POSSIBLE SPOILERS: I'm pretty lenient towards makers of low-budget horror films, especially from the 1950s and 60s. I try to give the benefit of the doubt that the makers of most films truly wanted to make the best film possible with the resources available. That having been said, after a lifetime of seeing B&W stills from THE VULTURE and assuming it was shot in black & white, I was surprised to discover it was shot in color, by Stephen Dade, the cinematographer who also had shot DR. BLOOD'S COFFIN and WAR-GODS OF THE DEEP, among others. This film has excellent photography and decent sets. The budget is said to be about $200,000 Canadian dollars which wasn't much for a movie even in 1967 but I can't believe anyone would have spent even that much to make such a nothing movie as this one. I understand it was released theatrically in black & white and the black & white stills make it seem more atmospheric than it is in color. According to the credits, it was shot in England although it is considered a Canadian film. The locations are nice taking place in Cornwall I think. From what I can recall of the plot, it has an involved storyline that is just some incredible hooey. I think anyone over the age of 10 would have a hard time swallowing this wacky storyline and the creature of the title is just plain laughable. Now, this isn't the only film to offer a laughable creature but I can't believe anyone really thought they could get away with this ridiculous monster. It would have been barely acceptable even in some creaky film from the 1930s, much less from a film made as late as 1967. This is not to say that the filmmakers went out of their way to try to even make something that could be shown in one complete shot. It's implied through editing. Some people say that monster movies are scarier if you don't show the monster. Well, this one could only be scarier if you never saw the monster, although as I said before, you don't get much of a look at it - but even if they had sprung for some full-body suit or even a stop-motion animation model of the creature as it appears in this film, it would still be a laughable, cartoonish design. I assume this is an attempt to do something along the lines of THE FLY. It has some gobbledygook about transmutation and a big underground lab with a creepy skeleton sitting at the controls (which was the first photo I ever saw from this movie). I assume IMDb has the year of release right. I've seen it listed as having been produced as early as 1966 and as late as 1968. It's hard to find these days and it's even hard to find online reviews of the film, probably because there just isn't much reason to be interested in the film. I was curious about it based on the publicity stills and I had read that the title monster was lousy but having seen it, I know I'd never bother to waste the time it would take to watch it again. Only worth seeking out if you are a fan of some member of the cast or if you are a completist who wishes to see every single horror/sci-fi movie regardless of quality.
Review of The Vulture
