Hehehehehehe....It Is Time Once Again For You To Choose Seth Drakin's Film That He Has To Induct. I Have To Be Quite Honest, I Was Quite Happy That You Choose Space Jam: A New Legacy For That Weakling To Induct This Month, Although I Could Have Thought Up Worse Films. Now It Is Time For Me To Reveal What 10 Films You Will Have To Choose From.
Night of the Living Dead 3D (2006)
Night of The Living Dead Gets An Unneeded Remake (Because There Was Already A Good Remake Filmed)
Pumpkinhead: Ashes To Ashes (2006)
This Film Should Have Been Burned Before Release
Cursed (2005)
Cursed Like The Production Team Do To A Crap Ton Of Meddling By The Weinstein Brothers, Thank God They Are Bankrupt And Gone From Hollywood.
Darkness Falls (2003)
The Film Debut Of Bad Director Jonathan Liebesman....Only Good Thing I Can Say Is I Like The Song That Is Played Over And Over Again
Flubber (1997)
A Remake Of The Absent Minded Professor That Is A Flub
Shark Island aka Shark Week (2012)
A Crazy Rich Guy Wants Kids To Try To Survive 7 Days With 7 Different Species Of Shark. Must I Also Mention This Is A SyFy Original.
2 Headed Shark Attack (2012)
I Dont Know What To Be More Terrified By: The Terrible CGI Of The 2 Headed Shark Or Brooke Hogan's Acting.
Legion (2010) The World Is Being Attacked By Angels Who Act Like Freaking Demons, Who Are Supposed To Be The Opposite Of Angels.
Jennifer's Body (2009) Diablo Cody Goes From Winning An Academy Award For Best Original Screenplay To Writing This Extremely Mind-Numbingly Stupid Horror Film That Tries To Act Smart When It Just Isn't.
An American Werewolf In Paris (1997) Let's Make A Sequel To An American Werewolf In London, But Instead Of John Landis (Who Had Directed Several Films Beforehand), Let's Get A Guy Who Directed One Film...And Instead Of Practical Effects By Academy Award Winning Effects Artist Rick Baker, Let's Do Dated CGI.
It is unfortunate news to report that Michael Lee Aday, better known as Meat Loaf, has passed away from COVID at the age of 74. Many of you may remember him as a singer and an actor in such movies like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "Fight Club", but we at Monster Crap will remember him for two movies that have been inducted.
From His Roles In "Bloodrayne" and "Spice World"
He was sadly also a person who was against the COVID masks and the COVID vaccine so due to my personal issues, I almost did not do this RIP, but since he is part of Monster Crap history, he will get this mention.
Note: Releasing this early because I will be away from my laptop until Monday.
FUCK THIS YEAR
If there is one thing you need to know about how I felt about 2021, that is it.
My year started off the worst way possible with my dad and I in the hospital for COVID-19 (& pneumonia). On January 17, 2021 (one day before my birthday), my dad died from his COVID fight and I could not truly mourn as I was still in my own COVID fight in the hospital (I found out about his death thanks to a call from my brother, at a bit before 1 AM on my birthday as he died before 12 AM). Obviously and thankfully, I survived my COVID (& pneumonia battle), but I still needed two months on a portable oxygen mask and really could not eat certain foods for a while do to my appetite going down. I also got to find out that my best friend and my own mother also had their own COVID battles, but they weren't bad enough to end up in the hospital. Due to financial struggles, my mom and her cat (a Russian Blue) had to move in with myself and my best friend on my dad's house since my father is no longer here to take care of things. Because of that, the the garage has so much crap that it is barely only barely walk from the garage door to the door to enter the house let alone not be able to house any vehicle at this time. Then a week before August, my dog (a puggle who was still on her leash) was able to get out of my grip and got into a fight with a pit bull who was also being walked. Ultimately, my dog needed facial reconstructive surgery. Because of all of this, I have developed a very terrible case of depression and while I will not intentionally kill myself ever, I have developed a feeling that if I died in my sleep, I would be okay with that. In September, we had a very bad Tornado Warning and the storm that did some damage that we were able to fix. Finally, a day before New Year's Eve, because of horrible communication from a bank that my dad put a loan on the car, my dad's car got repossessed (we only were able to find this out thanks to the police).
But there were a few good things. In late September, I went to another horror convention that I will eventually have a Seth's Odyssey on. I have also had some fun watching a few AEW shows from theaters and I have had some theaters of fun to get rid of some bit of depression for a short time. I've also been able to get vaccinated and a year long membership to a retro arcade place with a monthly pinball tournament (I finished 9th out of 21 people last time).
So yeah, while 2021 is finally over, 2022 is not good so far either with a really bad snowstorm that we are still dealing with. So let's talk about the films of 2021 and because of the crap with this year, I did not do a list as to what was the best film of the year and the worst of the year. I do not have a worst of the year this year as no film was easily able to stick with my craw this year, but I do have a favorite film of the year and it is.....
Yeah, It Was Definitely That...Although There Was A Bit Of Late Competition From Spider-Man: Far From Home
But we do have a GINO Award to give out and we have 16 films fighting for that dubious honor so let's introduce them.
Army Of The Dead
Congrats To Zack Snyder For Finally Getting His Version Of The Justice League Out On HBO Max, However That Does Not Change The Fact That This Direct To Netflix Film With Batista Has All Of The Halmarks Of A Terrible Zack Snyder Film Like A Bloated Running Time, Terrible Jokes, Drab Colors For Most Of It, And Horrible Characters.
Black Friday
This Film Should Be Really Fun With One Great Character Actor, A Good Character Actor, One Fun Action Movie Actor, A Movie That Has A Razz On The Consumerism Of Black Friday, And Some Really Good Effects. However, The Movie Is Horribly Written And The Characters For The Most Part, Are Truly Terrible.
Chaos Walking
This Was A Planned Trilogy As It Had Three Books And Had All This Name Talent Probably Signed To Do All Three Planned Films If It Went There Like Daisy Ridley, Tom Holland, Mads Mikkelsen, and David Oyelowo. They Spent All This Money For This To Be A Huge Hit And Not Even The Excuse Of COVID Could Change How Big A Bomb This Film Is. Find Out How This Happened.
Cosmic Sin
Bruce Willis Continues His Several Year Run Of Not Giving A Shit About Acting And Just Appearing In The Most Heinous Shit. Thankfully, Most Of These Films Have No Monsters In It And I Have Been Able To Avoid These Disasters. But Then There Is Cosmic Sin, A Film That Deals With Humans Fighting Aliens Oh, Frank Grillo And Former WWE Star Lana Are Also In This Movie.
Demonic
Man, How The Mighty Have Fallen With Neil Bloomkamp. At One Time, He Was A Promising Sci-Fi Director With His Great Film District 9, But He Then Went To Bomb With Elysium And The Terribly Disappointing Chappie. Now The Director Returns To Low Budget Cinema That Kind Of Worked Well With District 9, But Unfortunately For Him, Demonic Sucks.
Great White
Not The Shot For Shot Jaws Ripoff That 1981's Great White (Or The Last Shark) Was, Which Ultimately Was Successfully Sued By Universal Studios And Ultimately Led To The BS With Edward Montaro Jr. But Instead, This Just Some Crappy Survival Film About Shitty And Stupid Characters Dealing With Hungry Great White Sharks. Not Much To Say Other Than It Is Boring As Hell.
HellKat Hey, It's A MMA Fight To The Death Tournament Set In Hell And It Is So Cheap And Bad That You Won't Be Surprised That It Was Released By The Terrible Company Known As Wild Eye Releasing. Sadly, There Really Is Nothing More To Say Than This Movie Is Really Boring.
Prisoners Of The Ghostland
I Had To Pick Between Two Nicolas Cage Movies And Ultimately, I Had To Choose The Film With Cage, Sofia Boutella (Who While Attractive As Hell, Has Had Some Really Bad Luck In Choosing Movies As She Was Also In That Recent Mummy Movie), And Bill Mosely. Only Reason I Chose This Is I Kind Of Had More Fun With Willy's Wonderland Even Though There Is Some Fun In This Film Too.
Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City
Be Careful What You Wish For As I Know Everyone Including Myself Was Happy To Hear That Paul W Anderson Was No Longer Going To Be Involved With This Movie Series So No More Mila Jovavich Making Everyone Look Stupid In Bad Films And Instead, We Would Get Something More Following The First Two Games. Well, Sadly....What We Got May Be A Worse Film.
Rumble
A Movie About Monsters Fighting Each Other As A Sport Sounds Fun On Paper Until You Realize WWE Studios Is Involved With This Film. Ultimately, The Film Which Had Been Finished In 2019 And Was Scheduled To Be In Theaters In 2020, Before Being Delayed, Delayed More And Ultimately Being Released On Paramount+ Instead Of Theaters. And Yes, Those Decisions Were Warranted When You See The Final Product.
Sky Sharks
Nazis Creating Sharks To Take Over The Sky? Sounds Like Some B Movie Enjoyment. And Heck, With Names In The Cast (Tony Todd & Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), This Should Really Be Fun. Well, They Both Are Barely In The Film And Many Of The Other Actors Completely Crap Up The Scene And The Movie Is A Horrible Mess Of CGI Crap. I Shouldnt Be Looking At My Watch While Watching A Movie Like This.
Snake Eyes: GI Joe Origins
Hey, Studios Still See It As A Potential Movie Property So Let's Reboot Two Failed Films And Do A New Origin Story For One Of The Most Interesting Characters In The Franchise In Snake Eyes. Hey, We Even Got Henry Golding To Lead This Film, But Then You Realize That Snake Eyes Never Talked And The Director Directed R.I.P.D. And Allegiant.....Yeah, You See The Problems, Don't You?
Space Jam: A New Legacy
First Of All, The First Space Jam Is Bad Too And Will Get Inducted Eventually. Second Of All, I Normally Wait Until I Do The Film Before It Before I Consider Even Nominating It's Sequel. However, Space Jam: A New Legacy Is Such A Terrible Pile Of Garbage In So Many Ways That I Am Not Going To List Right Now And Has Been Made Fun Of By Everyone That To Not Nominate This Would Be Freaking Criminal.
Manson Brothers Midnight Zombie Massacre
Wrestling And Zombies Always Make For A Horrible Mix (See Pro Wrestlers Vs. Zombies), But This One Is Different As It Doesnt Even Have The Common Courtesy To Have Actual Pro Wrestlers In It (Although It Does Have Two MMA Legends In It). Add To The Fact That The Acting Is Terrible And The Writing Is Even Worse, And You Have A GINO Award Nominee.
Thunder Force
Dammit....Melissa McCarthy, You Just Had To Return To The Sight Of Monster Crap With A Superhero Parody Film Where Once Again, You Play A Character Who The Joke Is That She Is Fat, Clumsy, And Have An Attitude. But Now You Also Have Brought Octavia Spencer Down To This Level Just Because You Two Are Really Good Friends And Wanted To Work Together For A While.
Tom & Jerry
A Film Directed By Notable Hack Tim Story And Featuring Tom & Jerry Once Again In A Crappy Film That Somehow Made It To Theaters And HBO Max. This Animated/Live Action Hybrid Film That Has Languished In Developmental Hell For Several Years And The Only Good Thing I Have To Say About This Film Is....It Isn't As Bad As 1992's Tom & Jerry: The Movie And That Isnt Saying A Lot.
Monster
Crap Inductee: The Deadly Mantis Not
Worth Mating With
1957 Once
again, I must tell you that I am very okay for the most part with doing monster
movies from the 50s as it is an easy induction as I will at least have some
kind of fun with it. I mean when you have films like The Giant Claw, The Giant
Behemoth, Beast From Hollow Mountain, and other 50s films, you know exactly
what kind of stuff you are going to get. But hey, in the 50s, these movies did
make money so they got made. But let’s talk about this film. And
unlike many of these movies, this movie is directed by an Academy Award winner
in Nathan Juran. I mean, I know it was as Art Director, but he got the damn
Oscar. Also, this would be the first of several giant monster movies that he
would do. As
for the cast, you would get Craig Stevens as our lead and lucky for them, they
got him in this movie before he truly would get his big break. They also got
William Hopper, who was at the time detective Paul Drake in the hit TV series
Perry Mason, although he is also the son of Hedda Hopper, who along with John
Wayne were people who were helping accuse people of being communists. They
added Pat Conway as well and he was also in a TV series with his role as
Sheriff Clay Hollister in Tombstone Territory. With
not much else to talk about, let’s get to inducting this movie. We
begin with…
Ah
Universal….My Old Arch-Nemesis We
actually begin with a map of the world followed by a long as talk about how
there are reactions for every action like a volcano erupting near Antartica
causing glaciers to be melting in the North Pole.
This
Is Probably What Conservatives Still Thinks Happens As To How To Explain
Climate Change And
because of that ice glacier melting, we get a giant praying mantis.
And
Also Our Title Screen I
should also mention that this revelation as far as the next diatribe about
radar was all director Nathan Juran’s idea. And what do I mean by that, I mean
we get bit by bit on what radar fences we have in Canada like the Pine Tree Fence
we have in the borders that separate Canada and the US, the Mid-Canada Radar
Fence, and the Dew Line.
All
of this by the way is freaking stock footage of people actually building this
stuff. If you didn’t know any better, you would guess that someone replaced
your giant monster movie with a documentary about radars as some form of sick
joke. This stuff takes about 3 minutes of a 78 minute movie. When
we finally get out of that, we finally meet our lead in Colonel Joe Parkman.
We
then go to an outpost of the Dew Line and two men who are in it, get their
building destroyed by something with a buzzing sound.
A
pilot flying by notices that there building is a wreck and someone tries to
contact them, but get no response. We also meet Sergeant Pete Allen.
Joe
decides that he needs to go investigate, but of course he isn’t going alone as
Lieutenant Fred Pizar is coming with him.
As
You Can Tell By This Picture, The Place Is A Mess And Both Guys Who Were At
That Base Are Missing Joe
says that it looks like something crashed into it. Pete wonders if the men are
heading back on foot and Joe says that in this temperature, they would freeze
to death long before they could reach the base and footprints would be around,
which there are none. But Joe and Pete find some strange prints.
Back
at the base, Joe finds out that the last in person contact they had with the destroyed
base was 5 days ago when a helicopter gave them supplies. A radar operator is
picking up something, but it doesn’t make any sense to him. Joe isn’t taking
any chances so he tells them to sound the red alert. That brings us more stock
footage of planes taking off in a red alert training exercise. They fly over
where the radar bleep was, but find nothing there so they head back to base. A
cargo plane flies nearby later and it gets attacked by that same buzzing
something.
Joe
and Pete are sent out to the place where that cargo plane crashed, but like the
destroyed weather shack, there are no people there.
They
also find the same prints in the snow. But they also find something that might
have been left by whatever attacked the cargo plane.
They
of course have no idea what it is although the point is as sharp as a needle.
They alert CONAD (Continental Air Defense) command in Colorado Springs, CO. We
get diatribes about hot phones that I really don’t care to talk about. We also
meet Major General Mark Ford.
He’s
The One On The Phone He
takes a plane ride out to the Pentagon. They talk about the piece found at the crash
site and they want to know what it is. Professor Anton Gunther and he basically
says this appendage comes from some living creature.
They
don’t know what creature it is and recommend they talk to Dr. Nedrick Jackson
from the Museum of Natural History in Washington DC as he is the chief
paleontologist and is very good at looking at past life with fossils. We then
go to the Museum of Natural History to see Nedrick and Marge Blaine, who works
on the museum’s magazine.
As
they are talking about the magazine, Nedrick gets a call on his phone.
Yes,
Mom….Those People You Just Mentioned Are Definitely Communists. He
really gets a call about the creature from the Pentagon so he heads there
immediately. He looks it over and says that it looks more like cartilage than
bone. He says it can’t be from an animal and then immediately says it is
probably from an insect. Yeah…last I checked, insects are animals. Nedrick has
Anton test the fluid they got from the piece to figure out if it is an insect. Nedrick
heads back to the museum and doesn’t seem happy with the newspaper. Marge looks
at the headline and sees this.
New Petitions Against Taxes…The Fiends!!!! Marge
is easily able to deduce that this story is why he was at the Pentagon. Marge
also wants in on this story about whatever it is that is causing these polar
tragedies. Nedrick reluctantly agrees to let her tag along as he gets a phone
call telling him that it is definitely an insect. In a conversation between
Nedrick and Anton (with Marge there as well), Nedrick thinks that it is a giant
praying mantis.
We
then go to an Inuit village in upper Greenland.
With
Stock Footage From 1933’s S.O.S. Eisberg The
Inuit people here the buzzing and start getting on their kayaks and rowing
away. One Inuit is not so lucky and gets killed by the creature as it is a
giant praying mantis.
The
Deadly Mantis….In All Its Paper Mache Glory. No, Seriously….They Made A 200
Foot By 40 Foot Paper Mache Praying Mantis. Looks Pretty Good, If You Ask Me. Of
course, this news travels fast and the authorities are still not willing to say
to the press what is going on, other than they have theories. So Nedrick and
Marge (who snuck her way on this little expedition by saying she is Nedrick’s
photographer) head out to upper Canada to meet with Joe and the team up at the
radar base. Marge is immediately ogled by most of the men because they don’t
get many women up where they work.
Typical
Male Gaze…. Joe
takes Nedrick and Marge to the plane crash from earlier and they look into the
prints left in the snow. Nedrick reveals that the width of the creature must be
8 and a half feet. They go back at the base and we see men dancing with each
other until Marge comes in, at which point they all want to dance with her.
Watching
These Knuckleheads Having Trouble Asking A Woman To Dance Is Extreme Cringe That
night, the Deadly Mantis decides to head to the base.
Hey,
Maybe I Can Catch A Dance With Marge Too
Errrrr….I
Don’t Know…. While
everyone else is having fun, Nedrick is looking over notes, trying to figure
out how big this creature is. Marge and Joe come in to talk and when the Deadly
Mantis comes up to the window, Marge sees it and screams.
Oh
Come On, Marge….The Creature Was Just Getting To “What Light Through Yonder
Window Breaks” Joe
and Nedrick hear the screams and they all see the creature, which in turn
starts attacking the building they are all in.
Okay…Why
Would You Have Two Doors To The Same Hallway Right Next To Each Other They
alert the rest of the crew to get in their planes to attack the creature while
they get their guns and flamethrowers to shoot at it. They of course do almost
nothing, but at some point the Deadly Mantis decides to fly away.
I’ll
Ask For That Dance With Marge Later…..And No, Guy Reviewing This Film, I Don’t
Mean Marge Simpson!!!! The
pilots finally get in their planes and fly, but they lose the damn mantis
immediately. Coffee is offered and only Marge accepts as they look on radar for
the creature. Unfortunately, the creature is no longer in that icy area as it
attacks a boat out in the ocean, stealing two crew members away with the
captain left standing.
Joe
gets a report from a guy at the Mid-Canada Radar Fence that they had a ping
come and go, which may be that bug they are looking for. They get the same call
about it being over Newfoundland and Joe, Marge, and Nedrick decide they need
to head to Washington as they believe the creature is going completely south.
We then get headlines as the mantis is flying over the seas like sightings in
Bangor, curfews ordered in New Orleans, and the congressman calling the whole
mantis thing a hoax.
Oh,
The Terrible Congressman I Could Choose From To Accurately Make A Joke About
Them Traveling Through Time Or I Could Make A Joke About Them Being Related To
The Last President Since They All Do Seem To Know About Calling Things That Kill
Many People Being Hoaxes. A
news radio announces that people of the Civilian Ground Observer Corp are
gathered to learn more about this fantastic creature. General Ford talks a bit
about the creature and says that it is a real and dangerous creature, despite
some news headlines. He then hands time over to Joe, who says he saw the
creature attack our base and they believe it will be one of the Civilian Ground
Observer Corp who will spot it next. He then hands it over to Nedrick, who
shows the piece of the creature that they have. Joe comes back on to show them
what a mantis looks like and to basically look out for a giant version of that
creature, as well be on the understanding that they may hear a buzzing first.
He says that the Civilian Ground Observer Corp should take no chances and to
report any sight of unidentified flying objects. We
then see a montage of people and ships looking out for the monster. One of the
aircraft carriers gets an alert about a sighting and planes are sent to deal
with it. All of it is of course, stock footage from a 1953 short called One
Plane, One Bomb.
No
Stock Audio Of Edward R. Murrow Who Narrated That Short (Seriously, He Did). The
planes find and attack the creature. All it does is scare the creature into
going below the clouds. The planes cannot confirm the kill, but they do say the
target is down. Of course, we immediately see on a beach that the creature is
not dead as it flies over it. Back
in Washington, Nedrick gets plenty of alerts from places like Minneapolis, MN
to Richmond, VA to Fresno, CA. Joe and Mark come in and Marge tells them that
she and Nedrick are charting any unknown occurrence all around the country.
Mark then dismisses both Nedrick and Marge for the night since it is late and they
need to get some sleep. Joe then volunteers to be the one who takes Marge home.
As they are driving, they get an alert about a train wreck in Laurel, Maryland
so the two decide to have a look since it isn’t far from where they are. They
get there and no news about what happened as the engineer is still unconscious.
They then go away, thinking it was just an accident and not a work of the
Deadly Mantis. But an obvious print in the ground means it was the mantis.
At
a traffic stop, Marge and Joe talk and eventually as with many 50s Sci-Fi
movies, they kiss because the girl always has to get with a man in one of these
films.
Meanwhile,
a lady gets off a bus with a package in this heavy fog, which may be a good
thing as the mantis attacks the bus, much to her horror.
It's Me, Assholes!!! It Was Me, All Along!!! Marge
and Joe hear about the accident on the radio and after finding out that this
and the train wreck means there were seven accidents in the area, they both
know this must be the work of that Deadly Mantis. At
the scene, they find out that there are no bodies and then an announcement is
broadcast that the Deadly Mantis has been spotted over DC. They both go and we
get more stock footage of the military getting ready. We then see the mantis
fly over the Capital.
Where
Is That Damn Congressman Who Called Me A Hoax???? The
monster then crawls on top of the Washington Monument.
Look,
Ma…..I’m Having My King Kong Moment!!!! By The Way, Normal Size Mantis On A Miniature Washington Monument. At
Andrews Air Base in the Anacostia section of Washington DC, people get in their
planes to go and combat the giant bug. Once they believe they have found the
monster, Mark tells everyone to open fire. They eventually force the creature
to go low and drop off the radar map again. Thanks to the civilian ground
force, they have been able to pinpoint the creature over Newark. The planes
find the Deadly Mantis and attack.
The
mantis does though destroy one of the planes.
But
as you saw, the pilot ejected and unlike say The Giant Claw, the monster does
not go after an easy pray on a parachute. We find out that the monster had
decided to hide in the Manhattan Tunnel.
Which
Has Never Existed The
authorities seal off the tunnel and a special team led by Joe goes into the
tunnel to deal with the bug. By the way, all of that is done through talking
exposition as we never see it enter the tunnel or be as they say…mortally
wounded. They quickly find it in the tunnel after a few minutes.
The
team is armed with guns and chemical mines so they start shooting and throwing
the chemical mines at the creature. At first, it doesn’t seem to work as the
monster keeps advancing and the team has to fall back a bit. But as we have
mentioned the creature is mortally wounded and all of that firepower as well as
chemical mines does the job and the Deadly Mantis has died.
Kind
Of A Letdown Moments
after the battle via a scene jump, Mark, Joe, Marge, Nedrick, and someone else
look over the fallen creature.
Nedrick
tells Marge that this shot should be the next cover for the museum magazine.
Marge immediately goes to takes the picture. Of course, they soon notice that
the creature is still moving his arm. Joe rushes to protect Marge and gets her
out of the way before the arm falls on top of them.
Nedrick
deduces that that was just merely an automatic reflex and the creature is
surely dead. The two kiss and the film ends.
The
Deadly Mantis was released as a double feature with a spy film called The Girl
In The Kremlin (so I don’t have any results on how it did) and it was mostly
negatively received by critics who really thought Them was a better movie. Even
future critics in retrospective are split on the film with some liking it and
some still saying it was bad. It even was spotlighted on an episode of Mystery
Science Theater 3000, which is where I first saw the film and I’m sure it was a
place many of my readers first saw the film. The
director though would go on to make better giant monster movies like 20 Million
Miles To Earth and even mixed them in with sword fantasy in his most known
film, The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad. He also made the extremely cheesy
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, so it cant be all roses. Craig Stevens (who played
Col. Joe Parkman) would one year later make it big as the titular lead in Peter
Gunn. William Hopper (who played Dr. Nedrick Jackson) would continue to be
Detective Paul Drake in Perry Mason until 1966, when that was cancelled and
then, he stopped working until he made just one last film appearance in 1970’s
disaster of a film Myra Breckinridge. Also, while I did make jokes about his
mom, he was not happy with what she stood for in accusing people of being
communists, but didn’t truly hate his mother because that is mostly too hard of
a step to take for most people. Pat Conway (who played Sgt. Pete Allen)
continued with Tombstone Territory and did guest spots in other shows, but
mostly stayed under the radar as well. Floyd Simmons (who played an Army Sgt.)
was one year later in South Pacific, which you all know me referencing a lot
because of a certain cheesy song that well, wouldn’t work in today’s
society…which is why I reference it all the time to make me laugh and hell,
I’ll do it right now.
Unfortunately
as with many 50s films, every actor and the director had sadly left this mortal
coil. Florenz Ames (who played Prof. Anton Gunther) died in one year after this
movie at the age of 75. William Hopper (who played Dr. Nedrick Jackson) left us
all at the age of 55 in 1970 due to pneumonia that happed after a stroke. Pat
Conway (who played Sgt. Pete Allen) left this world in 1981 at the age of 50
from renal failure and dehydration. Helen Jay (who played Mrs. Farley) passes
away in 1989 at the age of 63. Alix Talton (who played Marge Blaine) died in
1992 at the age of 71 from lung cancer. Donald Randolph (who played Maj. Gen.
Mark Ford) passed away in 1993 at the age of 87 from pneumonia. Paul Campbell
(who played Lt. Fred Pizer) died in 1999 at the age of 76. Craig Stevens (who
played Sgt. Joe Parkman) passed away in 2000 at the age of 81 from cancer. Paul
Smith (who played Corporal) passed away in 2006 at the age of the age of 77.
Floyd Simmons (who played Army Sgt.) left us in 2009 at the age of 84. Nathan
Juran (the director) died in 2009 at the age of 95 from natural causes. Phil
Harvey (who played Lou) was the last to die in January of this year at the age
of 99. Now
for my final thoughts and compared to certain other films, this one is
definitely a huge disappointment. Every kill in this movie is done off screen
(much like a PG-13 slasher film) and even then, the mantis really is not that
much of a threat. I had to mention that guy on a parachute not being killed as
even bad films like The Giant Claw would have an easy kill like that taken care
of. And so much “Oh, the mantis is here now” like the Manhattan Tunnel where he
went in off-screen and you hear he is mortally wounded (as if there were scenes
missing that would show this). The acting wasn’t that great and the whole crap
about radars (the director’s idea by the way) was just a slog. But despite all
of this, I still can easily watch this movie. It’s just the way these 50s Sci-Fi
films are mostly made. Now
with that done and this terrible year nearly at its merciful end for me, I still
am going to wish those of you still here a Merry Christmas and a Happy New
Year.
