Caltiki, the Immortal Monster – review

Directors: Riccardo Freda (as Robert Hamton), Mario Bava (uncredited)

Release date: 1959

Contains spoilers

Ok, let us get the directors out of the way first. Officially this is a Freda film, though he was credited as Robert Hamton to make domestic Italian audiences think it was an American film – this was especially after the cool reception that I Vampiri received. The great Mario Bava did cinematography and special effects but it is believed he also did uncredited direction (as he did with I Vampiri). In fact there is some thought that he was, actually, the primary director (though the Bava like flourishes you’ll see in I Vampiri are not apparent here).

Didi Sullivan as Ellen

So, what is it? Well it is an Italian creature feature – a horror sci-fi that has overtones of both The Blob (1958) and the Quatermass Xperiment. It is within the creature(s) that I was moved to class this as a vampire/vampiric movie. However, in Quatermass it was the injured/altered astronaut that was vampiric – the equivalent victim in this is not the vampire, rather the blob like entity is.

John Merivale as Fielding

So we get information about the Mayans, and the scientific/historical mystery of why they simply upped and left a city at the height of its power in year 607. This city is our opening scene – with a scientific expedition examining it. A volcano, in the distance, erupts as Neito (Arturo Dominici, Black Sunday & Castle of Blood) staggers out of a cave and back to camp, half delirious and clutching a revolver. He is put into a tent, suffering shock and repeating 'Ulmer' – his missing companion – and 'the Mummy' and 'Caltiki'.

the cavern

The other expedition guys, biologist Prof. John Fielding (John Merivale), Max (Gérard Herter) and Bob (Daniele Vargas) – along with their local helpers – head to the caves. There is no sign of Ulmer but then they see a new opening (probably opened due to the eruption) with steps heading down. The chamber it leads to has a statue of the Goddess Caltiki. Max is using a Giger counter and there is a low-level radiation coming from (what they surmise to be a) sacrificial pool. They find Ulmer’s cine camera but no body (we see a mummified body across the pool) and they resolve to come back the next day with diving gear.

Mummy in the cavern

Back at the camp is Fielding’s wife, Ellen (Didi Sullivan), and Max’s squeeze Linda (Daniela Rocca). They all watch Ulmer’s film and the mystery deepens as it looks like Neito opened fire on his friend – or something near him. Later, Max overhears Ellen and Fielding arguing and immediately overrates it and tries to woo Ellen, failing. Linda witnesses this and is scathing but strangely forgiving – in his turn, Max is dismissive of the woman, and racist to boot, mocking her and denigrating her for being mixed race (and yet fully prepared to sleep with her). Bob watches a ritualistic dance by the locals, which he is an unwelcome intruder upon.

Bob killed

So, the next day they go back and Bob dives into the pool – finding skeletons and jewellery. He repeats the dive to get a bag of treasure but something goes wrong and they pull him up. Removing his mask, his face has melted. Suddenly they are set upon by a blob like creature. They run for the stairs but Max goes back for the loot and the blob envelopes his arm. Fielding manages to chop at the blob with an axe, freeing Max (whose arm is still encased)…

Max's arm eaten away

Back in civilisation and they remove the blob from Max’s arms but it reveals skeleton, the flesh destroyed. Poison has entered his blood stream and the doctor fears that – unless they find an antidote – he’ll go mad. Testing the blob remnants, they realise that it is a giant single celled organism that is millions of years old. If they bombard it with radiation it becomes active and starts to grow. It is what the Mayans named Caltiki and their prophecy talks about a heavenly bridegroom who will cause her to destroy the world. It just so happens that an irradiated comet is due to return – the last time it came past Earth was when the Mayans abandoned their city.

cell division

So why vampire? Beyond its immortal status, we are told in respect of Max that “An unknown being has entered the tissues and absorbed his vital fluids”. Later Fielding, studying a fragment of Caltiki, asks, “And what guides it unerringly towards the organisms it drains of life?” It is this draining of life and fluids, as it is described, and the fact that it feeds off radiation energy to grow and multiply, which makes it vampiric. What is interesting is the fact that it clearly wants animal life – ignoring plant life all around it (or so it seems). The description of mummification didn’t necessarily match the skeleton visuals, bar the mummy (presumably Ulmer) in the cave, but in the dialogue there is mention of skin becoming like parchment. Its Achilles' heel is fire.

Max has gone mad

This is such good fun with Bava’s effects for the creature working so really well. The toy tanks that the army sends in perhaps not so good but amusing in a 50s sort of way. It is the sort of film that will amuse those who like creature features generally and fans of things like the blob. Nowhere near as serious as Quatermass, of course, this deserves a cheesy 50s 6 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

On Blu-Ray/DVD @ Amazon US

On Blu-Ray/DVD @ Amazon UK