David Kramarsky's The Beast with a Million Eyes is what you would get if you convinced Ray Kellogg to direct The Birds (1963). It's a ridiculous film about an alien that crashes into the California desert and proceeds to telepathically control the local animals and birds in order to attack a small family. These attacks take the form of split-second animal stock footage repeated once or twice in rapid succession. My favorite scene was when the alien makes a local cow attack the family. This is achieved by inserting close-up shots of a cow's face in-between shots of a woman screaming. Kramarsky's cinematic acumen also shines through whenever the alien attempts to mind control someone, an effect achieved by literally waving flashlights around the ground. The film actually reminds me of Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist (1982) in that it revolves around a family besieged by an otherworldly horror which can only be overcome once they work together. But whereas the climax of Poltergeist was exciting and compelling, The Beast with a Million Eyes is content to have the family join hands, approach the alien, and LITERALLY defeat it with the power of love. On a side note, I could swear that the film was playing something by Stravinsky over the final showdown. In any case, The Beast with a Million Eyes is indicative of most 1950s creature features: slowly paced, rife with terrible special effects, and complete with a monster that is laughably incompetent in its design.
4/10
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