The Alligator People (1959)
Directed by Roy Del Ruth
Starring Beverly Garland, Bruce Bennett, Lon Chaney Jr., George Macready, Frieda Inescort, Richard Crane, Douglas Kennedy.

As a young movie fan, we would get used to the fact that sometimes, just sometimes, the movie title didn’t exactly live up to what actually took place in the film. Yes, I know it’s hard to believe, but it did happen every now and then. Still does today, to be completely honest. But not with The Alligator People! So for that fact alone, you have to give the makers of this one credit! An alligator head on a human body now may get a snicker or laugh, but as a kid, it was just awesome. Even excluding that, there are many things about this film that still make it enjoyable today.

The story is told in a flashback, with the always enjoyable Beverly Garland playing a newlywed whose husband runs off as they are leaving for their honeymoon. After spending some time searching for him, she finally ends up at an old plantation down south, finding the address in some husband’s collage paperwork. But once she arrives, nobody seems to have heard of him. She knows something strange is going on and continues to snoop around, discovering more about her husband and his past.

Any fan of these kind of movies will recognize Garland, from her early work with Roger Corman like Swamp Women, Gunslinger, It Conquered the World (all in 1956), Not of this Earth (1957) or even Curt Siodmak’s Curucu, Beast of the Amazon (1956). She was always playing it straight, which means you have to give her even more credit for being able to do that with some of these films. The other most recognizable name here is Lon Chaney Jr., playing the drunken, hook-handed, handyman named Manon. While not sure how much some of the performance was acting, Chaney is still entertaining to watch. Especially when he’s shooting at the gators, or even running them over with his truck, all the while either laughing or screaming at them.

The man behind the look of the title monsters is Ben Nye, a big name when it comes to the world of makeup effects. This guy worked on films ranging from The King and I (1956) to The Fly (1958), always inventing different products to be used. One of his assistants on this film was Dick Smith, who is another iconic name in the world of makeup effects. Yes, the makeup here looks a little rubbery, but I think it still works for a nice alligator skin look. And yes, while the idea of putting an alligator shaped head on a human body might not be the best idea, when you’re a kid, that is exactly what you want to see! Even today, while it may put a smile on my face, I’m still enjoying this little picture.

This is not one that is at the top of everyone’s favorites list, but doesn’t take away from how much fun it is. Though I’m pretty sure some of these gators had their mouths taped shut during some scenes, but you got to give the actors a lot of credit for doing their job and trying to make an honest and straight picture, and they do just that. For a young monster kid, this was just what the mad doctor ordered!