One of my favorite giant monster movies of all time! Them!
tells the story of giant mutated ants terrorizing a small town first in New
Mexico and then Los Angeles. This is an atomic age movie so the ants are
mutated by the bombs detonated in the New Mexico desert. Some fun facts about
this movie: they first filmed it in color but decided that the ants were “too
pretty” and changed it to black and white to make them seem more menacing.
Watch out for a pre Spock Leonard Nimoy as random soldier…
Like the book it’s based on, I’m not sure about this scifi
horror movie. It’s certainly a lot more creepy than the book is and the visuals
are more graphic. In the movie they call the phenomenon the Shimmer. As the
scientists explore the Shimmer they determine that it distorts and transforms
everything including their own DNA. They can refract into other beings and
there are some truly horrific scenes involving a transformed bear and humanoid
plants. Truly a creepy addition to any Halloween madness.
To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure how I feel about this
book, but it fits into my current theme of SciFi horror for Halloween so here
you go.
The story begins with four women entering an area known as
Area X. No one is ever named in the story. When the “biologist”, who is our
main character, inhales some spores in a tower she begins to mutate into
something else. Everyone slowly starts to go mad and kill one another while the
biologist slowly turns into something not quite human. It is the first of the
Southern Reach Trilogy.
On Halloween of 1938, Orson Welles broadcast a chilling version of the War of the Worlds. The script closely resembled real radio broadcasts about World War II that was currently raging in Europe. Many listeners tuned in after his disclaimer at the beginning and thought that Martians were really attacking the world. It caused mass panic as people tried to escape the nonexistent aliens. The broadcast is really great. Just the right amount of terror for a Halloween episode. I have listened to the original Welles’ production as well as a remake featuring Lenoard Nimoy, Brent Spiner, and Gates Mcfadden. I suggest listening to it for your Halloween pleasure. Listen to the original broadcast here:
The Attack of the Clones begins about 10 years after the end
of The Phantom Menace. Separatists led by the menacing Count Dooku, played by
the ever intimidating Christopher Lee, are threatening the Republic and Anakin
Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi are sent to discover what is going on. They learn
that the Republic has been secretly planning for war for a long time and has
started building a clone army to be the army of the Republic. Also Anakin is
reunited with Padme, who he secretly loves. Tensions are starting to mount, and
we begin to see the descent that will cause Anakin Skywalker to become Darth
Vader.
This is the English version of the original Godzilla movie that came out in 1954. The
story remains relatively the same except that American actor Raymond Burr was
inserted into the story as a reporter in order to bridge the gap between
American and Japanese audiences. The director, Ishiro Honda, saw the movie The
Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, and noticing the appeal of the movie decided to make
his own dinosaur movie. The original Godzilla movie is a lot darker than later
entries in the franchise. Godzilla is awoken by the nuclear bomb testing in the
sea of Japan. In the first couple of scenes it harkens back to a very tragic
event that occurred in March of 1954, The Lucky Dragon incident. The crew of
the Lucky Dragon was caught in a nuclear weapon test. The crew all died of
radiation poisoning and a whole shipment off fish had to be discarded.
And of course this was not Japan’s first encounter with
nuclear/atom bombs. Hiroshima and Nagasaki stand as a testament to the effects
of these bombs. Hondo took his experience with these weapons of mass
destruction and inserted it into his scifi film, making it far more darker than
some of the American outings. And that is what makes this movie powerful. For
Americans, the effects of these bombs are mainly academic or something that
happens to someone else. Honda lived it.
The story begins about three years after the conclusion of
the movie. Apophis comes through the Stargate and kidnaps a female soldier and
kills the others. General Hammond pulls Colnol Jack O’Neill from retirement to
deal with the new threat. Joining Jack are Daniel Jackson and Captain Samantha
Carter. After the first episode, alien Teal’c also joins the team. The first
story arc deals with the Gao’ld. In the course of the show the team also meets
other “gods” including the Asgard. The show was great and one of the best
offerings of the Stargate universe.
