When movies became a leading venue for entertainment, creative
directors spent a lot of effort into achieving special effects without
the aid of computer rendering and digital action. They swiftly
discovered that perspective was a great resource, and that very small
things could be made to look very large (or vice versa, of course).
There was no such thing as the high definition options that exist today,
but there were other creative advances in filmmaking. With clever use
of close-ups and toy models, even a small spider could crush villages.
Thus was born that genre of camp and classics, movies of oversized
primates, insects, and iguanas: the giant animal flicks.
There was another force at work, in these early films, that
demonstrated common feelings of the time: Science was growing rapidly,
but in many ways it was still not appreciated, and people were often not
aware of its consequences. The satellites the public worried about then
were Russian satellites possibly holding nuclear warheads, not
satellite TV. In each of of the following, it is man's own greedy
actions that bring the enormous (though often cuddly) brutes into
disastrous encounters with mankind. Without further ado, the top 5
traditional monster movies:
King Kong - No other building-sized animal star is as iconic as King
Kong. Making its debut in 1933, this was indeed the first of the giant
animal movies. This one is a little different from many that follow in
that science wasn't actually the culprit of Kong's size or belligerence.
Rather it was a human’s search for money and glory that removed him
from his natural environment. For a high-budget HD update, Peter
Jackson's 2005 film makes an interesting comparison.
Them! - Along with Kong, this may also be considered an original of
the field. It's the story of giant ants frightening the occupants of a
town in New Mexico. As it turns out, atomic radiation is responsible the
whale-sized ants, and it seems that they won’t be held at bay.
It Came From Beneath the Sea - The giant octopus that terrorizes San
Francisco in this film is pathetically unreal by modern audiences used
to flashy high definition effects, but the movie is still highly
regarded for attempting â€" and succeeding â€" to demonstrate a sea
monster raging war on a nearby city â€" the scenes all shot near a
shoreline. Hydrogen bomb tests have made this huge cephalopod
radioactive and driven it from its natural deep-sea home. A fun fact is
that the film only had budget to create 6 tentacles, so the beast is
never fully shown!
Tarantula - In this cinematic undertaking well-intentioned science
has gone seriously awry. A scientist attempting to control world hunger
creates a nutrient formula for animals - but it causes them to
significantly overdevelop, and become hungrier than ever. This proves
letal when the tarantula escapes and starts leveling the town. Mad
scientists, blossoming romance, and one gigantic arachnid - what more
could you ask a movie like this?
Night of the Lepus â€" Made in 1972, this movie glorifies the camp of
its predecessors. Once again, the best objectives of science wind up
causing a test subject - a rabbit in this scenario - to grow to uncanny
size It also propagates like a, well, rabbit, and the researchers must
take control of the situation before the whole Southwest is destroyed
beneath their fuzzy little paws and murderous jaws.
Even with advances in technology this type of movie hasn't really
changed so much over time. Movies like Godzilla show that the cautionary
tales about messing with science are still plentiful. New cinematic
adventures might have computer-generated brutes and HD bragging rights,
but the enormous animal is still the biggest hit. Watch these classics
on satellite TV and you won't be disappointed.
