Continuing our monthlong celebration of Halloween with various scary movie and TV-related lists. Check out our online movie database at staytunedmag.com to see if any of these or other scary titles are on this month. (Note: Videos may contain graphic violence, disturbing images and language.)
DESTROYERS OF WORLDS:
TOP 5 ATOMIC AGE MONSTERS
As scientists in many a 1950s movie were determined to remind us, when we entered the Atomic Age, we created the potential for unknown horror. The world had already gotten a taste of some of that horror with the dropping of the A-bombs on Japan in 1945, and anxiety was rampant about what fresh atrocities this new technology may unleash. Filmmakers had no trouble imagining new terror, and soon producers unleashed a horde of atomically mutated, reawakened and often gigantic insects, reptiles and other critters across movie screens. While many of the resulting films were duds, some of them, like the following, had an explosive impact:
5. Gammera (1965)
Fairly late in the game for the giant atomic monster theme, and an obvious attempt to cash in on the success of Godzilla, the Gammera films are goofy fun. Before he became “friend to all children” in later films, the rather odd, fire-breathing, flying turtle is kind of mean here. You would be too if you were awakened from your Arctic slumber by a crashed Russian jet that just happened to be carrying highly explosive nuclear weapons:
Somber Scientific Reminder: “Of course our old legends referred to fire-eating turtles, but in the 20th century, we’ve given all that up as nonsense.”
4. Tarantula (1955)
This “big bug” (technically, arachnid) picture takes its simple title from its main creature, one of some critters who are mutated not by an atomic explosion, but by a good-intentioned scientist’s efforts to use the power of the atom to enlarge food supplies and help feed the world’s growing population. But the only one that gets to dine well in this film is the giant, rampaging spider:
Somber Scientific Reminder: “Expect something that’s fiercer, more cruel and deadly than anything that ever walked on Earth.”
3. The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1954)
Another cranky creature gets roused from its frozen nap by atomic testing in this pioneering flick, based on a Ray Bradbury story and featuring terrific stop-motion effects from Ray Harryhausen. This time the monster is a dinosaur that wants to make its way to its ancient breeding grounds — upon which now sits the city of New York:
Somber Scientific Reminder: “You know, every time one of those [A-bombs] goes off, I feel as if I was helping to write the first chapter of a new Genesis.”
“Let’s hope we don’t find ourselves writing the last chapter of the old one.”
2. Them! (1954)
Testing of the first A-bombs is to blame for the mutated giant ants that haunt the New Mexico desert — and eventually elsewhere — in this classic and creepy thriller. The ants themselves are effective enough, though you can tell they are fake. Much more impressive is the use of sound — especially the noise of the ants, and the howling desert winds — to make for a very ominous atmosphere:
Somber Scientific Reminder: “When Man entered the Atomic Age, he opened the door into a new world. What we’ll eventually find in that new world, nobody can predict.”
1. Gojira (Godzilla) (1954)
Although Godzilla has gone through many incarnations over his 50-year film career — from rampaging beast, to comic foil, to protector of Japan, and back again — his debut best exemplifies his terrible nuclear origins and destructive power. The film was created by a country less than 10 years removed from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Especially with the original Japanese version (sans Raymond Burr), its images of a devastated Tokyo and a suffering populace, combined with Akira Ifukube’s haunting musical score, turns this into more than just a monster movie, but a brooding reflection on the potential horrors of the Atomic Age:
Somber Scientific Reminder: “If we continue conducting nuclear tests … it’s possible that another Godzilla might appear somewhere in the world again.”