The Black Scorpion
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Movie Reviews of The Black Scorpion
Movie Review: 1950'S BLACK SCORPION ROCKS
Summary: 5 Stars
The 1950's Black Scorpion rocks,if you are a 1950's science fictionaholic. This one's got all the bells and whistles of the premo black & white science fiction era. It's fun, its campy, it's a classic!Movie Review: Brings back memories
Summary: 5 Stars
This item, amongst the others received with it, were in excellent condition and timely. Total experience-takes me back 40 years.Movie Review: Madre dios! That's one big friggin' bug...
Summary: 4 Stars
Released in 1957, The Black Scorpion followed in a long line of giant bug movie, probably most notable 1954's Them!, which dealt with giant ants. The main difference being that in most of those movies, the gigantism in the creatures was caused by atomic radiation (I wonder how many men pondered radiating their private parts given that Hollywood seemed so determined to make us believe radiation would have the effect of embiggening things so?) and in this movie the cause was of a more natural reason.The Black Scorpion stars Richard Denning, who I remember most from the movie Target Earth (1954) and Mara Corday, a darkened hair beauty whose other notable films include Tarantula (1955) and The Giant Claw (1957).
The plot involves a very active volcano in Mexico and geologists Hank Scott (Denning) along with a colleague are interested in seeing this activity first hand. Corday plays Teresa Alverez, a ranch owner whose cattle is being mysteriously slaughtered and is having difficulties keeping locals around to help her round up the cattle as they believe some devil bull or something is responsible.
Turns out the active volcano has ripped open some giant fissures in the Earth, exposing a vast underground cavern containing mostly giant, prehistoric scorpions. The scorpions, being a might bit peckish after years of living under the ground, start venturing out into the Mexican deserts, stinging and eating whatever gets in their path. They are soon discovered, the military comes in, blows them up real good, and that's the end of that...or is it? Okay, no it's not, as the humongous scorpions find another way out, and begin to do cool stuff like attack trains and find their way into populated areas.
What really worked so well in this movie is the special effects...well, at least the ones done by Willis O'Brien (King Kong) and Ray Harryhausen using stop-motion animation. Harryhausen isn't credited, but he ended up doing about 90 percent of the effects, under the supervision of O'Brien. The scenes with numerous scorpions attacking the passenger train are probably among the best in this feature. These effects contrasted greatly with the 'live' effects, the ones showing the drooling visages of the beasties up close. These were pretty bad, and they kept using the same visual over and over again, a gaping maw of a scorpion with custard-like drool leaking from between its' mandibles. At some point the production ran out of money, so some of the effects are of the cheapest kind, basically looking like a real scorpion placed on some kind of empty matte invading a Mexican city.
In the end, there is a climatic battle, one with tanks, explosions, army guys and such...do they destroy the primitive creatures? I guess you'll have to see the movie (ain't I a stinker?)
There are some great special features included in this release, which is strange as Warner Brothers really isn't known for this (they still use the cheap cardboard and plastic casing which drives me nuts). A feature called 'Stop Motion Masters' has Harryhausen talk about his greatest influence, Willis 'Obie' O'Brien, the man behind King Kong. Another clip included is one from the short called 'The Animal World', a feature created by disaster movie mogul Irwin Allen, which highlights HarryHausen and O'Brien's prehistoric segment, the highlight of the film. Also included are some short test footage found by another stop motion artist involving a mutant ape attacking a house and truck, using props from The Black Scorpion, and a small bit dealing with Beetlemen who were actually astronauts affected by cosmic radiation and ended up growing exoskeletons. Finally, there are some trailers provided, showcasing other Harryhausen and O'Brien films. Oh yeah, if the noise you hear the scorpions making sounds familiar, I was told that's because it's the same noise that the giant ants made in the movie Them! (1954).
Cookieman108
Movie Review: "Doc and I have been down many a cave..."
Summary: 4 Stars
It's that type of movie. Just good, harmless fun.
I was fortunate to locate this one: it never pops up in "related searches" for movies akin to the Harryhausen series. I'm glad I found it.
Havoc is being wruck(?) down near Mexico Way. This is the 1950s once again, and a seemingly worthless insect specimen has suddenly got a lethal dose of hallucinogenic steroids from... surprisingly, not the H-Bomb. This time it involves the unnaturally fast formation of a new volcano on the outskirts of Mexico City. Lava flows have already begun decimating the hillside shacks and surrounding villages. (*I will never understand why people reside near the base of prehistoric fire pits*)
Geologists Dr. Scott (Richard Denning) and Artur Ramos (Carlos Rivas) stumble upon some wreckage they believe to be a part of a recent volcanic spill-over. One village is wrecked with a corpse and an abandoned baby left behind. Faced with helping to evacuate the nearby town of San Lorenzo, they spy (literally) a "cowgirl" Teresa (Mara Corday) after a fall from her horse.
It's straight formula from there: she enlists their help to save the townspeople, REALLY BIG f-ckin' scorpions unearth themselves at night (along with the immortal ant-shriek from "THEM!") and have at the extras, doctor spends more time trying to bed Teresa and smoking cigarettes than helping anyone stay alive, attempt to destroy scorpion caves backfires and stirs up even more trouble... it's the Texas 2-step of plot development. But when it's got charm, it works. And "The Black Scorpion" has charm.
"Scorpion" greatly benefits from its authentic Mexico locations, healthy dose of carnage, and rather impressive creature/FX sequences set deep in the catacombs. Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen (uncredited) reference "King Kong"(1933) a lot in how they stage the action. Even the kick-ass finale within a soccer stadium starring King Sting vs. Army cargo choppers, tanks, and expendable soldiers contains a -- for lack of a better adjective: epic -- tone. Just watch it, 'cause I can't really explain it.
Not seminal, but still a rip-roaring good time.
The Warner Bros. DVD is pretty decent: original theatrical 1.33:1 ratio from a somewhat damaged but completely forgivable b/w interpositive print, original mono sound mix, plus some short-but-sweet features regarding Harryhausen's appreciation for his late mentor "Obie". BIG BONUS: the prehistoric sequence which opens Irwin Allen's 2nd documentary "The Animal World". I guarantee you it is the best part of that whole film.
Movie Review: Strange goings-on in Mexico City! Calling Willis O'Brien!
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Black Scorpion" is a prime example of a how a big bug film can be made on a low budget and still retain the big-studio gloss. From those fun folks at Warners, who's history of big stars and big films at the time was renowned, this story is set in the Mexican desert outside Mexico City. An unhealthy dose of atomic radiation has mutated a horde of black scorpions to giant-size proportions and set them on a path of destruction toward the heart of Mexico City. Bringing the scorpions to life is the stop-motion animation of the legendary Willis O' Brien. O'Brien is best-known for his work animating that hairy guy Kong in the 1933 classic "King Kong". As the 1950's rolled around, O'Brien had started to ride a bit on his past success with films like "Kong" and "Son of Kong", and his output was a bit spotty. His "Beast of Hollow Mountain", done a year prior to "Black Scorpion", featured some of O'Brien's most sub-standard effects work. It resembles the clay-mation process of the 60's more so than stop-motion work. But in "Scorpion", he is back in fine form. A great more detail has been given to the creature models and they actually feel real on screen. It gives the film a tension that other 50's "big bug" efforts lacked.
Ably supporting O'Brien is a cast of 50's stalwarts, including Richard Denning as the iron-jawed hero, Mara Corday as the pretty heroine, and Carlos Rivas as Denning's friend and right-hand man. Even 50's favorite Nestor Paiva (the boat captain in "Creature From the Black Lagoon") pops up to remind us of the camp value of the film.
This film has been unfairly criticized for its similar plot-line to the earlier Warners effort "Them". Frankly, "Them" set the tone for a lot of 50's "big bug" films. Unlike many of the others "Black Scorpion" holds its own against its 1954 cinema brother. As directed by Edward Ludwig, the film achieves a grittier feel than "Them". You can almost feel the hot, arid desert where the action takes place. And the scorpion attack scenes drip with tension.
The film does suffer from the occasional bit of banal dialogue, but then, so did a dozen other sci-fi and horror flicks in that decade alone! it seems that a pre-requisite of the time was to not do the script until the plane ride to the set the day before shooting begins! But this is a minor sting (pun intended) against a fine genre effort.