Rating: 
Summary: The Scorpion's where never that big back home.
Review: The Stop-motion animation can't be beat, Good story, this is over all O'Brian's best work, King Kong (1933) is work famed, for the life like animation, Black Scorpion is the best quality stop-motion animation ever made by O'Brian. It's also to a large degree, unknown by anyone that isn't a animatar of stop-motion puppets. Its to bad, this is the film to study to learn just how good stop-motion can be.
Rating: 
Summary: They're Big, They're Bad, They're Bloodthirsty Beasts!
Review: They MIGHT be big. They MIGHT be bad. They MIGHT be bloodthirsty beasts, but you MIGHT think that the "buggers" in this film are quite bucolic if you aren't a fan of 50's and 60's stop motion animation, identical and repetitive special effects and stock footage.I am a HUGE fan of ALL THREE, however, and enjoyed this film immensely! Mexico City is under attack! Due to an earth shattering volanic eruption (insert stock footage), fissures created in the earth's crust have unleashed GIANT PREHISTORIC scorpions, and one lone, segmented worm with pincers from their underground, subterranean LAIR! What happens to the citizens of Mexico City? Watch this BUGFEST and find out for yourself! Richard Denning and Mara Corday star in this classic sci-fi big bug chiller but the true stars of the film are the amazing special effects, stop motion animation, and action scenes created by stop motion sensai, Willis O' Brien (King Kong) working on his last picture. Also featured effects man - an uncredited, young stop motion student, Ray Harryhausen who went on to become the master of stop motion animation with such greats as "Mighty Joe Young", "Jason & The Argonauts", and The Sinbad Trilogy, just to mention a few. Great family fare with fun and chills for ALL! Happy Watching!
Rating:
Summary: They're Big, They're Bad, They're Bloodthirsty Beasts!
Review: They MIGHT be big. They MIGHT be bad. They MIGHT be bloodthirsty beasts, but you MIGHT think that the "buggers" in this film are quite bucolic if you aren't a fan of 50's and 60's stop motion animation, identical and repetitive special effects and stock footage. I am a HUGE fan of ALL THREE, however, and enjoyed this film immensely! Mexico City is under attack! Due to an earth shattering volanic eruption (insert stock footage), fissures created in the earth's crust have unleashed GIANT PREHISTORIC scorpions, and one lone, segmented worm with pincers from their underground, subterranean LAIR! What happens to the citizens of Mexico City? Watch this BUGFEST and find out for yourself! Richard Denning and Mara Corday star in this classic sci-fi big bug chiller but the true stars of the film are the amazing special effects, stop motion animation, and action scenes created by stop motion sensai, Willis O' Brien (King Kong) working on his last picture. Also featured effects man - an uncredited, young stop motion student, Ray Harryhausen who went on to become the master of stop motion animation with such greats as "Mighty Joe Young", "Jason & The Argonauts", and The Sinbad Trilogy, just to mention a few. Great family fare with fun and chills for ALL! Happy Watching!
Rating:
Summary: They're Big, They're Bad, They're Bloodthirsty Beasts!
Review: They MIGHT be big. They MIGHT be bad. They MIGHT be bloodthirsty beasts, but you MIGHT think that the "buggers" in this film are quite bucolic if you aren't a fan of 50's and 60's stop motion animation, identical and repetitive special effects and stock footage. I am a HUGE fan of ALL THREE, however, and enjoyed this film immensely! Mexico City is under attack! Due to an earth shattering volanic eruption (insert stock footage), fissures created in the earth's crust have unleashed GIANT PREHISTORIC scorpions, and one lone, segmented worm with pincers from their underground, subterranean LAIR! What happens to the citizens of Mexico City? Watch this BUGFEST and find out for yourself! Richard Denning and Mara Corday star in this classic sci-fi big bug chiller but the true stars of the film are the amazing special effects, stop motion animation, and action scenes created by stop motion sensai, Willis O' Brien (King Kong) working on his last picture. Also featured effects man - an uncredited, young stop motion student, Ray Harryhausen who went on to become the master of stop motion animation with such greats as "Mighty Joe Young", "Jason & The Argonauts", and The Sinbad Trilogy, just to mention a few. Great family fare with fun and chills for ALL! Happy Watching!
Rating: 
Summary: WILLIS O'BRIEN'S SPIDER
Review: This forgetful 1957 entry has a certain claim to fame in that it includes special effects by Willis O'Brien and his use of a spider that was originally used (and discarded) from his 1933 KING KONG. Also, it's kinda like a redo of THEM. If you are a dedicated fan of this genre you will have to include this flick on DVD in your collection, I know I will, because of the afore-mentioned trivia.
Rating:
Summary: Still Has Sting
Review: This is one of the most underrated films from the era. Aside from the cheesy rubber scorpion head they use for close-ups, the effects still hold up today and the stop-motion arachnids really give their contemporary CGI counterparts a run for their money. The story keeps it simple and Richard Denning is likeable as ever. However, the scorps are the real stars and boy are they manacing! Where else can you see a giant bug derail a train? Everything you want in a B monster movie.
Rating:
Summary: Finally
Review: What a great movie. An active volcano releases giant scorpions into the modern world.1950's Sci-fi staple Richard Denning stars in this classic as an archiologist working in mexico. Great picture and sound quality. Its been a long wait but its finally here and the transfer is wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: OOEY GOOEY FUN
Review: What's so great about this 50's classic is the use of the same scenes over and over---the face shots of the scorpion; when the big scorpion is killing the others, the close ups are the same; when the scorpions come rushing out of their lairs, again the same scene; shots of the doomed train are the same--but it's fun, and it's what makes the big bug movies of the fifties such cherished items. They are obviously way beyond par with today's CGI effects, but for kids growing up in the fifties and sixties, man were they scary!
The scorpion is actually well down in most shots, Willis O'Brien's swan song after creating King Kong.
Acting? There is none, just the presence of Mara Corday and Richard Denning. But in a movie like this, who needs that? The beginning is admittedly slow but once the scorpions appear, things start stinging!!!
Rating:
Summary: Mother Nature vs Mexico
Review: When a volcano in Mexico begins spewing out giant scorpions and arachnids, it's Richard Denning and Mara Corday to the rescue! This would be Willis O'Brien's last great contribution to the film world and we are treated to some wild effects; scorpions drooling all over the place! Forget those modern CGI effects....for some real fun and some wild looking *beasties*, give this film a watch!
Rating: 
Summary: Kong Creator's Last Tour de Force
Review: Willis O'Brien, the stop-motion effects wizard behind the 1925 LOST WORLD, the classic KING KONG, and SON OF KONG, had lots of other big ideas for movie extravaganzas, from CREATION to WAR EAGLES to LAND OF THE MIST to GWANGI. Unfortunately, in later years he only got to make lower budget films like THE GIANT BEHEMOTH and BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN. This film, THE BLACK SCORPION, was his last real tour de force -- lots of giant scorpions & spiders, a train wreck, overturned trucks, a trip into a prehistoric cavern, and such. For 1957, given that its contemporaries were films like THE GIANT CLAW (a string puppet), this was really something. O'Brien and Harryhausen ruled the monster world during this era, for sophisticated effects. Marred only by the inclusion of some incomplete matte shots, the usual goofy rubber monster head close-ups, and the stereotypical little boy named "Pepe", who seemed to be in a lot of these films, this is a fun movie in large part and historically interesting because this may be as close as we'll ever get to seeing O'Brien's censored "spider pit" creatures from KING KONG.
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