31 Days, 31 Horror Movies: The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
The classic "giant monster attacks a city" movie (Gojira wouldn't be released until the following year). Also Ray Harryhausen's first solo joint. Those looking for the kind of subtext about atomic fears and science unleashed that later giant monster/bug movies would sprinkle on like that "Salt Bae" guy putting salt on a steak will be sorely disappointed here. Yes, the creature is set free by a hydrogen bomb, but that's the only function of the device. There's no further reference or use of it. It's an action movie, as much of a ride as the rollercoaster the Beast destroys in the final act.

The Beast was one of the earliest giant monster movies I ever saw, and for much of my life his design - by the inimitable Ray Harryhausen - was my platonic ideal of the giant monster. Enormous, scaly, and with a tendency to munch on humans like a moviegoer munching on popcorn. Other, later, monsters ended up supplanting him in my affections (sorry Rhedosaurus - Godzilla's got atomic breath), but he's still my first kaiju love.

How can you not love that face?

The Medium
At some point I bought a super-cheap DVD with both The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms and Them! on it. I lend it out once and a while and it happened to rotate back in while I was casting about for something familiar and old-fashioned to watch. I've since gotten Them! on blu-ray, but haven't picked up Beast yet.

The Movie
The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms starts off with a narration introducing us to some kind of a scientific test in the arctic. (I love that this is called Operation Experiment, which sounds like it should be its own 50's monster movie.) It becomes clear that this is a hydrogen bomb test. The stock footage of ice breaking up and melting under the effect of the explosion has a different impact now than it did when I first saw it. While taking readings after the blast two scientists see a giant monster, though only one, Tom Nesbitt, survives to tell the tale.

"Global warming sucks."

He isn't initially believed, of course, but with a string of strange events - boat sinkings, the destruction of a lighthouse (Maine shout-out!), and some crushed buildings - and the corroboration of a witness, Nesbitt manages to get the backing of paleontologist Thurgood Elson and his assistant, Lee Hunter. Together they plot the sightings on a map and Elson opines that the Beast may be heading to New York, where the fossil remains of a similar creature have been found.

"I have the sudden urge to do something stupid and suicidal."

Soon the military is dangling the elder scientist like fishing lure into the deep waters of the Hudson River Canyon. Sure enough, the beast shows - unfortunately for Elson and his pilot, the monster seems to have an appetite for diving bells. Not long after that the Beast comes ashore in Manhattan.

There are a ton of things that will be familiar to you from Beast's spiritual successors. The boats sunk by the monster, the map on which the sinkings (and other 'mysterious' happenings) are plotted out, the insistence by scientist on studying the creature, the military lining up it's hardware to fight the thing, all the running and screaming. Even the creature somehow disappearing during the day - where the hell does it go, anyway? Bloomingdales?

Probably just seeing the sites - hey, that's Brooklyn Bridge!

One thing I'd forgotten was the plot point about the creature's toxic blood. Unlike some other giant saurians I could mention, the Beast is actually vulnerable to the military hardware - bazookas, anyway. However, it turns out that its blood carries deadly prehistoric pathogens - and any large-scale destruction of the beast would result in a massive outbreak, possibly killing millions. This makes the obvious solution - blow the crap out of it - unfeasible. Which leads us to SCIENCE! saving the day - specifically a radioactive isotope that will (apparently) burn the creature up from the inside out.

That's right. We killed the creature with heartburn.

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms' strength is in its monster, and any time Harryhausen's work is on the screen it's magic. From the attack on the lighthouse (lifted directly from Ray Bradbury's short story on which the film is based, "The Fog Horn") through the initial landing in New York City, the stop motion work is fantastic. The surrounding story of Nesbitt, his growing relationship with Lee, and his attempts to get the authorities (including a pre Thing From Another World Kenneth Toby) to listen to him are decent as well, though not as much fun.

The big set piece of the monster attacking Coney Island (it seems particularly pissed at a rollercoaster) is excellent as well - though the irony of using radiation to destroy a monster let loose by radiation seems lost on the filmmakers. I still prefer the scenes in Manhattan - including the famous scene of the Beast eating a policeman - as the work Harryhausen does to integrate the monster with the building and people is just outstanding.

Eat more people! Man, now I feel like a bad person...

The Bottom Line
The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms is a classic monster movie and the inspiration for a slew of 1950's creature features (some better, lots worse) . Worth seeing for some of Ray Harryhausen's best work, even if black and white giant monsters aren't your usual thing.

Fear Flashback Friday: Tarantula

Tarantula

I’m a bit arachnophobic, so spider-based horror movies have a greater effect on me than they might on the average movie-goer. I saw Arachnophobia in the theater with my friend Chris and he laughed the entire time because I’d slide down in my seat, realize that spiders would be on the floor if they were in the theater and then jump up onto the seat. Rinse. Repeat. I don’t HATE spiders – in fact I’m kinda fascinated by them – but holy crap do they creep me out.

I don’t like being irrationally afraid of anything, so I’ve worked hard to desensitize myself to spiders. I do my best not to kill them and I’ve gotten to the point where I can actually pick up small spiders to take them outside (bigger ones get carried out on something long – like a yardstick or a broom). However, I’ll still freak out if I get surprised by one or stumble through a web. If you ever see me staggering along, waving my arms madly in the air as if fighting off invisible birds, well, you’ll know I’ve walked through a web.

I trace my fear of spiders back to a childhood event that is almost certainly a dream, but that I simply assumed was a memory for the longest time. I would have been four or five (I hadn’t yet gone to school). My brother Scott, sister Jen and I were rambling about my grandfather’s camp on Cedar Lake in northern Maine. Out in front of the camp was a short, rocky path down to the water and at the base of the path was a large rock that had a scoop taken out of it, forming a shallow basin. As we came ‘round the edge of the path and caught site of that rock we saw a spider FILLING THE BASIN. In my mind’s eye the basin is roughly 3 feet across, but I was 5 and terrified and since then I’ve looked and it’s roughly 8-10 inches across.

Maybe not QUITE this big. Maybe.

To my mind, this doesn’t make things much better.

My siblings and I ran screaming, but of course the spider was gone by the time adults showed up. I started swimming off of the dock from that point on. I figure if it WAS real and not a dream I probably saw an oversize fishing spider (which we used to call wood spiders). I’ve seen them get as large as 3 inches or more and maybe this was just a particularly large specimen that didn’t really fill the basin, but appeared to through the filter of abject horror.

You can imagine what effect Tarantula had on me as a kid.

Hi Bob! See you in your nightmares!

The thing is, for the longest time I didn't even know what movie it was that had scared the crap out of me, because I only caught the last 20 minutes or so. I saw it at my grandmother's on a Saturday afternoon, which is where and when I saw a lot of 1950's sci-fi pics - like Day of the Triffids. I'd been playing outside when it began to rain, so I came in, plopped down on the couch and turned on the TV only to see this freakish, monster-looking guy in pajamas and a spider as big as a damn house! BIGGER! Then some cops tried to stop it and got eaten. Then they tried to blow it up with dynamite and didn't even scratch it! Then it was heading towards a town and HOLY CRAP LOOK AT THE SIZE OF IT!!! By the time the jets finally came in with the napalm and blew it up I was so worked up I could barely sit still.

It was several years before I got a chance to see the whole film in all its black and white glory, and by then it had become some epic creepshow in my mind. The reality wasn't quite so scary - but of course by then I'd seen a lot worse. It was still a ton of fun, though, and it's one of my favorite 50's monster/sci-fi movies even now (right behind THEM! and The Incredible Shrinking Man).

The Medium

I really wish some of the classic 1950's films like THEM! and Tarantula were available on Blu-ray in the US, but they're not, at least not yet. The version I watched for this review was part of the Classic Sci-fi Ultimate Collection, and was fairly sharp and clear for an older DVD release. (This set is very much worth tracking down, if you're a fan of 1950's sci-fi films.) 

The Movie

Tarantula was written and directed by Jack Arnold, who made some of my favorite sci-fi films: It Came from Outer Space, Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Incredible Shrinking Man. He also wrote The Monolith Monsters, which is an interesting little film if you get a chance to see it.

The titular monster is the result of experiments by a scientist named Deemer. He’s invented a  nutrient formula that he hopes will be able to sustain the human race in the face of food shortages that he expects to be caused by overpopulation (one of his dire pronouncements is that the world population will reach three billion, six hundred fifty million by the year 2000 – it was closer to six billion!). In animals, the side-effect is enormous growth. In humans it’s accelerated acromegaly (which we know because his colleague and assistant both experiment on themselves – I assume in the hope that they had discovered Viagra several decades early).

"Let's see, giant rabbit, giant hamster, giant... very funny guys, are you high again?"

Deemer’s assistant goes mad, attacking him and causing several of the animals to escape. Now they’ve used some standard lab animals – including monkeys, rats, rabbits and guinea pigs. Unfortunately, they’ve also used a tarantula for some reason. These are people who injected themselves with a radioactive, experimental nutrient  remember, so I guess we should just count ourselves lucky it wasn’t an alligator or a tigon.

Anyway, in the chaos, the tarantula – already the size of a large dog – escapes and Deemer is injected with the nutrient as well, giving him 4 days before he’s overcome.

The hero is a local doctor, who is immediately suspicious when the sheriff finds the body of Deemer’s colleague in the desert. He’s never seen a case of ‘acromegalia’ happen in 4 days before and takes every opportunity to go out to Deemer’s lab and ask him questions. He befriends Deemer’s new assistant, a lovely woman named Steve and is generally hanging around all the time, rather than seeing patients. (To be fair, the script mentions this as well.)

Meanwhile, the tarantula is growing. It’s feeding on cattle in the high country and leaving skeletons and big pools of venom around (I burst out laughing when the Doc actually tastes the damn stuff). It was big enough for nightmares before, but now it’s close to 30 feet high and probably 80 feet across. 

The special effects are pretty darn good for the time. The use of an actual tarantula for most of the matte shots makes it more effective than the ants in THEM! (though I think THEM! Is actually a better movie). There are problematic bits, of course (in one scene the spider moves beyond the matte frame, causing its legs to suddenly disappear into thin air), but in general the effects are as good as it gets for 1950’s giant monster movies. You won’t see ‘Tonka’ written on the bottom of any overturned buses, anyway.

What? Is there something on my face?

The scene in which the spider attacks the two story house where Deemer (by now overwhelmed by acromegaly) has his lab is the one I remember the most from a kid. The model they used for the closeups of the spider is still pretty gruesome and the matte shots and model work are great. It’s a pretty tense sequence and well edited.

The final scenes where the air force is called in to deal with the skyscraper sized spider, making its way inevitably towards town, are tense and exciting as well. It’s a fairly well known bit of movie trivia that Clint Eastwood makes his first film appearance as one of the fighter pilots. The credit sequence with the corpse of the spider burning in the background, looming over the town, reminds me of the end of Independence Day with the crashed spaceship.

Paging Mr. Eastwood, Mr. Eastwood to the enormous spider, please.

 

The Bottom Line

Tarantula is a fun, ‘50s monster film - better than most, with decent acting, writing, good special effects and lovely desert scenery. Maybe not one to check out if you're arachnophobic, but still a decent chiller after nearly 60 years