The Deadly Mantis
“This Was the Day That Engulfed the World in Terror!”
Certified Crap. CrapScore 47, rated by 1 admin.
Higher CrapScores mean more entertainingly bad. How we score movies.
A prehistoric mantis wakes up and takes an ambitious tour of North American infrastructure. The military briefings are plentiful, but some fog-shrouded creature work is surprisingly effective. Pick this for a patient retro-bug evening rather than a promise of continuous rubber-monster embarrassment.
Nominated by @flabbergasted_jones
The club’s verdict
- Acting
- 3.5/10
- Plot
- 5.5/10
- Effects
- 3.5/10
- Dialogue
- 5/10
- Rewatchability
- 6/10
“The defence briefing is lengthy. The insect remains unimpressed.”
@flabbergasted_jones, scored it 47
Synopsis and movie facts
When a melting iceberg releases a prehistoric giant praying mantis, a palaeontologist works alongside the military to kill it after it attacks scientific outposts on its way to Washington and New York.
- Released
- 1957
- Directed by
- Nathan Juran
- Running time
- 79 min
Starring
- Craig Stevens as Col. Joe Parkman
- William Hopper as Dr. Nedrick 'Ned' Jackson
- Alix Talton as Marge Blaine
- Donald Randolph as Gen. Mark Ford
- Florenz Ames as Prof. Anton Gunther
- Paul Smith as Corporal
- Paul Campbell as Lt. Fred Pizar
- Pat Conway as Sgt. Pete Allen
Research behind this pick
Researched . Explore the film references and reviews below.
- Film reference · themoviedb.org
Canonical film identity, release date, runtime, director credits, cast, genres, synopsis and poster checked against TMDB movie 43715.
- Review · moriareviews.com
The review notes extensive stock footage but credits several convincing mantis effects.
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