Creature Features: Nature Turned Nasty in the Movies
Books / Paperback
Books › Performing Arts › Film › History & Criticism
ISBN: 0786495626 / Publisher: McFarland, May 2014
"Topics are dragons, dinosaurs, and prehistoric or mythological giants from 1953's The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms; "big bug" flicks, with 1954's Them; ordinary animals grown to improbable proportions in 1955's It Came from Beneath the Sea; animals that threaten mankind including 1963's The Birds; blobs and other beasts such as 1958's The Blob"--Provided by publisher.
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This work offers a critical, colorful and informative examination of different types of monster movies, spanning the silent period to today. Chapter One focuses on dragons, dinosaurs, and other scaly giants from films like 1953's The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, an impressive stop-motion production that ushered in a new era of atomic-spawned monster films. Chapter Two examines "big bug" flicks, beginning with 1954's giant ant-infested Them! Chapter Three focuses on ordinary animals grown to improbable proportions through scientific or sinister experimentation, such as the huge octopus in 1955's It Came from Beneath the Sea. Chapters Four, Five, and Six look at films in which nature goes berserk, and otherwise innocuous animals flock, swarm, hop or run about on a menacingly massive scale, including 1963's The Birds and 1972's Frogs. Finally, Chapter Seven focuses on films featuring beasts that defy easy definition, such as 1958's The Blob and Fiend Without a Face.
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