About Popcorn Guy Expertise Absolutely a freak for horror films... Universal Monsters thru the Fangoria splatter era, special interest in Sam Raimi and Tom Savini work..
Experience a full collection of back issues of Fangoria, and a video rack full of shockers...
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Back in the late 50's, or early 60's, I remember as a child watching a "B" monster movie I thought I remembered titled "Tal Kikki". It was about a monster found by treasure seekers in an old Mexican cave used by either Aztecs or Mayans or such as a sacrificial area. The monster was very much like the "Blob", and a piece of it was taken back to the states for study, where it grew and started eating people, consuming an entire household, until finally destroyed by fire. I've searched online extensively and can find no trace of this movie. Please help!!!
Thank You,
Scotty
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Hi, Scott...
Now, you have me in a bit of a quandry here.... "The Monster of Piedras Blancas," made in 1959, had a cave monster, but it was more like the Creature from the Black Lagoon than The Blob...
Anything else you can tell me about this movie? Actors? Was it an American movie? send me a follow-up with anything else you can possibly remember...
PCG
Hey PCG...
Thanks for the quick reply! There's not much more I can offer, other than a description of the film, which I remember quite well. I do believe it was an American made film, but I couldn't tell you any of the actors names. I remember the monster was a blob-like creature made up of red blood cells. The team of archeologists or whatever sent a diver to the bottom of the underground lake to look for treasure and/or artifacts. While down on the bottom, he started tugging frantically at his tether to be pulled back up, but when they retrieved him, he was nothing but a bloody skeleton in his diving suit. Then the creature reared up out of the lake and attacked the rest of the party, engulfing the arm of one of them. Someone grabbed an axe, or something and chopped off his arm to save him, and in the process obtained a small bit of the creature, which they saved and brought back to a lab for analysis. The sample of creature grew in the lab, eating many before finally being destoyed by the army's flame-throwers. That is all the info I can provide...this is really driving me nuts, I can't seem to find anyone other than my sister who remembers this movie! Hope you can help!!!
Thanks...
Scotty
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Hi, Scotty...
I'm striking out everywhere I turn here... are you sure this wasn't a made-for-TV movie? Iknow you said you thought this was an American movie, but do you remember if it looked like the dilogue was dubbed into English? Like those old Godzilla movies? I'm asking because, while I have no doubt you saw this movie, I cannot for the life of me, find anything about it, and this is a first, to not even find a hint of anything you mention. You gave me several keywords that should have at least steered me somewhere, but I'm stonewalled here...
I'm not giving up, mind you... just wanted to let you know it's not looking great right now...
Still on the case,
PCG
Hi, PCG,
And thanks for hanging in there! It's very frustrating in this age of internet knowledge not to be able to find any kind of reference at all about something. There's really not much more I can give you...I was only in 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade back then, and I'm 51 now. I couldn't tell you if it was dubbed or not. Did they even make "made for tv" movies back then? If it was foreign, wouldn't there still be some way to get reference to it? Is there someone who can tell me why I'm so obsessed with this one stupid movie?!!! I think it is because it was my first horror movie, and it scared the pants off me! Oh well, any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Scotty
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Scotty, Scotty, Scotty...
Tell me how cool this is, partner.....
The movie you are looking for is called "Caltiki-il monstro immortal".....the American title was "Caltiki the Undying Monster." (pretty easy translation, actually...) It's an Italian movie made in 1959. The thing that was hanging me up is that it is remarkable similar in detail to a British film called "The Quatermass Experiment." It was also released in '59 as part of a double bill with a more-legendary 50's sci-fi film called "The Hypnotic Eye," so it's not considered "up to par" with that classic "Bad movie" movie. From whatall I've found, though, it seems like it has quite a following in the true sci-fi fandom. It also amazes me that this is not readily available, seeign as how Mario Bava, a legendary Italian horror director, was the cinematographer, and uncredited director after the original director walked off the set, made it, possibly his first film...
Here's a plot summary from a fan -
"A camp of archaeologists journey to an underground grotto where several of their colleagues met an uncertain doom. Finding nothing there but the movie camera the team had used to catalog their exploits, they return to camp and develop the film, hoping some answers may be revealed. They discover their colleagues had been attacked by something horrible. Instead of sending in the National Guard to sort out the details, they take it upon themselves to find out what happened and return to the grotto. Bad choice.
Next, one of the team puts on scuba gear and dives into the grotto's pool, hoping to find evidence of the other team's disappearance (!). He finds the floor of the pool littered with human remains, but since valuable artifacts are also littered among them, he decides to stick around and do some shopping. Bad choice, he soon discovers, as Caltiki has been guarding the sacred treasures and peels the meat off the divers face like the rind from an orange.
Next, Caltiki rises from the pool and attacks the party. A greedy man named Max decides to go back after some treasure he dropped during his hasty retreat and trips, using Caltiki to steady himself and losing his arm as a result. Bad choice, big time. To free Max's arm from the monster, a friend grabs an axe and hacks away at Caltiki instead of the arm. Bad choice, the friend will later discover, as Max must then be taken to the local hospital with a chunk of the monster still clinging to his arm.
Next, a team of doctors peel the chunk of protoplasm from the remains of Max's arm, revealing only denuded bone underneath. Instead of incinerating the chunk and disposing of it once and for all, Max's friend decides to play scientist and takes it to a lab for analysis. Bad, bad choice. Worst of all, the lab he takes it to is located in his home where his wife and little girl reside. Bad choice, unbelievably STUPID choice we discover as the film's conclusion bears out.
The last film I can remember where so many inexcusable lapses in judgement were made by the cast was Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO. Absolutely NO ONE made wise choices in that feature, which only proves that Caltiki's appearances on video being restricted to 16mm PD transfers is no excuse. Let's lobby the American Film Institute to restore the original negative to pristine condition and release it as a special edition DVD so it can take its place in cinema history as a B-movie curio."
I did search for this thing on Ebay, though, and, sure enough, it is available on DVD and VHS... now, saying that, let me say this... these are NOT authorized copies... translation - these are black market (a.k.a., illegal) copies. That being said, I own several (a.k.a. over a hundred) such films. Buy at your own risk, but, for my money, if you want a film badly enough, you'll buy it. I doubt the FBI is going to stake out your house because you buy a copy of "Caltiki."
Sorry this took so long to find, and I apologize for not broadening my horizon more. I was limiting my search to Mexican/Spanish films, due to yor description. It occurred to me to run Italy into the mix when I got your last follow-up, and boom, there it was... Enjoy, buddy... this was a fun search!
Let me know when you get a copy!
PCG
Popcorn Guy! I bow, hat off to you my man! Thank you so much for hanging in there and finding this. I can't praise and thank you enough! I'm also feeling a little dumb right now, when I realize that through all my searches, and all the changes in spelling I tried, I never tried a C instead of K to begin the word! When I typed in a google search spelling it the way you did, I came up with so much! I'm surprised that the search engine didn't prompt me towards that spelling, though, as it has before in other searches when it would prompt "are you sure you don't mean...? I'm also pleasantly surprised to read so many other reviews that felt the way I did about how the movie was really so good for a bad movie! And how effective it was in scaring me to death, and still sticks in the dark corners of my mind. I'm definately going to order a copy, get a big bag of popcorn, bring my grandson over, turn out the lights, and revisit a very old friend. Thanks again...you are the man!
Scotty
Answer Hi, Scotty, and thanks for the good words... Just so you know, I ordered my copy of CalTiki about tn minutes ago... curiosity grabbed the better of me, and I had to have it... I am glad we had some success, after all my wandering around...
Let me know when you get to see it. Dying to know if it still scares you...
