Back when I was young this movie used to be on television frequently and I watched it with my aunt Carol. She is a thoughtful, sensitive woman and during the scene where Max (Gerald Haerter) runs back to grab the bag of gold and has his arm absorbed by Caltiki my aunt cautioned me "You see? That wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been greedy." So she found a way to teach me one of Life's lessons via an Italian monster movie! Meanwhile I like this movie because it is one of the best "blob" movies around (I don't count THE H-MAN as a blob movie because the H-beings are intelligent). These days the age of the movie shows. A computer takes up an entire room and is referred to as "an electric brain", poster art depicts the wounded Max as a Frankensteinian style mutant and serial buffs will recognise the scene of a car plunging off a cliff as coming from KING OF THE ROCKETMEN (1949)! Still, we watch these movies for the monster, right? Caltiki is an effective monster but such a messy eater. Unlike THE BLOB who absorbed all his (its?) victims Caltiki just takes the good stuff and spits out the bones. The scene of one victim being crushed and then absorbed is especially memorable. Lamberto Bava, son of Mario Bava who (it is said) finished this film after Ricardo Freda walked off the set (I heard a similar story about THE DEVIL'S COMMANDMENT) once recalled that the house destroyed by Caltiki at the end was actually a model of his father's real home and the miniature furniture was contributed by Mario's father Eugenio. That explains the meticulous attention to detail in the miniature sets. All in all a very well done movie and worth seeing again to-day. It used to pop up now and then on Showtime and would someone please hurry up and put it out on video? Oh and Aunt Carol . . .thanks for watching this with me so many times.
Review of Caltiki, the Immortal Monster
