MesaofLostWomen

Mesa of Lost Women (1953)

I had mentioned in an earlier review (Hillbillys in a Haunted House) that I had been tracking down the movies from those mentioned on the 50 worst films ever made DVD. Mesa of Lost Women is another of those movies. I’ll tell you right now it belongs on that list!

So there is an evil doctor type that brings another brilliant scientist to his isolated laboratory to help him out with an experiment. It involves doing something with women and spiders and that sort of evil mad scientist stuff. That doctor refuses to help, has something terrible done to him, escapes (I think) and goes nuts. Eventually by some strange coincidence (maybe never really sure about that) he hijacks a plane and ends up back on the Mesa where the evil guys lair is located. A bunch of stuff happens, people die, and the bad guy loses. But I think some of his spider women creatures might be going to take over the world. Maybe I think.

This is a confusing mess of a movie that was started by one director and purchased later on and finished with new footage by a different director. Basically it is just a terrible movie. The story jumps all over the place with giant plot holes and unexplained actions by several characters. For example the manservant of the rich couple that is randomly hijacked seems to have some sort of relationship with the mad doctor and knows all about his secret lab. But then it seems like a random event that brings the plane down on the Mesa (engine trouble). So how exactly did this fit into the rest of the story? It isn’t ever really explained and no one seems to care. Plus this isn’t the only such example in this mess of a movie. If the story by itself weren’t bad enough they try and explain things in ever more confusing flashbacks that only serve to confuse the audience even more. The only thing worse than the story is the terrible acting. The cast stares deadpan and delivers lines without emotion, shouts their way thru the lines, or laugh maniacally and speaks in a really creepy voice (which actually was sort of cool). So believe it or not the cast manages to come down to the level of the material, which I wouldn’t have thought possible.

The only things that I liked about the movie were the really goofy looking giant spider puppets (you can see the strings) and the midget minions. See the side effects of experimenting on the women have been the creation of smart giant spiders. And when you try the same experiment on men it turns them into creepy midgets! This is the only amusing part of Mesa of Lost Women and I really can’t recommend this movie to anyone.

0 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer