EDITOR’S NOTE: Monster On the Campus was on Chiller Theater on Saturday, December 23, 1972 at 1:00 a.m. It also aired on Saturday, December 29, 1973; August 23, 1975 and March 12, 1977.

Released as a double feature with Blood of the Vampire, Monster On the Campus is about Dr. Donald Blake (Arthur Franz), a science professor who gets a coelacanth, which he refers to as “a living fossil, immune to the forces of evolution.” As he examines it, he’s cut by its teeth and passes out as Molly Riordan (Helen Westcott) drives him home.

That night, someone kills Molly, leaving her in a tree outside Blake’s home. Blake is found inside, passed out, by his fiancee Madeline Howard (Joanna Moore). Lt. Mike Stevens (Judson Pratt) and Detective Sgt. Eddie Daniels (Ross Elliot) take him to the station for questioning but he can’t remember anything.

All sorts of weirdness starts happening, like dragonflies growing big in size and the doctor accidentally smoking his own blood in his pipe. That’s when he figures out that the gamma rays in the ancient animal have preserved its blood and it can turn anyone into a devolved version. He thinks that he’s turning into a troglodyte, so he goes to his cabin and sets it up to take a photo if he walks across a wire. He does. He’s a caveman.

A caveman with an axe.

Director Jack Arnold made a lot of these science films, like Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Incredible Shrinking Man, It Came from Outer Space! and This Island Earth. He also made High School Confidential!, Boss N***** and finished his career directing episodes of The Love Boat, The Fall Guy and The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo. He also made 28 episodes of Gilligan’s Island. This was written by David Duncan, who scripted The Time Machine, Fantastic Voyage, the American script for Rodan, The Monster that Challenged the World and The Black Scorpion.

You can watch this on Tubi.