I kept seeing this film while switching channels for the 2 weeks and I finally decided to just watch it from start to finish. I have seen it before, more than once but it is much better than I remembered. At its heart it is a remake of sorts of "Beast from 20 000 Fathoms". The big bug is released from its Arctic suspended animation because of a volcano, not an atomic bomb, but the plot follows pretty closely to the classic Harryhausen movie. Will this movie change your life? No. Is it fun and pretty well done for a low budget 50s creature feature? Yes. The mantis is well done and the puppetry of the model sells it as a giant creature. They made a 200-foot papier-mâché version and used a real praying mantis in others and they all matched up pretty well. The praying manits is a very creeping looking bug and makes for a good giant monster. The scene with it in the Manhattan tunnel is a classic image.
I will say the film drags at the start and takes too long to see the monster, unlike Beast from 20 000 fathoms where we see it right away. It still was a good watch and liked the creature enough to draw a poster for my monsters poster project. (see above)
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