The Hideous Sun Demon (1958)

Well, this one checks most of the boxes:

• Cold War hysteria and Atomic Age menace ✔
• Stock military film footage totally unrelated to the movie
• Men and women dressed to the hilt ✔
• Beautiful women with big breasts who instantly fall in love with Handsome Men✔
• Blatant sexism and objectification of Women✔
• A bumbling Professor or Doctor with a plan to save the World ✔
• Really, really bad monsters or robots in rubber suits or ridiculous, low-budget, clunky gear (this one is actually better than most)✔
• High-ranking, befuddled Military Officers with pointers
• Giant Spiders, Bugs or Lizards that threaten all of civilization
• Cigarette smoking by everyone, except for the Monsters✔

After starring in the terrible B movie, The Astounding She-Monster (1957), Robert Clark thought that he could do better, so he directed and starred in this monster flick. I haven’t seen She-Monster, but I did watch Sun Demon, so his previous film must be really, really bad. Now of course this film is bad, but it is watchable for the usual reasons (See pic below).

Now Dr. Gilbert McKenna is an atomic research scientist, but he is also a high-strung souse, kinda like Don Birnam in The Lost Weekend. He apparently was careless and became exposed to a massive dose of radiation during a routine procedure. The effect of the radiation is that it turned Gil into a violent, scaly reptilian monster when he was exposed to sunlight. 

Needless to say, this unfortunate turn of events did not help his depression or for him to drink any less, as he shunned medical help and support from his girlfriend. He then holed up in his seashore mansion to become even more morose, drink more, and make more bad decisions. One was to leave the safety of his mansion, drive to an all-night bar, drink even more, and become infatuated with a buxom blond piano player and singer. Unfortunately, she has a gangster boyfriend who is not happy with the incubating situation. After a brief scuffle, they escape and, of course, they both instantly fall in love and go for a drive to a beach to drink, smoke and fool around. It was an all-nighter, an you can guess what comes next. Whoops! Sunlight!

So, Gil panics and tears off to the the safety and darkness of his mansion, leaving Tits stranded on the beach. She is not happy. So, Dr. McKenna turns into the monster, grunts and growls, throttles a rat who was just in his way, and hunkers down in his dark basement. Meanwhile, Girlfriend #1 has come to the mansion and finds Gil sobbing in the basement, but back in human form. She convinces him to let the doctor and professor to come and try to help him. They do, and examine him, and give him strict instructions to not drink and to not leave the mansion. After they leave, he immediately gets drunk, leaves the mansion, and goes back to the bar, where an angry Tits and her gangster crew are there. Whoops, another bad decision, and Gil gets the snot beat out of him.

Yes, The Hideous Sun Demon is a top-tier horror movie for continuous bad decisions, but it gets much worse. After the beating, Trudy (Tits) falls in love with Gil again and takes him back to her apartment. Gil, of course goes along for more heavy breathing, totally forgetting about the imminent sunrise that will come streaming thru Trudy’s apartment window. Whoops! He turns into the Sun Demon again and subsequently kills George, Trudy’s gangster buddy, who has come looking for them. Wash, Rinse, Repeat, as Gil is back again at the dark mansion with the Doc, The Professor and Girlfriend #1. Now the police are on his trail for the killing.

That is about it for the plot of this movie, what little there is. To his credit, Robert Clark did a decent job of acting, playing a twitching and jerking nervous wreck, without a modicum of hope for his plight. I will not spoil the ending, even though it richly deserves it. There is an inexplicable scene with the monster befriending a little girl, but she survives with a better fate than the little one in Robot Monster From Outer Space. Fortunately, this film did not end Robert Clark’s career, but it rightfully should have.

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4.5/10.0 With the Goatesians Rating of Maybe worth a watch.