Gargoyles (1972 TV)

If you’re like me, you seemed to step out the womb liking monsters and stuff. Many have theories. Many are fools. The Sewer could try to explain it away, placing blame on easy targets for what is seen as an unhealthy fascination.

Anyway, Gargoyles came out in 1972, made for TV in a time of innocence - my innocence, anyway, as I was only 3-years-old. Somehow, I think I must have watched it as a delicate tot, and that has made all the difference.

Gargoyles fits nicely into the ‘70s-fascinated-with-the-Arizona-desert-low-rent-montser-movie genre (Kingdom of the Spiders etc.) and features a small pack of ancient demons trying to make a go of it in the aforementioned hot ‘n’ rocky country.

Cornell Wilde and Jennifer Salt play a father daughter team researching gargoyle mythology. They’ve surmised that gargoyles make an appearance every 400 to 600 years, and that like extremely lazy Rotarians, this time the gargoyles have chosen to meet outside of Albuquerque or thereabouts.

But the investigators are a little too nosey, and soon Salt is trundled off to a cave by three guys in green jumpsuits and elaborate masks. Professor Boyle (Wilde) must devise a plan to save his daughter while skirting emerging issues of eco-consciousness. After all, if this small group of creatures only gets a chance to propagate every six centuries they really ought to be on the endangered species list.

Gargoyles should come off as a quaint throwback to a time of wholesome, inept, made-for-TV monster movies (a national treasure trove of goodies) but it hovers slightly above the pack on cheap rubber gargoyle wings.

A round of earnest, smirk-free performances (with a youthful Scott Glenn to boot [And who wouldn’t want to boot Scott Glenn? ~ Ed.]) manages to suspend your disbelief just enough to stifle any laughs the - by-today’s-standards - woefully inadequate costumes might generate.

This aids in generating one or two stylishly tense set-pieces. Particularly, Salt’s wanderings through the gothic environs of the gargoyles cave; a cinematic stroll featuring a soundtrack of surreal screams and glimpses of Bosch-esque gargoyles lurking in the shadows.

TV-level dramatic underpinnings and budget that’s down here – it’s lowww - don’t usually make for good horror viewing, but those who want to visit or re-visit this world dodge the bullet this time. All you monster fans and nostalgia freaks line up to check out Gargoyles, it’s short and sweet, with just enough creepiness to mitigate the cheesiness.