| There are many classic monster movies. Jaws (1975) and Alien (1979) build suspense until you’re afraid to poke a toe into any beach or dingy airlock where the beast might be hiding. You hardly ever get to see the monster, but its menacing presence is continually felt. When we finally do get a good look at the title beasts, it’s in a flurry of violent motion, reinforcing our fears that we were vulnerable to its attack all along and that death can come at any moment.
That’s one way to make a monster movie. It isn’t the only way. Some filmmakers don’t want to hide their monsters – they want them to stand around out in the open for all to see. "Look at me! I’m a scary monster! Check it out! Ooga booga!" This method can lead to the creation of some spectacularly ridiculous cinema.
That isn’t to say that the slow-moving, walking-around-in-broad-daylight kind of monster can’t be really cool. The original King Kong (1933) is rightly considered to be a classic, often appearing on lists of the greatest films ever made. Kong gets plenty of screen time, is in no particular hurry, and still winds up being one of the most effectively menacing screen boogiemen-antiheroes ever.
However, few budding young filmmakers have the resources of RKO Radio Pictures or the genius of master animator Willis O’Brien. When these young turks set out to make the next monster classic, they might only have a decaying rubber costume with which to work their magic. A decision must be made – hide your less-than-impressive beast in the shadows or parade it around in the open? Let’s take a look at a few movies that went with option two:
Octaman (1971): Wow. Just look at that monster. Your appreciation of future Oscar winner Rick Baker’s amazing octopus costume will depend entirely on whether you think monsters should get big laughs. These days, most people check out Octaman on video because they’ve seen pictures or footage of the monster and just can’t believe that a movie was built around this particular costume. The completely immobile latex face is creased with veiny frown lines, with the mouth drawn into a malevolent fang-baring O-shape. The legs look like two tentacles each, and the four "arm" tentacles are connected with fishing line, so that they wave dramatically whenever the monster wants them to (which is pretty darned often). This costume is actually pretty effective, but in a that’s-gonna-be-my-Halloween-costume-this-year kind of way, instead of a genuinely frightening way.
The Creeping Terror (1964): Just like Octaman, the monster in this film has tons of screen time, which it uses to stroll around a lot. The monster itself though, looks like it was constructed much more lazily than Baker’s creation. The actors all scream and fret while the creature (made up largely of a big tarpaulin with crouching actors underneath) shambles around at speeds of up to two miles a week. It’s an actual physical effort to get caught and eaten by this thing, an effort that the film’s cast seems more than willing to make. Character after character gets vacuumed up by the camera-hogging alien, all of whom shriek and flail as they disappear into its oversized maw. There’s hardly any dialogue in The Creeping Terror, since the director actually lost the recorded soundtrack during production and had to replace it with narration. (You actually see characters silently mouthing a conversation, while the narrator explains what they’re talking about. Surreal!)
Robot Monster (1953): Truly a legend among bad-film buffs, Robot Monster never fails to astonish unsuspecting viewers. Originally envisioning some kind of mechanical menace, auteur Phil Tucker balked at the high salaries demanded by the robot-suit-owning buddies he knew. His solution smacks of insane genius – he got his friend George Barrows (who owned a homemade gorilla suit) to play the role by simply adding a nifty space helmet to the ensemble. It’s impossible to look at the resultant Ro-Man without laughing. Not only does the doughy space ape stand around in broad daylight, he also constantly shakes his fist in anger and never stops talking. You’ve never seen anything like it. Track this baby down at all costs. |
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