‘The Cyclops’ (1957) Blu-Ray Review – Giant-Sized Sci-Fi Outing Is Great “Bad” Cinema

Lovely Susan Winter organizes an expedition deep into the wilds of Mexico. She hopes to find her aviator fiance, lost after his plane crashed. Instead, she and her three male companions find behemoth bugs, giant battling lizards, mountains practically glowing with uranium and a 25-foot-tall human beast with a single eye, a melted-cheese-sandwich face and a very scary attitude. If you like nifty ’50s horror, The Cyclops is the kind of over-the-top frightfest that’ll have you spilling your popcorn. Among the cast: Lon Chaney (The Wolf Man) as a manipulative wheeler-dealer who’d just love to become a uranium millionaire…no matter the danger to the rest of the expedition. Writer/director Bert I. Gordon (Beginning of the End, The Amazing Colossal Man) masterminds the menace.

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Video Quality

Warner Archive brought The Cyclops to Blu-Ray with 1080p transfer back in 2018 sourced from what is likely a 2K scan of the best preservation elements, but we are unsure of the particulars of this title. This black-and-white feature maintains the natural film grain throughout which provides an admirable amount of detail to the image. Those familiar with the film will understand that there are numerous opticals implemented whenever the creatures are on the screen, and the presentation experiences a step down in quality during these moments including thick and unwieldy grain. 

This is a side effect of how genre films were created back in the day, and it is accurate to how it is supposed to look. The visual effects shots are not exactly the most cutting edge by modern standards, but the effects made an impression at the time. The team at Warner Archive made sure to deliver a transfer that is as artistically pure as possible. Print damage has been mostly eliminated which shows the dedication the label has for preservation. The frame has a commendable amount of depth to it including in the shadows of the caves which avoids black crush. Warner Archive knocked out another excellent effort for creature feature fans.

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray release comes with a DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that holds up well enough given the limitations in the surviving source materials. There does not appear to be much at all in the way of damage or age-related wear and tear to the track. Dialogue comes through clearly even when things get a bit more thrilling. This is not the most sprawling soundscape, but it holds up without a hiccup. None of the sound effects or the score ever overshadow exchanges on this release. This is a good audio presentation that fans should appreciate. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are available on the disc. 

Special Features

• Textless Theatrical Trailer: The nearly two-minute trailer is provided here. 

Final Thoughts

The Cyclops is a pretty exciting creature feature that feels a bit limited by its budget but keeps things lively when it needs to. The brief runtime ensures that you never get bored by any of the action even if it does feel a bit slight at times. There is a suitably cheesy quality to the endeavor that makes this one an entertaining watch even when it is not particularly good. Warner Archive has released a Blu-Ray featuring a very good A/V presentation but not much in the way of special features. If you appreciate cheesy creature features, this is not a bad one to spend time with. Recommended 

The Cyclops can be purchased directly through MovieZyng or various other online retailers.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Warner Archive has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.