I love seeing monster movies like this.
Them and
Day of the Triffids are two of my favorites besides the original Universal Monsters of course (
Frankenstein and
Creature from the Black Lagoon can't be beat). Yes, the FX don't quite hold up in this but I think there's something charming about a guy in a suit vs. today's CG nonsense although sometimes CGI can be amazing as well (the limited CGI in the first
Jurassic Park and the extraordinary work in
Starship Troopers). Then again I didn't like the practical FX in
Gargoyles so I'm contradictory but I expected a little more from Stan Winston and that was the '70s vs. the '50s here. I shouldn't be so harsh to
Gargoyles either since it was a TV movie and full monster suits are never easy. Really I just love monster movies. Even the bad ones are great to me, and I would love to watch every monster movie ever made even though that might be impossible. I like the characters in this film and the way the story develops. At first, no one believes our hero, the only survivor from the first encounter, but once they see the monster for themselves, they know he is telling the truth. It's a common storyline especially in vampire flicks but I like how our guy isn't bitter at that. He understands why they wouldn't believe him. I'm so glad we even got a
toy of this monster. One thing is certain: if you want a great monster movie, you need a ruthless unstoppable monster.
Alien,
Terminator,
Jaws all have this in common. The harder it is to kill the beast, the more suspenseful your film will be. Same thing goes for how lethal the creature is. Monster movies really have clear stakes, which I think makes them very effective. Rarely are they boring, and I just love monsters.
