Villain(s)  Radioactive sea creature

Actor(s):  Kent Taylor, Cathy Downs, Michael Whalen, Phillip Pine

Brief Description  The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues is a 1955 independent black-and-white science-fiction horror film about a coastal fishing village terrorized by a mutated, radioactive sea monster. Directed by Dan Milner, the movie follows a scientist investigating mysterious deaths linked to an atomic radioactive source on the ocean floor.

Plot:
A mysterious, man-sized reptilian monster kills a fisherman at sea. Biologist Ted Baxter (Kent Taylor) and Federal Agent William Grant (Rodney Bell) discover the man's body, washed up on the beach and covered with radiation burns. They decide to investigate the strange death. After two young divers are killed by the monster, Ted and Grant decide to dive in the same location and investigate the area. They discover a glowing radioactive rock and are attacked by the monster, who is guarding it. Grant shoots it with a speargun allowing them to escape, but the creature survives.

The monster's design is heavily reminiscent of a low-budget, reptilian humanoid.The head features a lumpy, oversized head with giant, bulging, unblinking eyes and an indistinct, gaping mouth filled with small, jagged teeth. The torso consists of a bulky, rough-textured rubber suit meant to mimic scaly or bumpy marine hide. Movie posters of the era colored the beast in a dark green hue. It has humanoid legs and long arms ending in webbed claws. Because of the cheap production, the suit's arms notoriously did not fit the actor properly, causing them to awkwardly flop around during underwater sequences.

The creature was mutated from ordinary marine life by a submerged, highly radioactive uranium deposit on the ocean floor. The uranium ore emits a piercing, underwater shaft of atomic light. The Phantom acts as a guardian to this radioactive rock. Unlike other aggressive 1950s cinematic monsters, the Phantom is highly localized and lethargic. It never ventures onto the shore and only attacks swimmers, fishermen, or divers who directly encroach upon its territory or get too close to the glowing radiation source. It kills victims either by physical underwater mauling or by exposing them to fatal doses of radiation, leaving their washed-up bodies covered in severe radiation burns.

The creature effects were orchestrated on a shoestring budget by makeup artist Eddie Parks and special effects coordinator/director Dan Milner. Filmed in the shallows off the coast of Malibu, California, the suit required a stunt diver to swim in cumbersome rubber gear. Film historians often cite it as one of the clumsiest and least mobile monster designs of the 1950s atomic-horror boom, heavily overshadowed by the sophisticated costume used in Universal's Creature from the Black Lagoon a year prior.