More of a horror movie set in a "girl's home" than a science fiction movie, with definite exploitation elements, "Man" seems to be built around the scenes where "Eric" grabs the young women and carries them off to the upstairs lab to be tied up, gagged, and drained of their "bioenergies".
You'd think a movie with several scenes like that would be cheaply thrilling and maybe a guilty pleasure, but you'd be wrong. The movie is mostly too too dull to keep any interest. The "girls" all seem to be in their late 20's and 30s (I know, it's really hard to get teenagers to look and act believably for extended lengths of movie time) and a couple of them are OK, but none of them are there for any reason but to be kidnapped and victimized.
There's one nicely underplayed scene where the scientist/torturers decide withhold the bioelectric treatments from one of their number for reasons that aren't completely clear. The actor playing the dying scientist manages a dignified and believable farewell and you can see how interesting the film might have been if the director and screenwriter had the wherewithal to explore the group dynamics and interplay of a group of 200+ year old bioelectric vampires.
To top it off, the hero "wins" because one of the scientists accidentally drops a candle into a box of rags while changing the fuses or something and within seconds the whole building is engulfed. Stupidest. Villains. Ever.
Victor Jory is decent in this - you can see even here why the man could continue to get work in films over the years.
Not good, not all that bad, "Man Who Turned To Stone" is just...there. If you get a chance to see it, it'll be OK and you won't hate it. But I doubt you'll remember much of it the day after.
You'd think a movie with several scenes like that would be cheaply thrilling and maybe a guilty pleasure, but you'd be wrong. The movie is mostly too too dull to keep any interest. The "girls" all seem to be in their late 20's and 30s (I know, it's really hard to get teenagers to look and act believably for extended lengths of movie time) and a couple of them are OK, but none of them are there for any reason but to be kidnapped and victimized.
There's one nicely underplayed scene where the scientist/torturers decide withhold the bioelectric treatments from one of their number for reasons that aren't completely clear. The actor playing the dying scientist manages a dignified and believable farewell and you can see how interesting the film might have been if the director and screenwriter had the wherewithal to explore the group dynamics and interplay of a group of 200+ year old bioelectric vampires.
To top it off, the hero "wins" because one of the scientists accidentally drops a candle into a box of rags while changing the fuses or something and within seconds the whole building is engulfed. Stupidest. Villains. Ever.
Victor Jory is decent in this - you can see even here why the man could continue to get work in films over the years.
Not good, not all that bad, "Man Who Turned To Stone" is just...there. If you get a chance to see it, it'll be OK and you won't hate it. But I doubt you'll remember much of it the day after.