BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Prichards12345 BF20KF (How's that for a shorten-er!?) has Ray Harryhausen's splendid effects to thank for its continued longevity; the patience he must have had, and the devotion and love of his craft he possessed, show through in every frame of the Rhedosaur's screen time. It is, of course, an entirely fictional dinosaur, and the first two letters of its name uncannily match those of a certain animator....:) Our titanic friend is thawed out from the Arctic ice during an A-Bomb test in an impressive (apart from the obvious stock footage used) opening sequence. And like all self respecting prehistoric Dinos do, heads for New York, Tokyo presumably being a bit too far away."Sometimes I feel as if we were writing the first chapter of New Genesis.""Let's hope we're not writing the last chapter of the old." This exchange early in the film between two scientists places us firmly in the Nuclear Age paranoia of the 50s. And let's face it, that dilemma is still with us. Is all progress good? This sort of thing was done in countless sci-fi movies of the era, of course. But the succinct dialogue here really makes the point. Surprising to find such good writing in a B-movie monster flick. At least it is if you have seen as many of them as I have!Along the way we meet up with Cecil Kellaway's Paeloentologist (always welcome) his assistant, who is one of the few female leads in this type of movie that doesn't succumb to hysterics at some point, and a brilliant scene where the monster demolishes a remote lighthouse in Maine, thereby probably inspiring Stephen King. This is loosely taken from Ray Bradbury's short story The Fog Horn, and is tremendously effective.When the Rhedy gets to New York he goes the King Kong route to introducing himself to the Big Apple's citizens, though he avoids The Empire State Building and lands up at Coney Island instead. A young Lee Van Cleef plays the sharpshooter who shoots him down with radioactive isotope.Overall this is a watchable and very well done monster movie, produced, I believe, on a budget of only $150,000. Kong cost about four times that twenty years earlier. One of Harryhausen's great innovations was to get the cost of shooting stop motion to manageable proportions. His creations have real feeling behind them. Does today's CGI?

classicsoncall I saw this movie virtually back to back with "The Giant Behemoth" and I can't get over how much better this one was considering it came out six years earlier and both had the same director, Eugene Lourie. That's probably in large part due to Ray Harryhausen's animation work on this picture. One notable comparison to make is when the rhedosaurus here comes in contact with motor vehicles they actually look like real ones instead of the toy props trampled by the paleosaurus in the later picture. Very well done.Actually the picture hooked me early on when in an opening sequence the scientists made reference to 'azimuth 63 degrees' during the atomic bomb blasts. Any sci-fi flick using the word azimuth automatically earns bonus points with me. The dinosaur didn't waste any time showing up either, that was a plus as well since many monster films try to whet your appetite with an extended build up and then tease it's appearance with quick shots or shadowy parts before the grand entrance. This beast was fully on display for a good part of the picture, which made it easy to notice that he had a singular dorsal instead of a bilateral, and you couldn't miss that cantilevric clavicle suspension. Yeah right.You know what else was pretty cool? The film makers did a nice job of putting New York City on display with some great street scenes. Pepsi Cola was the beverage of choice on the Times Square billboard, while Clark Gable was appearing in 'Across the Wide Missouri" at one of the local theaters. Then just down the street Kirk Douglas was starring in "Detective Story" while Judy Garland was appearing in person at an All Star Show a couple of doors down. Kind of makes you wish you were around when this picture came out.And so who do they get to bring down the prehistoric rhedosaurus? I never caught his character's name during the show but it was pretty cool to see Lee Van Cleef draw down on the monster and fire that radioactive isotope gizmo to stop him in his tracks. If you think about it though, the beast from twenty thousand fathoms went down fairly easily after taking out the roller coaster. I thought he'd at least get a crack at the Tilt a Whirl.

AaronCapenBanner Eugene Lourie directed this expanded adaptation of the Ray Bradbury short story "The Fog Horn". Here, atomic testing in the Arctic unleash a prehistoric beast(later identified as a Rhedosaurus) that escapes into the Ocean, later destroying a lighthouse before making its way to New York. Paul Christian plays a scientist who desperately tries to convince authorities of the threat, but will of course realize this too late. The beast wrecks havoc, and being irradiated, creates a wave of sickness among the survivors before the climax at an amusement park. Exciting and smart film with excellent direction, though supporting players Cecil Kellaway and Kenneth Tobey steal the picture from the leads. Look out for Lee Van Cleef as the sniper who targets the beast for destruction with the isotope(way to go Col. Mortimor & Angel Eyes!)

wes-connors Nuclear testing at the North Pole thaws out a live dinosaur they're calling a Rhedosaurus. "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" turns out to be an excellent swimmer, and heads for home. Unfortunately for the population of a major American city, millions of years ago "The Beast" lived in the area we now call New York City. The homecoming turns out to be a disaster for both the monster and frightened citizens... Here, another monster follows in the "King Kong" (1933) footsteps. This is far from the best of the 1950s invasion pictures, but Ray Harryhausen's monster effects make it fun to watch.***** The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (6/13/53) Eugene Lourie ~ Paul Hubschmid, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway, Kenneth Tobey