***** SPOILER WARNING *****
I have a special fondness for this film because (a) it and I are of the same vintage, and (b) it's still as scary and silly as it was when I first saw it at about age 10. Marvel at the motherlode of movie cliches! Thrill to the pseudo-newsreel coverage of brave new radars! See Eskimos madly paddling their canoes! See macho stock footage of the brave U.S. Air Force! See the beautiful woman turn "grown" men into drooling fools! See the beautiful women shriek their pretty heads off! See bewildered brass battle the bodacious bug! See styrofoam insect body parts! Hear the scary music and the scary insect drone! Watch the big bug defy the silly humans and their futile weapons! Watch the obligatory shallow romance materialize out of nowhere! Watch the flat acting that, yes, you *could* have done better!
Despite its pervasive cheesiness, previous reviewers are right: The Deadly Mantis is really too good for MST3K. Uninvite Joel and the bots when you watch this one. The story holds together, and shows 1950s American fears and bravado as well as most productions of the day. The mantis is big enough -- and yes, deadly enough -- to scare ya real good. (They scare me plenty when they're normal size.) But in the end, when it's trapped and dying, you can still muster some pity for a creature that, after all, was only trying to survive.
This is no classic. It *is* a piece of cheese. But by God, it's lovable cheese.
I have a special fondness for this film because (a) it and I are of the same vintage, and (b) it's still as scary and silly as it was when I first saw it at about age 10. Marvel at the motherlode of movie cliches! Thrill to the pseudo-newsreel coverage of brave new radars! See Eskimos madly paddling their canoes! See macho stock footage of the brave U.S. Air Force! See the beautiful woman turn "grown" men into drooling fools! See the beautiful women shriek their pretty heads off! See bewildered brass battle the bodacious bug! See styrofoam insect body parts! Hear the scary music and the scary insect drone! Watch the big bug defy the silly humans and their futile weapons! Watch the obligatory shallow romance materialize out of nowhere! Watch the flat acting that, yes, you *could* have done better!
Despite its pervasive cheesiness, previous reviewers are right: The Deadly Mantis is really too good for MST3K. Uninvite Joel and the bots when you watch this one. The story holds together, and shows 1950s American fears and bravado as well as most productions of the day. The mantis is big enough -- and yes, deadly enough -- to scare ya real good. (They scare me plenty when they're normal size.) But in the end, when it's trapped and dying, you can still muster some pity for a creature that, after all, was only trying to survive.
This is no classic. It *is* a piece of cheese. But by God, it's lovable cheese.