Friday, October 13, 2017

The Deadly Mantis (1957)



Who's In It: Craig Stevens (Peter Gunn), Alix Talton (The Man Who Knew Too Much), and William Hopper (Perry Mason).

What It's About: After we learn way more than we want to know about the Cold War DEW line, random seismic activity frees a giant, prehistoric insect from its icy prison.

How It Is: I was really pleased that the effects team actually created a giant mantis instead of just superimposing insect footage over human actors like I expected. The only character I like though is Talton's Lois Lane-like reporter and she doesn't get enough to do to carry the movie for me. Stevens and Hopper passive-aggressively fight over her and no one's really being all that smart about tracking and stopping the monster. There are a couple of memorable set pieces, but also a lot of nobody doing nothing.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 murderous mantodea



2 comments:

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

The fact that I couldn't remember if I had seen this or if I was thinking of "Beginning of the End" with Peter Graves, leads me to believe that two giant Mantis movies is two too many to have both been featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Michael May said...

I don't think I was even aware of Beginning of the End. Thanks!

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