The Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy Film Review
This refers to films that concern themselves with larger than usual sized animals and insects. These are almost always seen as going on the rampage and are thus Monster Movies. Regular sized animals that appear in genre cinema are covered under Animals Attack Films. Dinosaurs are certainly giant-sized animals but get their own entry because they are not enlarged beyond their normal size.
The most famous and endearing of all giant animals is King Kong (1933) who roared his way onto screens, fell for Fay Wray and met his end on the Empire State Building and has made many screen appearances since.
The major iteration of the Giant Animal film came during the Atomic Monster fad of the 1950s. Although not all giant animals were atomic in nature, plentiful giant ants, spiders, scorpions, crabs, leeches, grasshoppers, shrews, octopi and gila monsters ran across the screen.
The 1970s Nature’s Revenge and Animals Attack cycle saw another wave of giant animals. Since then, we have seen sporadic individual revivals of the genre, principally of the giant bug variety and a number of others among the CGI monster fad of the 2000s/10s.
Them! had created the 1950s fad for giant atomically enlarged insects. Here Jack Arnold, one of the most celebrated genre directors of the 1950s, makes a giant spider film and much better than most of the era’s other giant bug films
The eight of the Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan films. The same formula as before but in a desire for novelty the action is relocated to North Africa
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were the pop culture phenomenon of the 1980s. They have not fared so well in the 2000s but this new animated film written by Seth Rogen is a promising start
One of the more absurd of the Animals Attack films that sought to cash in on the success of Jaws concerning a giant octopus on the attack
Them! and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms created the 1950s atomic monster movie. Them’s particular spin was to create the giant bug film. Unlike the B movies that followed, it is played with realism and sober conviction
An Arabian Nights adventure that offers up one of the purest blends of fantasy and romance of its era. Filled with stunning directorial set-pieces and magnificent sets and all shot in colour.
The Asylum conduct their cheap version of the Jules Verne novel, so cheap it doesn’t even look like they went to sea or underwater to film. Here the oft-filmed Verne story has been modernised
A low-budget mockbuster from The Asylum designed to jump aboard the bandwagon of Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder
With the Mega Shark and especially the Sharknado films, The Asylum played the killer shark film as ridiculously as possible with delirious results. In this sequel to 2-Headed Shark Attack, they get the blend of the tongue-in-cheek absurdity to a point of near-perfection
A crossover between all the menaces in The Asylum’s films, which are brought to life as part of an alien invasion plan
Lavalantula with Steve Guttenberg facing giant fire-breathing spiders was a modestly enjoyable creature feature. This sequel feels like a Sharknado wannabe with shittier effects and an unfunny sense of humour
Seventh of the V/H/S Found Footage horror anthologies, this is one of the best with a number of the episodes venturing into SF and others that feature some genuinely outlandish moments
Bert I. Gordon, who spent most of his career making giant animal and people films, makes a film about giant rock’n’rolling teenagers. Supposedly adapted from a novel by H.G. Wells
Not one of the Doug McClure Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptations but by the same people and in the same vein. Thanks to a particularly inventive script this is the best of these lost world adventures
A horror anthology that ostensibly tells a series of children’s tales but heads for an admirable grotesquerie