Day 10 of the Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge is Unhead Until…It’s too late! Your last second will be your loudest. We’re looking for the quietest non-silent movie or one where the enemy hunts by sound. It seemed like most people would just pick A Quiet Place and since I’ve been using this month to discover new movies, I again reached out to help. Bill from Drive-In Asylum and Groovy Doom was, as always, gracious and full of knowledge. He also knows just how much I love Ingrid Pitt.
In the Greek countryside, archaeologist Dr. Pete Asilov and Professor Andre are trying to find a treasure in an abandoned cave. This uncovers a reptile-like creature that soon vanishes.
Andre’s housekeeper Calliope warns him that there are curses and angry spirits and monsters in the cave, but he doesn’t listen. When the rest of his business partners arrive — bringing Ingrid Pitt in her first screen role — he keeps pushing, despite further warnings, the decayed body of a cavewoman, a set of bones and one of the men being killed by the creature. Soon, they’ll be more worried about staying alive than they are as to whether or not they get the gold.
For a movie that bills itself as an SQ Picture (Shiver and Shake, Quiver and Quake), this is a pretty silent affair. That is, until the girls just randomly decide to dance for the boys. Oh yeah — the professor’s niece Maria is played by Jess Franco’s muse Soledad Miranda, so that makes this movie a million times better than it would be otherwise.
There’s a great near-silent sequence where Calliope is stalked by the reptilian monster (which could also have fit into yesterday’s there). And hey, look at that lobby card! So I guess perhaps there’s a little more going for this film — like the tension when everyone is barricaded in the house and the allusions to the atomic age — than just Ingrid Pitt and Soledad Miranda.