The Bigger and Badder Halloween Top 13 :#3: Them! (1954)

The 1950s were an era of us against them, but the ‘Them’ of today’s selection for the Bigger and Badder Halloween Top 13 is a foe for all seasons and eras. I’m talking about the bane of picnics, the scourge of lemonade stands, the menace of masticating mountain men, the common ant. Just like yesterday’s film featured a tiny worm grown to gargantuan proportions, today’s takes one of the smallest and most common (and most commonly stomped on) members of the insect family and turns the size tables on humankind  Naturally, it’s also our fault. When nature attacks in the nuclear age, you can always bet that the A-bomb is not too far behind. Strangely, it also has something else behind it that most major giant monster movies lack, studio support and a budget. Taking the mutant creature feature and giving it proper effects, a solid cast, an experienced director, and a script that makes sense and leads to exciting scenes, Hollywood crafted the crown jewel of American 1950s science fiction/horror features, the exclamatorily named classic, Them!

The Bigger & Badder Halloween Top 13 #12: The Beast from 20000 Fathoms (1953)

Nukes, man. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times; you can't hug with nuclear arms. Hmm, maybe I didn't say that, but I should have because it’s pretty cheesy and clever at the same time. After the world witnessed the awesome force of a nuclear blast at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the awe inspiring power lead right into the nuclear panic age of the 1950’s, and with it came the giant creatures. Today, I'm getting a chance to talk about the first such film, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. While it doesn't have the distinction of being the first giant monster movie, that distinction goes to 1931’s The Lost World which saw a dinosaur menacing London in the film’s climax; it does herald the first of the nuclear age monsters. Inspired by the success of the 1952 re-release of 1933’s King Kong, the producers turned to Ray Harryhausen, a protégé of Willis O’Brian, the man behind the world’s most famous giant ape, to bring to the screen an extremely loose adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s “The Fog Horn” first published in 1951 by the Saturday Evening Post. Join me as we travel from the frigid Arctic Circle to the bustling streets of Manhattan with The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms!