Oily, smarmy Charles Conway (John Carradine) is a mad scientist obsessedwith discovering the secret to immortality. In his isolated mansion deep in the heart of nowhere, he conducts sinister experiments on society's forgotten victims - lovely girls with no families for the most part, but also uncontrollable mental cases and escaped criminals. Assisted by icy Dr. Sharon and old puddin' head Lobo (the unforgettable Tor Johnson), Conway develops a super gland which,when surgically implanted into a beautiful young girl, will supposedly render her immortal, but which instead turns her into human beef jerky. The next victim in line is lovely Allison Hayes, who takes a break from playing bitchy vixens and 50 foot tall women to play the role of innocent and depressed Grace. Cansuper-manly handsome police stud Mark Houston save her in time?This is a very silly film with some pretty good acting. Arthur Batanides goes over the top in his role of hyper freak Danny, and Lobo lumbers around the set like a giant toddler, spouting such memorable lines as: "Time for go to bed!" JohnCarradine looks a little embarrassed by the whole thing, but they try to make the best of a bad, cheap situation. Allison Hayes is sweet and ultra-feminine as Grace, running around in see-through nighties, looking adoringly up at Markand sobbing a lot. Myron Healey seems to be wishing that he'd been DanaAndrews in "Laura," and does a halfway decent imitation as the street-smartdetective who gets the girl. The tension builders consist of a twitchy guy in a basement and John Carradine plays Bach on the organ over and over andOVER again to set the proper mood. If the mood was supposed to be restlessirritation, then I guess he succeeded. But really, this isn't a bad little film all in all. Fans of Ed Wood's brand of schlock may very well enjoy it, if only to see Tor Johnson playing - what else? - a big bald weirdo. On a scale of 10. I'd give it an even 5.

When compared to films such as Cave Dwellers and Manos the Hands of Fate, the Unearthly was not really too bad, but it still had problems. Mainly it seemed like the film was dragging along most of the time, and the plot seemed convoluted. If it hadn't been for Joel and the 'bots, I would've probably fallen asleep about halfway through the film.

This movie was dumb at best. The whole plot - a mad scientist develops a gland which gives the owner immortality - is a dumb one. In a very predictable move, things go wrong and anyone who gets the gland becomes a monster. Avoid this one unless you're watching the MST3K version.

Before I begin my review, I would like to say a few words about Tor Johnson. Tor Johnson... ah, yes, Tor Johnson, the immovable slab of granite. His illustrious movie covering John Carradine, Ed Wood, and even Coleman Francis. Oh, his roles often resembled each other, all right, and he never really said much, but when he spoke, the audience listened. "Time for go to bed," he would say, and darn it if the characters in the movie didn't listen to him. And his speaking role-heavy movies such as the masterful "Plan 9 from Outer Space" proved him the versatile actor he really was. If he were to say "I'm a big boy now, Johnny," as he so spiritedly did in that movie, you believed him. However, though many would disagree, it could be said that Tor reached his performing peak in the movie "The Unearthly" as the unyielding lab assistant Lobo. His major lines, such as "I found him in he garden" and "time for go to bed" have retained permanently a place in the annals of great movie lines along with "Flag on the moon... how'd it get there?" from "Night Train to Mundo Fine." However, it is "time for go to bed" that especially stands out. Never has a single phrase conveyed so much emotion, so much feeling, so much hidden meaning. In all seriousness, the movie "The Unearthly" places itself firmly alongside such classics as "Manos: Hands of Fate" and "Hobgoblins" as being one of the worst movies ever, although it remains somewhat more bearable than most. The plot, revolving around the demented experiments of John Carradine's mad scientist character, is ludicrous, while much of the filming focuses on disfigured faces and the movie's leading ladies. Above all, this is an unpleasent movie, and wanting to turn it off is about as unavoidable as a gag reflex (watching it is about as fun, too). Have fun.