ultramatt2000-1 Before GODZILLA and before THEM! there was THE BEAST FROM 20'000 FATHOMS. It was the first atomic-blast-brings-giant-monster-to-attack-civilization movies ever made. Underrated? It sure is because people think that GODZILLA was the one that started it all, but really it was inspired by this movie. This was (loosely) based on a short story by Ray Bradbury under the same name (which later got changed as "The Foghorn") and this movie was Ray Harryhaussen's first spot on the stop-motion animation (since Willis O'Brien turned it town). The music purely defines the decade, tone and feel of this movie. While this movie with amazing special effects is impressive, the film as a whole is underrated, when I bring it up, only a few people heard of it, but when someone brings it up, I tell them that I heard of this movie. It would be great if this movie got remade, just like the way Peter Jackson remade KING KONG. Have the story be set in the 1950's and have the whole atomic-age paranoia be the subject. (Say, wasn't it remade in 1998 as GODZILLA? Well, I guess that the filmmakers got their monsters and story lines all mixed up.) In the 1950's Americans worried about two things: The atomic bomb and the communist threat. The giant monsters are an allegory to the bomb, while the aliens are an allegory to communism. So give it a watch, I highly recommend it. Not rated, but a PG will work due to some violence and gore there.

zardoz-13 Before he helmed "The Giant Behemoth" and "Gorgo," Ukrainian director Eugène Lourié made "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms." This 80-minute, black and white, Warner Brothers release about a prehistoric beast resurrected from dormancy by a nuclear detonation is vintage stuff. Scenarists Lou Morheim and Fred Freiberger adapted science fiction author Ray Bradbury's short story "The Fog Horn." Basically, "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" barged into theaters about a year before the Japanese set off a monster sensation with "Godzilla." Lourié makes the monster look as realistic as the special effects of his day allowed him. Most fans know this movie because special effects guru Ray Harryhausen cut his teeth on it. Lourié doesn't drag things out, and the beast appears about nine minutes into the film. Paul Hubschmid makes a rather colorless lead, while Paula Raymond is drop dead gorgeous. Cecil Kellaway plays a role similar to than which Edmund Gwenn played a year later in "Them!" Kellaway delivers the best dramatic performance of the bunch. Look for James Best in a small role near the beginning.Professors Tom Nesbitt (Paul Hubschmid of "Funeral in Berlin") and George Ritchie (Ross Elliot of "The Towering Inferno") are dispatched to survey the site where the New York Atomic Energy Commission has detonated a top-secret experimental nuclear device. No sooner do the two cover their areas than a blizzard erupts. Ritchie falls into a trench when he spots the eponymous beast. He fires his revolver to summon Nesbitt. Unfortunately, Ritchie dies, but his colleague Tom Nesbitt survives the incident. The two scientists saw the monster, but nobody believes Nesbitt. Indeed, Nesbitt's immediate superior, Colonel Jack Evans (Kenneth Tobey of "The Thing from Another World") refuses to mention Nesbitt's outrageous claims in his official report. Nesbitt recuperates in the hospital. Later, reports appear in the press about a giant sea serpent. Nesbitt urges Thurgood Elson (Cecil Kelleway of "The Postman Always Rings Twice"), the dean of the department of paleontology at a university, to investigate his claim after he finds a survivor, Jacob Bowman (Jack Pennick), who can corroborate his story. No sooner has Elson gone down in a diving bell to find the beast than it attacks him. A fight between a shark and an octopus attracts the attention of the beast. Naturally, it is only a matter of time before the rampaging rhedosaurus hits the Big Apple. The prehistoric beast is responsible for the worst disaster in New York's history. The newspapers say that the monster has killed 180 and injured 1500. Estimates of the damage wrought by the beast run as high as $300,000,000! The press manages to capture the beast in a picture that is run alongside the story. A side effect of the monster's devastation is a virulent disease that it spread. Eventually, a sharpshooter is brought in to shoot the beast with a radioactive isotope. Appropriately enough, Corporal Stone (Lee Van Cleef of "For A Few Dollars More") guns the beast down.Although it is dated, "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" is an okay epic, with commendable special effects. Lourié never lets the momentum stall out in this Spartan effort. The death of one valiant cop was state of the art back then, but audiences these days would laugh this scene off as hopelessly ersatz. The rhedosaurus looks cool. Cecil Kellaway, Lee Van Cleef and Kenneth Tobey make the deepest impression. Paul Hubschmid has all the charisma of a cigar shop Indian.

SciFiSheriff Monster movies in the 50s were excelling and many companies started to make made low budget sci fi movies that sometimes raked in millions more than they put in. This was the B movie age and this is probably the biggest of these.This is my review on The Beast from 20000 Fathoms.The plot is very simple.A beast gets woken up from an ice glacier when a bomb goes off in the area. It starts attacking boats and lighthouses before eventually landing on the city of New York and running amok.This is probably the birth of the Giant monster movie craze. apart from King Kong and the lost world, no one had really seen this type of movie before. A enormous lizard roaming around the city of New York destroying everything in it's path. It was really scary in those days!! Now when I watch a film with stop motion animation I instantly give a mark to the final score if it's done right. After all, anyone who can use this wonderful film technique deserves it. This film is no exception and the animation it uses is top notch. Who could blame it if the animator of the film is none other than Ray Harryhausen, master of film stop motion animation. The effects are marvellous from the lighthouse scene to the fairground sequence at the end. The Beast itself is just brilliantly made- I wouldn't mind having one of those myself! The characters are inspiring but forgettable. You won't remember their names by the end of the film- Garenteed. However they was a sweet cameo appearance that I was really pleased about-Lee Van Cleef. Yes, old angel eyes makes an appearance and is actually responsible for the downfall of the mighty creature. I'm really glad they put him in; Hardly any lines of duologue but the fact he was there makes up for it.The city scenes are action packed and are a spectacle to be seen in HD with good sound. It's only out on DVD to my knowledge but even on the DVD it looks mighty fine. The monster jumps through buildings and smashes cars. he destroys a whole theme park. is there anything that can stop this monster!? Well, like in all Monster movies, they kill off the good monster. The beast is my favourite movie monster ever and to see him die was quite sad. He gets shot by a special gun that shoots unique bullets that kill the monster in seconds. It pains me to watch the last scene where he rolls about in pain then finally dies. I'm sure i'm not alone in thinking so.This has got to be the best Monster movie ever made. It's got action to die for, great scenes of suspense and will have you at the edge of your seat. I will go as far to say that this could be one of the best movies ever made.....

ebiros2 Out of all giant monster flicks made outside of Japan from the '50s, this is probably the one that stands out the most.I'll skip the synopsis since I'm sure people have seen the movie already, and others have commented on it.It's a fantastic movie with very real looking prehistoric dinosaur making its way to New York. It's the first movie of its kind, and is still one of the best. There're very little in this movie that you can point to to say it looks fake which is remarkable for something coming from the '50s. For its ground breaking realism, this movie scores high, and it shows in its popularity still after 60 years.It has already secured its place in the annals of motion picture history, and no doubt its a classic that will be around for a long time to come.