Villain(s)  Gill-man

Actor(s):  Les Tremayne, Forrest Lewis, John Harmon, Pete Dunn

Brief Description  The Monster of Piedras Blancas is a 1959 independent black-and-white B-horror sci-fi film directed by Irvin Berwick and produced by Jack Kevan. The creature suit was designed by Kevan, who previously worked on Universal's Creature from the Black Lagoon, giving the titular monster a striking, slimy, gill-man-like appearance. Set in a sleepy California coastal village near a lonely lighthouse, the 71-minute movie blends local folklore with a classic monster-on-the-loose plot.

Plot:
The story is set in a sleepy coastal town overlooked by the Piedras Blancas lighthouse. Sturges (John Harmon) is a bitter, superstitious, and isolated lighthouse keeper who has spent the last decade secretly leaving out meat and fish scraps on the beach rocks. He does this to appease a legendary, prehistoric "missing link" sea creature that lives in the nearby caves, believing the food keeps it from harming the town or his beautiful daughter, Lucy (Jeanne Carmen). When a local storekeeper named Kochek refuses to sell Sturges more meat on credit, Sturges misses a feeding. Starving and aggressive, the creature ventures past the beach. Soon, the bodies of two local fishermen wash ashore. Local physician Dr. Sam Jorgenson (Les Tremayne) and Constable George Matson (Forrest Lewis) discover that the victims were brutally decapitated, with their heads cleanly severed and their bodies completely drained of blood.

As the creature's hunger escalates, it invades the town. It kills Kochek and stalks Lucy and her boyfriend, Fred (Don Sullivan). When the constable and doctor go to investigate, they find the monster carrying away the severed head of a young man named Eddie. Sturges finally confesses his years of feeding the beast, but it is too late.The Climax: The monster breaches the lighthouse, cornering Lucy. Sturges tries to defend his daughter but is brutally killed by the creature he spent a decade protecting. Fred, the doctor, and the authorities corner the monster at the top of the lighthouse structure, eventually sending it crashing down to its death on the rocky shores below. The look of the monster is the most famous element of the film, heavily drawing from Universal Monsters iconography. Because Kevan made the costume independently, he recycled parts from previous studio projects. The suit famously utilized the claw hands from the mutant in This Island Earth (1955) and the feet from The Mole People (1956).