Track of the Moon Beast, a terrible film, has come up around these parts several times before because it made such such SUCH an impression on me as a child. I don't know how old I was when I saw it or even where I saw it. Maybe I caught it on Creature Double Feature, or maybe it was a retro first flick at the drive-in or something. That particular memory is lost like sands through the hourglass, but so are the days of our lives. But what I remember most from this movie about a man who gets hit in the head with a chunk of moon rock and subsequently turns into a murderous lizard-man, is a scene I wrote about a bit in-depth over at the blog Mermaid Heather...and that's a scene where a man gets killed off-screen and his blood oozes under the door when his wife goes to investigate.
That image was the total stuff of nightmares to wee me! It scared me to death, it grossed me out...man, that right there was the absolute height of horror as far as I was concerned, and it's stuck in my brain all these years. Watching it now, it's exactly as I remember it, in fact, but it's hysterical that I found it so terrifying because it's anything but. (Seriously, give a click if you want to watch the scene...it's some Z-grade shit!) Yet I also think it's so fucking cool that something so lame was so scary to me. Who knows what's going to scare a kid? Heck, who knows what's going to scare anyone? I love that I got so much out of Track of the Moon Beast; it's possible I'm the only person who did. (It's really bad!) I love the idea that any horror movie, no matter the budget or "quality," could be someone's favorite movie or could feature a shot or a scene they find indelible. Ain't art grand?
Like many, I was first exposed to this through MST3K, but I didn't fully appreciate it until I moved to New Mexico and upon re-watching it I realized it was one of those regional horror movies like Legend of Boggy Creek they don't make any more. Tons of references to places and things in New Mexico (green chile stew is a big deal here, I'm sure people were taking notes on Johnny Longbows recipe!), I bet the main theatrical audience for it were people who were IN it! It's kind of charming in that way. What was with his pet lizard that escapes at one point? Just a red herring I guess? I thought somehow they were going to connect it to his transformation, but they never do. Just another variation on the whole werewolf/Mr. Hyde theme that, by the 70's, no one felt they needed to even explain anymore. See also "Bat People"
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