Monster Munch

Huge shelled, radioactive snails towering over New York

I joined Amazon's DVD Rental service recently, which so far has turned out to be (not unexpectedly) brilliant. I've been filling up my rental list with half-forgotten classics as well as the occassional bustblocker and along the way have developed a penchant for paranoid American classic 50's Sci-Fi.

Earth vs The Flying Saucers, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Them; all brilliant, all classics. But why oh why doesn't anyone make giant, radioactive creature movies anymore? That would be so cool.

Crawly creepies

We've had giant ants, giant spiders. But there is so much potential in the insect world for more fantastic creature movies. Personally I'd like to see a movie about gigantic, radioactive snails. Just picture the scenes, picture the suspense of huge shelled snails towering over New York, leaving a trail of radioactive slime in their wake.

I can almost hear the dialogue.

The snails are coming... run!

No, walk... slowly!

Replies

1. #1 On February 24, 2007 09:12 PM The Giant Ant Hive Mind said:

   If you appreciate the giant ants attacking an unsuspecting america genre, then you will love Phase IV.

   Be sure to check out the credits!

   https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070531/

2. #2 On February 24, 2007 09:28 PM Luke Dorny said:

   Wow. Love them movies!
   Is Netflix not available in the UK?
   That's a shame if it isn't.
   
   I hadn't heard about the amazon service, I don't see it as available to Yanks.

   But I'd recommend:
   ’ Empire of the Ants (1977)
   ’ Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968)
   ’ Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967)
   ’ King Dinosaur (1955)
   ’ The Giant Claw (1957)

   annnd’
   ’ The Wild Women of Wongo (1958)

   That should keep you busy, and FREAKED OUT!

3. #3 On February 24, 2007 09:57 PM paul haine said:

   "But why oh why doesn't anyone make giant, radioactive creature movies anymore?"

   What, like Godzilla, for instance? Mm, good question.

4. #4 On February 24, 2007 10:01 PM paul haine said:

   "Is Netflix not available in the UK?"

   Lovefilm.com is probably the closest equivalent. I'm subscribed to them and they've been great, though with an annoying tendency to slow me down by sending the low-rated DVDs on my list rather than the high-rated ones.

5. #5 On February 25, 2007 01:16 AM Craig C. said:

   Night of the Lepus.

   DeForrest Kelley terrorized by giant bunnies.

   'nuff said!

6. #6 On February 25, 2007 02:04 AM Mo said:

   I found Amazon's service to be problematic when you rent TV series (though I must admit I've not tried doing that with other services): they'd send you each disc of the series separately (i.e., each disc is treated as a separate rental), and they don't send them in order. There were also problems with them sending the special features disc some time before sending the film itself of double-disc films.

   I rent with Blockbuster now, who've been fantastic, though sometimes (occasionally) they'll manage to send out three films that aren't anywhere in your top 10.

   I trialled LoveFilm for a while, but the discs were regularly scratched; something that happens once in a blue moon with Blockbuster.

7. #7 On February 25, 2007 01:24 PM pauldwaite said:

   We also have another similar service called Lovefilm or something, but no Netflix over here (and no Amazon DVD rental in the US).

   I've loved it too. I'd much rather watch a film I haven't seen than see one I have seen again, so I don't buy a lot of films on DVD. The rental service is great, I just wish I had more time to watch films.

8. #8 On February 25, 2007 04:07 PM Robert O'Rourke said:

   @paul haine

   "What, like Godzilla, for instance? Mm, good question."

   It was still a re-make of the classic wasn't it? I think Malarkey's hinting at something a little more original... well... as original as a giant radioactive creature feature can get anyway =P

9. #9 On February 25, 2007 05:26 PM Malarkey said:

   As if carried in on a radioactive cloud, I found this via Digg, Classic reasons why man should never mess with mother nature

   Gulp

10. #10 On February 26, 2007 09:35 AM Chris Hunt said:

    How about a monster-movies-we'd-like-to-see poster competition?

11. #11 On February 26, 2007 10:03 AM Sam H said:

    that would be wicked, but I think the mentality of the majority of Britain wouldn't really go for it. Only last night I was talking to a guy who honestly thought White Chick was one of the greatest movies made in the last ten years. I've not seen it but I still laughed at him and ended the conversation.

    Get the Blob. You've probably seen it before but it's so bad it's good. That little kid who stays up to protect his parents is so annoyingly bad. Think of the that kid who plays Tom in hollyoaks and tone the talent down 10 notches. However, it's still a classic and should be in anyones collection, if not for the shakey acting, then just for the theme tune!

12. #12 On February 26, 2007 01:07 PM Malarkey said:

    @ Chris Hunt:
    

    
    How about a monster-movies-we'd-like-to-see poster competition?
    

    Hell yes, someone open a Flickr group!

13. #13 On February 26, 2007 07:48 PM fry said:

    You should check the South Korean movie Gwoemul (The Host). I've seen it on Liffe this year and it's a really good monster movie - it has a 'monster', a kidnapping and a Korean family trying to kill the monster.

14. #14 On February 26, 2007 09:58 PM bongi said:

    "But why oh why doesn't anyone make giant, radioactive creature movies anymore?"

    tim burton?

15. #15 On February 27, 2007 03:35 AM zuzu said:

    Hmmm The Blob starring Steve McQueen. Not sure if I can ever watch a Steve McQueen movie again after reading about him on findadeath.com. Scroll to the bottom and click the link to a very scary picture of the real Blob.

16. #16 On March 2, 2007 06:11 PM bway said:

    Snails you want - Check out The Monster That Challenged the World form 1957. Just saw it a month or so ago. Very 50's.