The term ‘Creature Feature’ came about in the 1950s, when a plethora of movies were released that depicted large, mutated, or just bizarre monsters as the central focus of the story. The most well known of course is the “Godzilla” franchise, which brought the science fiction genre to the mainstay of Hollywood.
One of Science Fiction’s founding fathers is the great Ray Bradbury, who penned such timeless classics as Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and A Sound of Thunder. Bradbury is most lauded by me for his work on The Twilight Zone. Bradbury’s short story The Fog Horn was turned into the 1953 Creature Feature “The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms,” which came about one year prior to the first “Godzilla” movie.
“The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms” (they don’t make titles like that anymore) leaves little to the imagination in terms of what its all about. Scientists in the arctic circle are testing nuclear bombs in the early days of the Cold War, and inadvertently awaken a species of dinosaur said to have been extinct for 100 million years.
As one could imagine, said beast wants nothing more than to destroy and eat anything and everything in its path. The beast makes its way through the waters of the North Atlantic, en route for New York City, for seemingly no other reason than to inflict the most possible damage.
The black and white setting, limitations of some of the actors, over the top score bring about a true Twilight Zone feel. We also see the infusing of the early day liberalism with the protagonist, physicist Tom Nesbitt (Paul Christian) the only scientist skeptical of the over use of atomic bombs. “Every time one of these things goes off I feel as if we are writing the 1st chapter of a new genesis” says one typical gun-ho American, to which Christian calmly responds “Lets hope we don’t find ourselves writing the last chapter of the old one.”
At 1:20 the movie can’t be accused of being too long, though a second more would have exceeded the limit. I love the scenes with the beast wreaking havoc (special effects aside, I literally lol’d at one part when it emerges from the ocean to sink a boat for no reason) but the middle portion of the movie where Nesbitt is researching the origins is a bit sluggish and unnecessarily.
It doesn’t really matter what era the creature lived in, it obviously has to be stopped stat.
While the effects are laughable compared to today’s tricks, the movie and in particular the monster itself are fun to watch.
And don’t think the usual safety net of the decade applies. The beast causes considerable damage and manages to gruesomely slaughter more than a few people that get in its way.
“The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms” is not the best movie one will watch this Halloween season, but its right on par with Godzilla or other Creature Feature films of the era.
Its a fun and enjoyable picture that reflects the simplicity of a different time.
by – Matt Christopher
