the monster that challenged the world (cinema history class)

Session: Giant Monster Month, week 1
Movie: The Monster That Challenged the World (1957)
Directed by Arnold Laven
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
An earthquake under the Salton Sea has release prehistoric giant mollusks whose hunger is a threat to all in the area. Maybe even the world. Hilarity ensues.

Teeing Up:
Keith noted that, for giant monster month, he decided to show us four monster movies that have four different types of monsters. This week we were in for the giant bug.

Reaction:
I'm no expert on 1950's science fiction. I've seen a few of the iconic films, and some others. But I have a concept in mind when I think of it. And this movie was exactly what I have in mind. Given that, and the fact that I was going to use that point to start off my comments, I was glad to hear Joe start his comments by saying that this was the perfect 1960's scifi film.

The monster was actually Actually really scary (at least when we saw it underwater -- out of water, it sometimes looked a bit ridiculous). But there was only one jump scare. THat works for me. One of the things I don;t like about a lot of new horror movies is that they rely on multiple jump scares. I just don;t like being startled that way. But once in the course of a movie is OK.

As an aside, I will note that the movie raised a philosophical question. Suppose someone offers to sell you a pen for a dollar. But after you pay him, he runs off without giving you the pen. WHat has he stolen from you? The dollar or the pen?

One thing I liked about this is the pseudo-scientific explanation for what is going on. A movie like this really needs to have exposition to explain "scientific" basis for what's happening. In some, the explanation is completely absurd, but in this it actually seems plausible.

The one flaw with this film (and it's not really with the film, but with the stuff around it) is that the title and the trailer represent a bit of false advertising. The title implies a bigger threat to the world, and the trailer even shows a shot of the monster threatening Los Angeles. In reality, all that's directly threatened is a rural area in the California Desert. Also, the trailer says that the monster is "reptilian," but according to the movie it was a mollusk. Of course, it looked like an larval insect. Whatever.

The ratings:

• Joe: 9.6 to 9.7
• Dave: 9.2 to 9.3
• Sean 2 (on a scale of 1 - 4)
• Scott: 6 to 7
• Ethan: 8
• Me: 9.2
• Christina: 8

The Monster That Challenged the World passes the Bechdel Test. Barely.

Extras:
Keith gave us a used VCR. He had it and doesn't want it anymore, but doesn;t like to throw things in the garbage. He gave it to us to give away on Freecycle. I think we'll keep it instead. Don't tell him. Oh, and Keith, if you're reading this, please stop before the beginning of this paragraph.