quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
The giant cockroaches in "Damnation Alley" were added to keep the audience awake. Now "Them" is the film you want to see, also "Tarantula." Strange how some of the black and white 50's Sy-Fi is still better than most of what we get now.

No big bugs, just big plants, but Howard Hawk's "The Thing from Another World" is a masterpiece I rewatch almost every year.

I think part of it is down to the low budgets. As they couldn't afford big, expensive special effects, they made an effort to produce interesting storylines. Usually predictable...but they always made you think. With a lot of modern stuff, I can't help thinking they have given next to no thought to the storyline and hoped that the visuals would carry everything along.

BTW, I agree with the recommendations for 'Them' and 'Tarantula'. As a Ray Harryhausen fan, I would also throw in '20 Million Miles to Earth' and 'The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms'. 'The original version of 'Mighty Joe Young' that he worked on uncredited is also pretty good. He was responsible for nearly all of the Mighty Joe animation work under the guidance of his mentor Willis O'Brien.

As a kid, I was all into "Them" and "Tarantula" and don't forget "The Deadly Mantis." One of the local channels used to play monster movies on Saturday afternoons (the Chiller Diller Matinee) and Creature Features (local Channel 2) would play them Saturday nights.

As for killer plants, there was "Day of the Triffids" as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
The giant cockroaches in "Damnation Alley" were added to keep the audience awake. Now "Them" is the film you want to see, also "Tarantula." Strange how some of the black and white 50's Sy-Fi is still better than most of what we get now.

No big bugs, just big plants, but Howard Hawk's "The Thing from Another World" is a masterpiece I rewatch almost every year.

Best ants movie ever......Phase IV.

Yeah, that was an interesting one. I haven't seen it in years - probably sometime in the 80's. I didn't know it was released in theaters and even thought it was an American made-for-TV movie.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
Best ants movie ever......Phase IV.

"Phase IV" is a deep-thinking Ant movie, or at least now it is. Most people only heard of it years after it came out in the 70's because somebody else saw it once. Not my cup of tea, as I am more into just blasting them up and not communicating with them.

I think "Aliens" may have borrowed from it a little with the hive part. Now "Aliens" was a great movie and the Alien Queen and her drones are most definitely killer bugs.

The first time I saw "Phase IV" was when it was on TV around 1975. Yeah, I don't think I'd seen any talk about it online until maybe in the past 10-15 years. The kids are discovering odd cultural things about the 60's, 70's, and 80's - times outside their experience but more relatable than the decades before the 60's, people being more politically active, protesting elements of government and business.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
"Phase IV" is a deep-thinking Ant movie, or at least now it is. Most people only heard of it years after it came out in the 70's because somebody else saw it once. Not my cup of tea, as I am more into just blasting them up and not communicating with them.

I think "Aliens" may have borrowed from it a little with the hive part. Now "Aliens" was a great movie and the Alien Queen and her drones are most definitely killer bugs.