Monday, September 24, 2012
TABONGA'S TOP 10 Fifties Monster Movies
It's time for something completely different with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. I made a list one time of the monster movies I saw at the theaters during the fifties, I think there were 66 of them, the first one was THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS in 1953 that my parents took me to see at the age of five! So, here's a list of my favorite movies I saw when they came out, way back when...
No. 1, FORBIDDEN PLANET - What else?!.. Everything about this movie is top notch, mind blowing for an eight year old, my dad loved sci-fi and took me to see this one. It was all about Robby The Robot and the Id Monster!
No. 2, THE BLOB - I was only ten when my dad took me to see this one! I loved the theme song, still have the 45, but, when Steve sees the doctor covered in the blob through the window, I flipped out. I spent a lot of time in the lobby sitting on a lounge chair, twitching, while my dad kept watching to movie. You could smoke in the theater back then.
No. 3, THE FLY - Another one my dad took me to, I was ten again. This movie was very creepy, and, when the hood covering Al's hideous head is finally pulled off by his wife, well, I fainted! The hairy claw and that twitching fly face, a true terror classic! It's hard for me to watch this one now, it's so damn sad.
No. 4, KRONOS - I totally loved this wild one, it had all the good sci-fi stuff going on including that awesome destroyer of worlds! John Emery was perfect as the scientist taken over by the alien force.
No. 5, THE BLACK SCORPION - I saw a lot of movies with neighborhood kids on Saturday afternoons, we thought this one was great. The close-up of the hero monster growling and slobbering will never be forgotten! They actually turned up the volume for those scenes! I think we sat near the front for this one.
No. 6, TARANTULA! - The best giant spider movie, great process shots, great makeup! What I remember most was Leo G. Carroll in bed as the monster tears the house apart, his contorted face in the shadows!
No. 7, THE 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD - Oh man, we loved this film so much, a real kid's favorite. It had everything a kid could want, we salute you Ray Harryhausen!!
No. 8, CURSE OF THE DEMON - This is one excellent British horror film, great story that involves magic runes and a giant devilish demon from Hell, and, it only comes out at night!!
No. 9, THE COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK - This was a great movie to see at the time, the Colossus was an amazing piece of work, dude was immense!
No. 10, THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN - Another excellent movie, but, what I remember the most was feeling lost and very depressed at the end, it's torturess to watch as Grant constantly goes from one bad situation to another!
WoW!
ReplyDeleteLots of great films here.. of course limited to those you actually saw when they were out; otherwise I'd have to argue about what's in the list!
Cheers!
Ex - Yes, there were a lot of gooderns I didn't see at the bijou - btw, my mom's maiden name is Rossiter and I grew up near a town named Exeter!
ReplyDeleteGlad to see KRONOS and CURSE OF THE DEMON in your list. Terrific films often overlooked!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this! Love how you put it together. But I am absolutley SHOCKED there is no Godzilla!
ReplyDeletePS - No, never saw any Godzilla at the theater in the fifties...
ReplyDeleteI liked the "Kronos" poster... and the image of the Demon at the rail-road tracks....
ReplyDeleteAfter my last computer "crashed" I lost my link to your great blog... but now ..."We're Back"....
Doc T - Glad to have you back!
ReplyDeleteGreat list! Sadly I wasn't around in the 50's...I would have loved to have seen these on the big screen. I love each and every movie on this list though, especially The Colossus of New York. I had read about it as a kid in various books and such, but it wasn't until the Sci Fi Channel ran it's Supernova Movie Explosion back in '96 that I got to see it finally.
ReplyDelete