How To Make A Monster (1958)

Starring Robert H. Harris, Paul Brinegar, Gary Conway, Gary Clarke, Malcolm Atterbury
Directed by Herbert L. Strock
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A creator of monster makeups for a movie studio for 25 years is dismissed when new ownership comes in, and he schemes to turn the teen actors starring as monsters in his last film into murderers.

Probably my favorite of producer Herman Cohen's teenage monster films, I think it's a step above the others due to the cleverness of the backstage Hollywood story and setting, and the fact that Harris' character mirrors the real-life Jack Pierce, who was let go by Universal after creating many of their most legendary movie monsters.  It also brings back the monsters from Cohen's I Was A Teenage Werewolf and I Was A Teenage Frankenstein, and gives them an added dimension by making the young actors who played them play themselves this time around (although Clarke had to replace former teenage werewolf Michael Landon).  Harris, an underrated character actor on the stage, screen, and television, is essentially playing the same archetype Whit Bissell and Louise Lewis portrayed in Cohen's earlier films, but makes the part his own and cuts a fine sinister figure.  The last ten minutes of the black-and-white film are in color, a practice studio American International employed on a few pictures to get color footage in the promotional trailers, but it probably works best in this film, due to its fiery climax.  It's by no means one of the great horror films, but it's certainly entertaining and has several interesting sidelights.