Welcome back to Dark Corners streaming. "The Trollenberg Terror," also known as "The Crawling Eye," has been a fixture on our review list for years, with many suggesting it often for a bad movie review, which is why we're only getting to it now. While it might not be a masterpiece, it doesn't quite fit the 'bad' label.
The film stars American actor Forrest Tucker, who made a couple of British sci-fi movies around this time, including the excellent "Abominable Snowman" alongside Peter Cushing, and the less impressive "Strange World of Planet X" with some giant insects.
"The Trollenberg Terror" was based on a TV serial, which seems to have been lost to time. Giving its plot, strange things are afoot in the Swiss Alps, where UN investigator Alan Brooks, played by Forrest Tucker, looks into the happenings with the help of Professor Cvette, played by Warren Mitchell, who has been tracking a suspicious cloud.
The movie employs special effects that might not astonish modern audiences but were skillfully used by the great Les Bowie at that time, creating a menacing atmosphere. A defining quality of "The Trollenberg Terror" is the story's progression through its midsection where the characters enter the narrative already aware of the potential for an alien presence, allowing the film to skip typical exposition and delve into strange events like telepathy, psychosis, murder, and bizarre encounters.
While it might not conclude every thread neatly, "The Trollenberg Terror" offers suspenseful and fun viewing, making it too good for a simple bad movie review. What are your thoughts on this film? Let us know your preferred title in the comments.