Considering that this film was made by Larry Buchanan, you can't help but assume it will be a horrible film. After all, Buchanan made a ton of low-budget AND terrible films in his illustrious career. For most, this might be a bad thing, but fans of bad films (like myself) actually seek out his films because they are usually laughably bad.
At first, I was concerned however, as the film didn't seem all that bad. Sure, the monster was recycled from several previous cheesy films, but the plot involving the evil hypnotist seemed interesting. However, considering that the film never really connected this mind control with the appearance of the murderous creature, the film sure was confusing...and dopey.
Les Tremayne plays the hypnotist/mentalist and he actually seemed like a pretty good actor--but he was unfortunately stuck in a bad film. He had an assistant--a pretty lady who was under his total power. She would travel back in town a describe previous lives she'd lived to amazed audiences of rubes. Later, a doubtful psychic investigator (an air force captain whose hair was too long to be a real military man) tries to break Tremayne's hold on the lady. At the same time, there are a series of silly murders on the nearby beach--though as I said before, there really is no explanation of how the evil Tremayne and the somnabalistic lady are involved.
In many ways, the film is like THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH (a truly dreadful film) and the classic silent, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI. The evil mentalist and his patsy are there--as is the dumb bug-eyed monster (a guy in a diving suit, rubber gloves and a silly mask).
What's to like? Well, other than Tremayne and a mildly interesting mentalist concept, nothing. The film is poorly directed and written and just screams "cheese" from start to finish. Only for the lovers of bad cinema.