Gargoyles

"Watch Out! The Gargoyles Are Here"

1972 1h 14m EN

😐

5.9

MID

★5.9TMDB · 64

FantasyHorrorTV Movie

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After receiving word about a mysterious carcass/skeleton unearthed in the Arizona desert, a father and his daughter decide to remove it from the burial grounds for further study. Once they do so, they, as well as the town, are besieged by a colony of gargoyles living in some nearby caverns.

“Watch Out! The Gargoyles Are Here”

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Cast

Cornel Wilde
Dr. Mercer Boley
Jennifer Salt
Diana Boley
Grayson Hall
Mrs. Parks
Bernie Casey
The Gargoyle
Scott Glenn
James Reeger
William Stevens
Police Chief
John Gruber
Jesse
Woody Chambliss
Uncle Willie

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Bill L. Norton
Writers: Elinor Karpf, Steven Karpf
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 74-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

54 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Bill L. Norton, shot by Earl Rath. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Robert Prince. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Frank P. Keller shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Cornel Wilde and Jennifer Salt and Grayson Hall carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Watch Out! The Gargoyles Are Here".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Bill L. Norton directs. Earl Rath behind the camera. Robert Prince scores. Frank P. Keller cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 74-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
254 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
4Directed by Bill L. Norton, shot by Earl Rath. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Robert Prince. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Frank P. Keller shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Cornel Wilde and Jennifer Salt and Grayson Hall carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Watch Out! The Gargoyles Are Here".
9IMDB entry: tt0068622 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Only 64 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
11Classified under 10 themes, including "skeleton", "monster", "parent child relationship", "professor".

The technical file

Cinematography: Earl Rath
Original score: Robert Prince
Editing: Frank P. Keller
Costume design: Thomas S. Dawson
Runtime: 74 min · 1h 14m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Gargoyles (1972)

Also by

Bill L. Norton

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-03-12
★ 6/10
If you are a fan of “Dr. Who” then you might quite enjoy this rather daft latex affair, even if Cornel Wilde is without any swash and buckle this time. This time, he is palaeontologist “Boley” who travels with his daughter “Diana” (Jennifer Salt) to investigate the discovery of a peculiar skull in the Arizona desert. Before they know it, they are under siege from some horned green creatures who have been dormant for centuries and now awakened, are determined not to succumb to the dominance of mankind once again. It’s going to be down to the intrepid “Boley” to see if he can’t broker some sort of amnesty but with both humanity and gargoyle bent on destroying the other, well it’s going to be tough. It can’t have had much of a budget, the visuals are cheap and cheerful and the digitised voices of our jolly green giants isn’t the best, but this is a fun adventure that uses the natural settings of caverns, woods and a tiny log cabin to create a vague sense of menace that uses the light and audio quite imaginatively. If you are a fan of the genre and appreciate just what creativity looked like before programmers took over, then you ought to enjoy this. Aim low, though.

Production companies