Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

I love classic horror films. I watch a lot of them, so I have grown an appreciation for them. I can tolerate older styles of acting and film making that I recognize a lot of newer fans will not appreciate. That doesn't make their tastes any better or worse than mine, just different. There are some classic movies that I would recommend to anyone and everyone. A movie like FRANKENSTEIN or THE THING is just so classic and timeless that anyone should love it. There are the bottom end classic horrors, like the Universal sequels that I would acknowledge are really for lovers of the genre only and wouldn't expect Joe Public to like, at all. This movie fits somewhere in the middle of those two categories. It is not going to be loved by everyone. That's okay. On the other hand, there is a lot that's really enjoyable about this movie that makes me believe it is not just for the drive-in junkies either.Of course, what will always get talked about the most with this movie is the special effects. That may be a good or a bad thing. I cannot imagine my 17-year old nephew, for example, looking at this movie and thinking "those effects kick butt". For those who can appreciate the history of a genre, though. For those who can look at a movie like this and see the landmark effect that it had on things to come, there is a lot to love here. The movie reminds me a great deal of THE THING at the beginning. A group of scientists at work in the arctic, testing weaponry. The massive explosions that they set off have the undesired effect of unlocking a prehistoric monster from its' frozen hibernation (we'll ask you to ignore what you know of cold-blooded physiology and the fact that the animal would never wake up again. That's not relevant if you suspend belief). Naturally, nobody believes the first person who sees the monster, even after leaves the arctic and sinks a ship. Seems nobody will believe our hero until the giant lizard shows up in the Big Apple ready to destroy some stuff.The movie definitely shows its' 50sness (yes, I made up a word). We get a lot of scientific mumbo jumbo and scenes of theorizing that attempt to make the plot seem possible for the audience. Seemed every 50s film from CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON to MOLE PEOPLE shares this trait. It's the kind of a movie where military men will suddenly take orders from a random scientist and his involve his secretary girlfriend in their plans for no other reason than because they are the main stars of the movie. None of that is important, though, if you can have some imagination. What is really important, here, are the effects. Harryhausen took what he learned from his early age, working on KING KONG, and applied it to created a monster that is far superior to most of what you'll see in 50s monster movies. The monster moves fairly believably. It looks great and it blends in with the background scenery as well as can be expected for its' era. The movie was a monumental impact on the creation of GOJIRA a year later and the entire kaiju genre. For us monster junkies, that in itself, makes this movie legendary.

BF20KF (How's that for a shorten-er!?) has Ray Harryhausen's splendid effects to thank for its continued longevity; the patience he must have had, and the devotion and love of his craft he possessed, show through in every frame of the Rhedosaur's screen time. It is, of course, an entirely fictional dinosaur, and the first two letters of its name uncannily match those of a certain animator....:) Our titanic friend is thawed out from the Arctic ice during an A-Bomb test in an impressive (apart from the obvious stock footage used) opening sequence. And like all self respecting prehistoric Dinos do, heads for New York, Tokyo presumably being a bit too far away."Sometimes I feel as if we were writing the first chapter of New Genesis.""Let's hope we're not writing the last chapter of the old." This exchange early in the film between two scientists places us firmly in the Nuclear Age paranoia of the 50s. And let's face it, that dilemma is still with us. Is all progress good? This sort of thing was done in countless sci-fi movies of the era, of course. But the succinct dialogue here really makes the point. Surprising to find such good writing in a B-movie monster flick. At least it is if you have seen as many of them as I have!Along the way we meet up with Cecil Kellaway's Paeloentologist (always welcome) his assistant, who is one of the few female leads in this type of movie that doesn't succumb to hysterics at some point, and a brilliant scene where the monster demolishes a remote lighthouse in Maine, thereby probably inspiring Stephen King. This is loosely taken from Ray Bradbury's short story The Fog Horn, and is tremendously effective.When the Rhedy gets to New York he goes the King Kong route to introducing himself to the Big Apple's citizens, though he avoids The Empire State Building and lands up at Coney Island instead. A young Lee Van Cleef plays the sharpshooter who shoots him down with radioactive isotope.Overall this is a watchable and very well done monster movie, produced, I believe, on a budget of only $150,000. Kong cost about four times that twenty years earlier. One of Harryhausen's great innovations was to get the cost of shooting stop motion to manageable proportions. His creations have real feeling behind them. Does today's CGI?

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms its one of the most important films in the sci-fi and horror genres, it inspired a whole generation of monster movies.The film itself its very watchable, the best part about the film are special effects by Ray Harryhausen, the creature looks great, most of the scenes with the monster are very well made.Overall, the film its a very fun sit, if you are looking for a fun monster movie, it may be a little slow at times but it gets interesting very quickly, even the scenes without the monster are very good, I will definitely recommend it.

Eugene Lourie's ultra successful monster movie The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is an amazing watch for its time period. The animations for the real life looking dinosaur is incredible right from the start. I was glued in the initial scenes in the North Atlantic and it held my interest throughout the entire film. The characters and acting were solid and the plot was top notch up until the end. The ending seemed to have a throw away subplot and could have been better in my opinion. I don't discount the film that as being innovating for future monster movies and I sure as heck enjoyed it. Definitely watch The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms!