AboveDeepBuggy Some things I liked some I did not.

RyothChatty ridiculous rating

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

classicsoncall I don't know why the haters bother to watch flicks like this, you've got to know going in that it'll be pure Velveeta. With an explosive intro before any opening credits, the picture sets up the viewer for a veritable smorgasbord of creepy, crawly creatures that are enough to satisfy any fan of Fifties schlock horror.I appreciate the fact that no cheesy, pseudo-scientific rationale was offered for the giant scorpions in the picture, they were just there when the local Mexican volcano went kablooey. The first one appears about a half hour into the picture, after we get such appetite whetting teases as a 'demon bull' of the Maricopa on the prowl. What's also interesting is that the scorpion hordes don't necessarily act in tandem against their human rivals, they actually battle each other! Out of the melee, one giant creature comes on the scene to claim the film's title as The Black Scorpion. Just like it's Tyrannosaurus forebear, he was given the name Scorpionida Rex by one of the Mexican scientists, a neat touch indeed.The only downside to the story was how relatively easily the military defeated the big buggers for the finale. They simply aimed for their weak spot and applied an electrified jolt to their vulnerable throat. For the principal players, it wasn't difficult to see how they got upstaged by their arachnid counterparts. American scientist Hank Scott (Richard Denning) probably said it best when he and Artur Ramos (Carlos Rivas) first made their way to the floor of the scorpion cave - "We've just hit bottom".

unbrokenmetal Scott (Richard Denning) and Ramos (Carlos Rivas) are geologists taking a closer look at an area in Mexico after a recent volcanic eruption. Near the village of San Lorenzo, they find an abandoned patrol car, a baby without parents and later a dead officer. There is some superstition around, a tale of a demon bull who may be responsible for killed and missing people, but the 2 scientists soon find there are gigantic black scorpions on the loose instead, released by the volcano from their underground hiding place. Scott descends into the cave where the came from, and there are so many scorpions down there in tunnels that stretch for miles that it seems impossible to kill all of the monsters...This is one of the great 50s monster movies that deserves to be listed shortly after 'Tarantula', 'Them!' and the like. First, there are great animated sequences from special effects master Willis O'Brien ('King Kong'). Scenes like the fight between scorpions and a worm in the cave or the train attack are great examples of his stop motion technique. Second, the movie was filmed near an active volcano with real smoke in the background, an impressive, rugged landscape. Third, the music contributes a lot to the tension, too. The whole atmosphere works. Unfortunately, the actors remain pale and deliver their lines like in a typical B movie rush, but otherwise it's a great movie for its time and genre.

Adam Foidart If you can forgive that "The Black Scorpion" has a low budget (which means not only is it in black and white, but there's stock footage used and limited use of Willis O'Brien's special effects), it's an enjoyable B-Movie. It's a monster movie made very much in the style of the decade about a giant scorpion that terrorizes unsuspecting humans. There are some scenes of genuine tension and horror, which is always a bonus, but odds are you're coming to this movie because the monster right? How do the Willis O'Brien effects look? As you might have suspected, the star of the film is easily the stop-motion effects, so if you're a fan of the medium it's an enjoyable flick and the special features on the DVD are excellent.On the things I really enjoy about the film is that once you've seen it, you notice clips and screen caps of it everywhere. If you've ever seen "Teeth", that movie about the girl with razor-sharp fangs in her vagina, there's a point in the film where the lead girl happens upon a clip of "The Black Scorpion". The scene she watches, a close-up of the film's monster with its wide mouth full of teeth and its pincers gnashing gives makes her eyes go wide and in a very clever way gives you a pretty good mental image of what her mutation probably looks like.There is a nice variety in the monsters and a good battle scene towards the end where the titular creature attacks a train and then faces off against the army. Basically, the movie is fun whenever there are giant creatures on the screen, but when it comes to the story, it's pretty generic. The film is just average monster mayhem with uneven quality in story and pacing and I give it a mild recommendation, higher if you're a fan of Willis O'Brien or his most famous pupil, Ray Harryhausen. (Dvd, May 17th, 2012)

Aaron1375 I caught this movie on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. It was almost a pretty good movie, not in the same class with others the gang of the Satellite of Love have riffed. This film features pretty good monster effects for the time and an interesting premise. The thing that drags the film into the not all that good realm is the lack of anything really going on anytime the scorpions are not on the screen and terrorizing the locals. Which happens a lot, unfortunately. Making the scenes where there is nothing going on but speculation drag on. Add an annoying child and a pointless love story arc and at times you almost forget there are killer scorpions on the rampage. Heck, near the end the film seems like it is wrapping up and we finally get the scorpions coming back and staging their final assault.The story has a volcanic eruption that causes a lot of damage to a small town. Well, not only does it cause destruction by the typical way a volcano causes damage it also unleashes something horrific...giant scorpions! A couple of scientist guys try to figure a way to stop this horde of arachnids from their reign of terror and it soon leads them to a hole that takes them to the very depths of the earth where even more horrors await them and their sidekick annoying child who just wanted to help.This movie was featured on Mystery Science Theater during their first season. I usually find the first season episodes to be a bit weak, but this was one of the strongest ones. It helps that the film is not too terribly bad...I actually think that a almost good or okay film works just as well for riffing as does a completely horrid film, sometimes they work better. You get into the film a bit and then something stupid does happen and they catch it and it enhances it.So this film was not terrible, just nothing good either. I like the whole cave portion of the film and when scorpions were on the attack, but the other aspects of the story were simply too weak and too much like things we had seen countless times before. The opening reminded me of, Beginning of the End and other films of the giant bug genre. The monsters looked good most of the time, but there were times they simply looked bad when you could see through them. So a bit of work, and this one could have been pretty good, but as it is, a rather nice episode of MST3K.