamton (=Riccardo Freda);
Wr: Philip Just (=Filippo
Sanjust);
Pros: Bruno Vailati,
Exec Pro: Lionello Santi;
Phot: John Foam (=Mario
Bava);
Film Ed: Salvatore Billiteri;
Mus: Roman Vlad (=Roberto
Nicolosi).
SFX: Marie Foam (=Mario
Bava); Eugenio Bava (uncred).
US Version: Samuel Schneider
(Pro); Lee Kressel (Dir/Sup); Maurice Rosenblum (English dial).
Cast: John Merivale,
Didi Sullivan (=Perego), Gerard Herter, Daniele (=Daniela) Rocca
Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Daniel (=Daniele) Vargas, Victor (=Vittorio)
Andre, Blake Bernard (=Nerio Bernardi), Arthur Dominick (=Arturo
Dominici), Gay Pearl.
INTRODUCTION
Even more so than their British
counterparts, the Italian film industry were late in joining
the boom in science fiction cinema, initiated by the likes of
Irving Pichel’s Destination Moon (1950) and Christian
I. Nyby’s The Thing (1952), with only two genre-related
projects appearing on the scene, Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava’s
I Vampiri (1956), a reworking of the Countess Bathory
legend, with overtones of medical horror, and Paolo Heusch’s
La Morte Viene dallo Spazio (1958), which predates the
basic premise used by later Hollywood blockbusters like Ronald
Neame’s Meteor (1979), and Michael Bay’s Armageddon
(1998).
I Vampiri, began by director
Riccardo Freda but taken over and completed by the production’s
cinematographer Mario Bava (Le Fatiche di Ercole 1957), when
Freda abandoned the picture after a few days of filming, is
now considered a key work in the horror and sci-fi genres in
general, and Italian commercial filmmaking in particular. At
the time of its release, however, it was dismissed as a commercial
and critical failure. One of the reasons forward for this was
that domestic audiences and critics alike found the notion of
an Italian directing a horror movie, entirely ridiculous. Freda,
in particular took this reaction to heart, and emphasized the
English or American-sounding identities he adopted for his subsequent
works. This set a precedent for many of his fellow countrymen,
particularly in genres like the Western, where concealment of
a project’s true identity became very important.
The movie under review here,
Caltiki – Il Mostro Immortale, is another attempt
by Freda, with Bava, to break into an area of filmmaking usually
seen as the preserve of American and British studios, that of
the “monster-on-the-loose” subgenre, of which this
seems to have been the only Italian example for many years.
Learning from the debacle that was I Vampiri, the production
goes out of its way to obscure its European origins in terms
of content, setting and the identities of those involved.
SYNOPSIS
The ancient ruined city of
Tikel was the canter of the Mayan civilization in Mexico for
many centuries until 607 AD when the entire population suddenly
and mysteriously abandoned their home. In recent years various
archaeological expeditions have investigated the reasons behind
the migration, with little success. The few herdsmen who venture
near the metropolis talk of a legend whereby the Mayans fled
the wrath of an angry goddess called Caltiki. A new expedition
has descended on the city at the same time as increased activity
from a nearby volcano. A member of the team, Nieto, is seen
emerging from Tikel in a state of some distress, and heads back
to his camp. There he collapses in a tent, now completely delirious.
It transpires that he left earlier that day with a colleague,
Ulmer, to explore a grotto, and that the other man has not returned.
The leader of the expedition, John Fielding has his wife Ellen
tend to Nieto, as he organizes a search party for Ulmer. The
stricken man begins raving about an ancient deity called Caltiki.
Fielding, together with fellow archaeologist Max, and a journalist
called Bob leave for the grotto, guided by local natives. As
they leave, Ellen and Max’s mixed-race girlfriend Linda
discuss the Caltiki legend and the belief among the Indians
that the archaeologists have awakened evil forces, and that
the natives may abandon them. Nieto’s condition worsens.
The expedition makes it way into the heart of the Mayan city,
eventually venturing into a deep cavern. Seismic tremors appear
to have opened an entrance to some sort of chamber. They enter
and walk down a steep flight of stairs and are astonished to
discover a large pool next to a sacrificial altar, dominated
by a statue to Caltiki. Max runs a Geiger counter over the chamber
and discovers a source of radioactivity that seems to be coming
from within the body of water. Ulmer’s camera is discovered
at the edge of the water, and it is decided to take it back
to camp and develop the film in it, before coming back with
diving gear to look for the lost comrade. Unknown to them, Ulmer’s
badly decomposed corpse is located on the far shore of the pool.
Back at camp, the film is developed and the group watch it in
one of the tents. It appears to show Ulmer and Nieto exploring
the ruins and later the ceremonial chamber, with Ulmer operating
the camera, when something offscreen attacks Ulmer while Nieto
shoots blindly at it. That night John and Ellen Fielding have
a blazing row about the wisdom of staying with the party, with
her deciding to leave for Mexico the next morning. Max, listening
nearby, later makes advances on Ellen who dismisses him out
of hand. Bill, the journalist decides to film a secret native
ritual dance, despite warning of dire consequences by Linda.
He goes ahead anyway, but is soon spotted and the dance ends
abruptly. He quickly leaves. Linda and Max have an argument
about his play for Ellen. She and her husband later make up,
but agrees that she should leave for Mexico City the next day.
The following morning, at the ceremonial chamber, Bob dons his
diving gear and enters the pool, watched by the others. There
at the bottom, he finds many skeletons, all adorned with priceless
golden jewelry…
REVIEW
As part of the makers’
subterfuge to convince domestic audiences Calitiki –
Il Mostro Immortale was anything but an Italian production,
Lux and Galatea managed to secure co-production financing from
independent American producer Samuel Schneider’s Climax
Pictures, so that not only could achieve large-scale distribution
through Allied Artists, but also a more varied cast selection
than would normally be the case for such a venture. Thus the
production has acquired the talents of Anglo-Canadian performer
John Merivale (Circus of Horrors 1960) as the leading
male, along with German import (and regular performer in international
co-productions throughout the 1960s) Gerard Herter (New York
Chiama Superdrago 1966). This was in addition to the largely
Anglicised names of the Italian cast members, whereby female
lead Didi Perego becomes Didi Sullivan, Vittorio Andre (La
Morte ha Fatto L’Uovo 1967) is credited as Victor Andre
and Nerio Bernardi (Satanik 1968) becomes Blake Bernard.
The Anglicization extends to the crew with Riccardo Freda and
Mario Bava listed as Robert Hamton and John Foam respectively.
In a move away from the European
locales featured in I Vampiri, Felippo Sanjust’s
screenplay takes plain in contemporary Mexico. This serves two
purposes, an exotic backdrop, steeped in ancient myth and legend,
ideal for exploitation by genre filmmakers, and it relatively
close proximity to the United States, where the country had
been represented in many Hollywood productions, so that what
are perceived as American icons by the movie’s intended
audience, such as automobiles, computers and the role of the
military, can be introduced into the work, emphasizing its international
credentials. In fact, outside of some travelogue footage of
Mayan and Aztec ruins, location filming is actually restricted
to more budget-friendly and accessible Spain.
Even though at this time, Italian
contributions to the science fiction genre were very thin on
the ground, Caltiki – Il Mostro Immortale, shows
that some filmmakers were very aware of the conventions and
trends in the field on both sides of the Atlantic.
In the year prior to the release
of Bava and Freda’s work, one of the most successful (and
enduring) titles to merge from Hollywood’s sci-fi cycle
was Irwin S. Yeaworth’s The Blob. There, an amorphous
red mass, encased in a meteorite, crashes to earth, whereupon
it proceeds to absorb any unwary humans it comes into contact
with, eventually causing it to grow to an enormous size and
terrorize the residents of a small town. Screenwriter Filippo
Sanjust (La Freccia d’Or 1962) retains the basic
premise of an organic mass on the rampage, and reworks a number
of key sequences from Yeaworth’s production, notably where
the Gerard Herter’s character has a piece of the material
attached to his arm, eating away at it, and the entity breaking
out of its glass case in a laboratory and embarking on the rampage.
However, two other productions,
both from Britain’s Hammer studios, also seem to have had
a bearing on how the movie would turn out. The first is X-The
Unknown (1956), originally a project for Joseph Losey (The
Damned 1961) but taken over in its early stages and completed
by Leslie Norman. That picture features a large organic mass
erupting from a fissure deep within the earth, and like the
one reviewed here, the life-form is shown to feed and thrive
on radioactive emissions, and dissolves its victims. Direct
allusions to the Hammer piece include a sequence where scientists
feed the mass controlled amounts of gamma radiation, and are
astonished to see it rapidly grow in size, and the scenes where
the archaeologists explore the underground chamber, checking
for radiation with their Geiger counters.
The other Hammer production
referenced is Val Guest’s The Quatermass Xperiment
(1955), credited with reviving the fortunes of the troubled
company, and helping establish it as a major force in British
commercial cinema. Probably the major plot element derived from
that work is that involving Gerard Herter’s character infected
by the mass, and slowly being driven insane as it enters his
bloodstream, eventually corrupting his mind. Material familiar
from the 1955 production includes the scenes between Herter
and his girlfriend (Daniela Rocca, La Vendetta dei Barbari
1961) as he lies in the hospital bed, his escaping in to the
open country, pursued by the police, and where he has to fight
the compulsion to kill a small child who almost crosses his
path.
While many of the features contained
within Caltiki – Il Mostro Immortale may be very
familiar to aficionados of n1950s genre cinema, the film does
contain several imaginative and creative concepts of its own.
One of the most intriguing is that entity discovered in the
well of a Mayan ceremonial chamber is not merely ancient but
in fact millions of years old, easily predating mankind’s
presence on the planet, and most other forms of life. So ancient
and powerful is the life-from considered by the Mayans that
they have given it the name Caltiki, and worship it as a deity,
with temples constructed to honor it, and sacrifices made to
placate it.
The Mayan civilization also
based a prophecy around Caltiki, which predicted that when a
particular comet appeared in the night sky, that the divinity
would rise up and destroy the world. The link with the comet
suggests that in the remote past, the entity’s origins
may have been extraterrestrial, or possibly the radioactive
emissions from it played a part in activating Caltki’s
evolutionary process.
There is some circumstantial
evidence contained in the screenplay that the Mayans managed
to entomb their deity and fled the city in order to escape its
influence, hoping that its existence would be forgotten about
over time, and the prophecy remain unfulfilled. In a concept
that looks forward to Stanley Kurbrick’s 2001: A Space
Odyssey (1968), it is implied that the sentient Caltiki,
because of its great age, would be very willing to sit patiently
to wait for members of far future generations to appear and
reactivate it, in order to perform its role in the prophecy.
Some reviewers have suggested
a connection with the works of American fantastic author H.P.
Lovecraft, in that Caltiki is a god from Earth’s ancient
past, possibly one of the first ever beings to appear on the
planet, whose sole objective is to consume the world, giving
it something in common with the Elder Gods who used to inhabit
the planet in Lovecraft’s writings, and are waiting to
reclaim it. While this is an interesting idea, the connection
between this film and the universe created by Lovecraft is tenuous.
In a variation on the life-forms
depicted in X-The Unknown and The Blob, not only
does the titular creature grow to enormous size, eventually,
like conventional size, it reproduces itself by splitting in
two, which begins an endless cycle, culminating in a veritable
army of voracious blobs. There are indications that in addition
to thriving on water, the entity requires large amounts of water
to survive, as evidenced by its normal habitat in the deep ceremonial
pool, the infected Herter’s obsession with the jug of water
on his bedside cabinet, and his scrambling drink from any available
source of water, including filthy mud pools, when he is on the
run.
One intriguing notion that is
not developed to any degree involves the role that Herter’s
character plays in the proceedings. In dialogue exchanges between
him and his girlfriend, he talks about a powerful, new and destructive
force that exists within his body. There are two possibilities
here, firstly that Caltiki has infected Herter to use as some
sort of human vessel, allowing it to move among the human race,
as a kind of hybrid being, to promote whatever scheme it has
for the planet. Secondly, the character may be being used as
a vessel by the entity to distribute its offspring over a far
wider area, once they are activated, creating much more devastation
than would normally be the case. Sadly, this plot thread leads
nowhere, and Herter ends up merely being blob fodder.
There has always been some debate
over how much Riccardo Freda contributed to the completed version
of Caltiki – Il Mostro Immortale. Reportedly, the
temperamental Freda quit the project after only two or three
days of principal photography, leaving the movie in limbo. The
producers managed to convince Mario Bava to take the reins (something
he had done on more than one occasion in the past) and so he
is largely responsible for the completed work. Freda’s
scenes seem to involve the hoary melodramatics of Merivale and
Perego’s fraught marriage, with Herter lusting after the
latter while his longtime girlfriend looks on, deeply concerned.
Showing little in the way of imagination or style, Freda’s
stilted direction slows the narrative pace down quite significantly,
and will prove challenging for less tolerant viewers, especially
so early on in the plot. Matters are not helped by tedious dialogue
exchanges in the original Italian print, and atrocious (often
nonsensical) translations in the English-language print, something
that pervades the whole enterprise. Freda also ineptly handles
an “exotic” native dance routine featuring Gay Pearl
(Il Ladro di Bagdad 1961), which appears to feature a
much stronger African influence than anything from South America.
With the production in some
disarray following the departure of its original director, it
was inevitable that his replacement would be required to cut
corners in order to complete the project. This has resulted
in a rather short running time of 76 minutes, with several events,
such as the blob’s destructive rampage through a laboratory,
with loss of life, largely taking place off-screen, with only
brief visual cues (shadows of panicked personnel seen reflected
on walls) being used. There is also evidence of padding to fill
up the meager running time, with much expositional dialogue
between Perego and Rocca , and the introduction of a subplot
where Merivale is arrested by the cops for speeding, on his
way to rescue his wife, detained by them and then breaking his
way out of gaol.
While clearly in the science
fiction genre, the latter half of Filippo Sanjust’s screenplay
suddenly veers off into film noir, where a crazed Herter
invades Merivale’s home to terrorize and kidnap his wife,
ending up shooting his devoted girlfriend to death. The earlier
sequences featuring this subplot are very weak, but Bava stages
the scenes in the mansion with aplomb, emphasizing the double
threat faced by Perego, in the form of Caltiki and its offspring,
and the human monster that Herter has become.
Film noir is noted for
its non-naturalistic, expressionist visual style, with much
use made of light and dark, together with the scale of sets.
This style of filmmaking is very prevalent throughout Calitiki
– Il Mostro Immortale, which sets it apart from the
majority of genre fare produced by Hollywood and the UK, which
tended to favor a more realist, sometimes semi-documentary approach.
Among the most striking use
of expressionist technique are sequences showing the archaeologists
exploring the Mayan ceremonial chamber, featuring cavernous,
oversized sets easily dwarfing the performers, with Bava using
low-angled camerawork to emphasize this. Also important are
incongruous architectural features and ornamentation, which
seem to serve no other purpose than to disorientate. The low-angled
shots, coupled with actors being spot-lit from below (very effective
in illustrating the advanced corruption of Gerard Herter’s
character), are also very well employed at the climax in Merivale’s
mansion.
Mario Bava is considered one
of European cinema’s great stylists, and this perception
is supported by the creative way he employs lighting, camera
angles and off-kilter compositions to create an unsettling atmosphere
in key sequences. Other material that shows his master of film
craft include Arturo Dominici (La Danza Macabre 1964)
emerging from the Mayan city during a volcanic eruption. Here
diffused backlighting is used, along with physical smoke effects,
to create a truly eerie and otherworldly atmosphere, and Bob
the journalist (Daniele Vargas, Histoires Extraordinaires
1968) exploring the bottom of the pool. Outside of the elaborate
effects set-pieces seen toward the end of the film, this is
probably one of the high points of Caltiki – Il Mostro
Immortale, with outstanding use of shimmering light, atmospheric
photography and a highly evocative score by Robert Nicolodi
(I Tre Della Paura 1963), another of the enterprise’s
greatest assets, combining to create a truly macabre aura to
the proceedings. Some viewers may be reminded of a similar sequence
that Bava worked on toward the end of his career, in Dario Argento’s
Inferno (1979), where a character explorers a flooded,
sunken room located within an apartment complex.
Caltiki – Il Mostro
Immortale remains one of the most graphic mainstream movies
of its era, in terms of gross out effects. Indications as to
the effects of coming into contact with the entity, become apparent
early on when the desiccated corpse of the missing Ulmer is
glimpsed by the water’s edge, apparently stripped of all
its flesh. Later, just how deadly the life-form can be is illustrated
when Daniele Vargas is attacked underwater by some unseen force.
After he is dragged ashore, his mask is pulled off to reveal
that his face has melted, leaving only a few shards of skin
and his eyeballs. Horrifically, despite the extent of his injuries,
he appears to be still alive and conscious of what is happening
to him.
Worse is to follow for Gerard
Herter’s character. Firstly while attempting to grab valuable
artifacts, he is attacked by Caltiki, and has to be hacked free
from the creature, with a large piece of organic matter still
attached to his arm. Later, at the hospital, the growth has
expanded and has to be cut, and then peeled, from his arm, revealing
that only bone and some muscle tissue remains where his limb
should be. Finally, at the climax, an insane Herter begins shooting
blindly at the group of blobs now taking over the mansion, and
is eventually overpowered by some of them, who then consume
him in a slow, agonizing manner. Again, even though most of
his flesh seems to have been completely dissolved by the life-form,
he appears to be still alive for some considerable time, adding
to the power of the sequence. If this material had the resources
to be shot in colour, then the film would have experienced censorship
problems in many territories for years after its production.
While the effects work in these
sequences is certainly memorable, where Bava really comes into
his own, regarding technical execution, is in the use of model
work. This is especially true of the spectacular climax in which
hordes of blobs systematically destroy Merivale’s mansion,
trapping his wife and child in the process. Here a large-scale
mock-up was constructed not only of the house (reputedly based
on Bava’s own family home), but also the interior, with
a great deal of attention to detail paid, with furniture and
fixtures and fittings painstakingly constructed with great attention
paid to detail. Other impressive use of miniature work includes
a truck full of gasoline being used burn the original blob creature
at the Mayan temple, which also features some striking pyrotechnical
activity. Pyrotechnics and models also feature heavily in the
final assault on the mansion when, in true Hollywood style,
the army is brought in to destroy the blobs, using tanks armed
with flame-throwers, who make short shrift of the monsters.
The level of achievement in this and other scenes, involving
physical effects is easily on a par with most American genre
product of the time, often superior, and certainly employed
far more adventurously.
It’s to Bava’s credit
that in addition to his abilities as an effects designer, his
directorial skills mean that the climax is an exciting and tense
piece of work.
Caltiki itself is an impressively
gross creation, made almost entirely of a job lot of animal
offal that the director managed to acquire. While big and awkward
looking, Bava does manage to convince the audience that the
entity is a genuine and deadly threat, especially when optical
effects are used to show how rapidly it can grow, given the
right conditions, and collapsible miniatures to illustrate is
full destructive power. Interestingly the image of the final
giant amoeba seen against the horizon, and under attack by the
army, is reminiscent of images from Inoshiro Honda’s Gojira
(1954).
Despite its troubled production
history, some of which is reflected in the finished work, Caltiki
– Il Mostro Immortale proved successful enough for
Bava in the following year to be offered his choice of project
on which to make his solo directorial debut. That turned out
to be La Maschera del Demonio aka Black Sunday, whose
worldwide success became something of a cultural phenomenon,
making a star of British actress Barbara Steele, and starting
the whole cycle of Italian gothic horror of the 1960s.
Portions of the plot for Bava
and Freda’s movie appear to have been recycled for Joe
Chapelle’s Phantoms (1998), adapted by Dean R. Koontz
from his own novel.
-Iain McLachlan
Chroma-Noize cult sci-fi and horror movie reviews:
http://www.geocities.com/bigfatpav2000/
Special thanks to Iain McLachlan.for
allowing me to use this review.
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