Well in my youth we had a litany of B rated so called horror movies from the 1950’s and early 60’s that we would watch on late night television years after they were made. We used to laugh at the cheap cinematography budget, but they all became classics for a different reason.
The year 1957 gave birth to many of our late-night entertainment. e.g. Below are a few of which the first listed was one of my favorites as you could actually see the wires flapping the wings. Then as the camera zoomed in for a tight shot the Mantis would turn looking into the camera and make a bird like sound.
We all heard of movies such as: The Blob (early Steve McQueen film), The Fly (with Vincent Price before the Pit & the Pendulum, Fall of the House of Usher etc…)
The Deadly Mantis – A Prehistoric deadly, giant praying deadly mantis is freed from Arctic ice by a volcano. It flies south, attacks Washington D.C. and eventually hides out in a New York City tunnel.
Them (1954) – The gold standard of the a1950’s atomic bug genre. Nuclear test in New Mexico creates a colony of giant, flesh eating ants that screech with terrifying high-pitched whine.
Beginning of The End (1957): Giant mutated grasshopper attack Chicago. The special effects are delightfully low-budget, utilizing real grasshoppers walking over photographs of buildings.
Tarantula (1955): An experimental nutrient designed to solve world hunger accidentally creates an enormous, escaping arachnid. Watch very closely for very young uncredited Clint Eastwood playing a jet pilot t the end.
However, these early versions of B rated horror movies gave to a rebirth of the 70’s and 80’s classics like…
The Night of the Lepus (1972): Starring Janet Leigh and Stuart Whitman about giant, mutant, flesh-eating rabbits terrorizing an Arizona town
The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978)- A low-budget independent American horror parody directed by John DeBello, where ordinary red vegetables mutate and go on a violent splattering rampage against humanity.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988): A Sci-fi horror comedy about a pack oof murderous alien invaders who look like circus clowns, land in a small town via a circus-tent spaceship, and harvest humans into cotton candy.
What were some of your favorites?
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