Professor Blake has a new toy. It seems that his university has just purchased a coelacanthe--a primordial fish species that was discovered to still be alive in the 20th century. Unfortunately for the Doc, he doesn't realize that the fish was preserved using Gamma rays!! This combination causes the fish to have horrible properties--if anyone touches the blood of this dead creature, they, too, become primordial--and dangerous! First, a dog licks the water that the fish came in when it arrived on campus. Because there was blood in it, the dog became vicious and its teeth elongated--almost like sabre-teeth. Later, the professor scrapes his hand on the teeth of this dead fish and he becomes....well, we really don't see exactly what he becomes until later in the film--but we do know he's mean and looks a bit like Lancelot the Missing Link.

Oddly, while this professor is supposed to be super-smart, it took him a long time to figure out what was happening. You see, after becoming a monkey-man, he would later turn back to himself--with no memory of his bestial transformation. Later, when he did seem to understand what was happening, he actually deliberately injected himself to see if it was true--without really providing much in the way of safety of others. Sure, he went to a lonely mountain cabin to conduct this experiment, but sure enough, someone was nearby and ready to be killed. And, by the way, the killing was a dandy (pretty cool stuff) but sadly the makeup job wasn't. The monster we'd been waiting so long to actually see consisted of a cheap rubber mask and rubber gloves and lots of hair. It was very disappointing and showed that the budget for makeup must have been about $9.99--which is sad because the basic story idea and much of the acting was actually very good. Oddly, while the mask was cheap and crappy, the transformation process at the very end of the film was excellent--who'd have figured?

Overall, a decent story idea as far as 50s horror films go. It's very creative and unusual. It's just too bad the creature looked so stupid and the professor behaved, well, like an idiot on multiple occasions.

By the way, in a clever bit of writing, the Professor makes a phone call to a "Dr. Moreau" who lives on an island. This is obviously a reference to the H.G. Wells story about a crazy doctor who dabbles in making primitive creates very human-like (and vice-versa).

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde gets yet another theme variation in this Universal Pictures monster epic Monster On The Campus. Will these scientists ever stop all these wild and crazy experiments.

Arthur Franz plays a biology professor who is rejoicing in the fact that he's gotten for his college a preserved specimen of an old lung fish, the kind that millions of years ago had both gills and lungs and would leave the water periodically and walk about on land for food. The specimen is irradiated with gamma rays to kill bacteria. What that does is cause anyone exposed to revert to the primitive. Troy Donahue's dog becomes a prehistoric wolf, a modern dragon fly becomes its ancestor which had a two foot wing span and Franz goes Hyde on everybody.

A little King Kong is thrown in here as well as Franz as man or beast has a real hankering for Joanna Moore. Who wouldn't.

Poor Arthur Franz his career hit bottom with this one. A nice cast of real professional players who had some solid film credits really look pained trying to breathe life into this Thanksgiving special. And to think Troy Donahue playing one of Franz's students was only a year away from his breakout role in A Summer Place.

For men and beasts, this one's a dog.

When the student Jimmy (Troy Donahue) brings a coelacanth to the science professor and scientist at Dunsford University Dr. Donald Blake (Arthur Franz),his dog licks the water thawed from the freezer in the van. It is encaged in Sr. Blake´s laboratory and soon it turns into a primitive species. Dr. Oliver Cole (Whit Bissell) asks a sample of the dog´s saliva to Dr. Blake and sends his Nurse Molly Riordan (Helen Westcott) to take it. Meanwhile Dr. Blake scratches his hand in the coelacanth´s mouth and touches into the water where the fossil is and when Molly arrives, she drives him home. Dr. Blake passes out and Molly calls Dr. Cole, but she is attacked. When his fiancée Madeline Howard (Joanna Moore) arrives, she finds Blake with ripped clothes and Molly murdered. Who might have attacked Dr. Blake and Molly?

"Monster on the Campus" is a horror film from Universal with a story of the devolution of a man that turns into a caveman. The plot has many similarities with "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and the conclusion recalls "The Beauty and the Beast", but the film is highly entertaining. My vote is seven.

Title (Brail): "O Monstro Sanguinário" ("The Bloody Monster")