Thursday Movie Picks-Monsters but no vampires, werewolves, zombies or aliens

When we think of movie monsters, we normally go to vampires, werewolves and zombies...Oh My! We also pick aliens but this week we are to steer clear of these and choose other movie monsters. Now I know I could go directly to King Kong, Godzilla, dinosaurs etc... but I decided to go all 1950's since that decade just loved horror films dealing with atomic bombs or man playing God which resulted in strange monsters. This weekly film series is the brainchild of Wandering Through The Shelves where you find out the theme and pick 3 films that correlate to that theme. Head on over to her blog to check out what the others have chosen...here are my 3

1. THEM-1954

A little girl found lost in the desert is found and, the police know they are in trouble when she starts screaming,"THEM". Due to atomic testing, ants grow to be gigantic and start finding fresh food....people. With the help of the police, a scientist and his pretty daughter and the FBI, they kill the colony but they realize that 2 queens escaped and headed to L.A......of course. To stop the colony from growing, they head over to LA to save the city. Believe it or not, Santa Claus, I mean, Edmund Gwenn, from Miracle on 34th Street, co-stars in this film. It's actually pretty good and it started the craze of these big monsters ready to do damage.

2. TARANTULA-1955

This movie really freaked me out when I was a kid and, of course, I watched it more than once which resulted in nightmares that I had many times and still do! In fact, I dream this same dream with the tarantula coming over a golf course towards my dad and myself and my dad is trying to outrun the spider in the car we are in. The last time I had this dream was 3 months ago and I have been having this dream for over 40 years. So, the plot is about a scientist who decides to play God by fiddling with growth hormones to increase the world's food supply. He works on animals that become huge including a tarantula but he also works on his own assistants who keep dying. Before the one dies, he tries to destroy the lab which sets the spider free. The new assistant to the mad scientist, a pretty lass, comes to help and teams up with the local Doctor to destroy this spider. I'm getting shivers just writing this so I am stopping. Watch for a very young Clint Eastwood in a role of a young soldier.

3. ATTACK OF THE KILLER SHREWS-1959

Oh this is a silly one where a group of scientists on a remote island have been playing around with shrews as test subjects in an attempt to make humans small to help stop food from becoming scarce. Of course, the scientist goofed and made mean nasty huge shrews who now want to eat the humans. Yes, there is a pretty assistant in the mix. You can tell dogs were used with some sad looking coats on top of their back to make them look like killer shrews....oh and their bite is poisonous. How will they escape the island? OK The trailer is fun to watch because it shows, at the end this cool cat...not part of the movie:)


Bonus pick

TO CATCH A KILLER-1992

go ahead 38 seconds to see the preview

What could be a worse monster than man himself. We hear about it every day on the news and there are many shows dealing with people who kill others, destroy animals, lives and the planet. I chose this TV  Miniseries which was very chilling and Brian Dennehy is brilliant in this role as John Wayne Gacy. This monster, who was even cited by Nancy Reagon for bringing happiness to kids in hospitals as a clown, was responsible for the rape, torture and murder of over 30 young men.  The acting is powerful and I felt great unease watching this film. At one point, Dennehy was able to master this look, as if he were hypnotized, before wishing to kill this unsuspecting victim, only to "come out of it" and tell the man to leave. I have experienced this look when I was little and it gave me chills to see it again.

What movie monster would you choose? Mothra anyone? How about Gamera? Any Ray Harryhausen fan?