Out now from the folks at The Film Detective:
Giant From the Unknown--The title character of this 1958 shocker is Vargas, an enormous, hulking, centuries-old Spanish conquistador who comes back from the dead. Played by former prizefighter Buddy Baer in a grotesque make-up by Universal master Jack Pierce, Vargas terrorizes the folks around California's Big Bear Lake.
This late-show perennial was the first, and probably the best, of the low-budget features made around that time by a Hawaiian-born TV commercial director named Richard Cunha; others include Frankenstein's Daughter, She Demons and Missile to the Moon. It's not a great movie by a long shot, but it has some capable vets in the cast, notably Bob Steele as the prickly sheriff and the redoubtable Morris Ankrum as the archaeologist, and it uses the atmospheric locations well.
Many of us have a soft spot for this absurd little programmer, and this blu-ray release, referred to as a "Deluxe Edition," really is sort of deluxe. Along with a fine new transfer, the disc is packed with special features, including the jolly but obsessively detailed commentary of historian Tom Weaver, who tells us about everything from some rather sad, sordid background on Buddy Baer to a link between the film and the 1957 Kentucky Derby.
Weaver also frequently turns the chatter over to guests, ranging from Larry Blamire of The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra to the late director Cunha himself, in pre-recorded interviews. There's a second commentary track featuring Gary Crutcher, the young actor whose character was whimsically named "Charlie Brown" in the film, and there are documentary shorts about Crutcher and Steele.
Admittedly a bit of overkill for a film on this scale, but fans will find it a giant deal.
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