I Watch Films: The Trollenberg Terror

 

The Trollenberg Terror

On Trollenberg Mountain a group of three climbers get into trouble, and then one dies, head ripped from the body. On a passing train is Alan Brooks, UN Special Investigator and also Anne and Sarah Pilgrim, English sisters. Anne faints and insists they get off.

Anne and Sarah are a mind-reading act, but the trick is, Anne actually is psychic. The perfect camouflage! Meanwhile Brooks goes to a local observatory to talk to Professor Crevett. Crevett talks about the strange incidents and an odd radioactive cloud up the mountain that never moves. Brooks compares this to a similar event in South America a couple of years ago.

Anne has a vision of a cabin up on the mountain of two men and a cloud coming down; at the observatory they can also see the cloud move. Brooks phones the cabin, gets a reply but is then cut off. Sending a rescue party they discover the cabin is frozen cold, even inside, colder than it should be.

One of the men from up the mountain staggers in, claiming he got lost in the cloud. Later he tries to attack Anne, and is stopped, but the wound doesn’t bleed. One of the outlandish tales from South America, about someone killed by a body already 24 hours dead, is recalled.

Yes, there’s a lot going on, zombies, monsters on the mountain, radioactivity, and psychic powers. The final sequence, besieged in the observatory can’t quite keep up the tension; the monsters are grotesque but not precisely frightening. Some good weirdness in the middle section though, keeping us guessing about the nature of events.

Watch This: Tense black and white science fiction thriller with some real tension and mystery at points
Don’t Watch This: Goofy monsters, zombies and men standing around puzzled on unconvincing mountain sets