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Gag Gifts, Occasion Gifts - The Black Scorpion
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List Price: $9.98
Our Price: $9.98
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Starring: Richard Denning, Mara Corday, Carlos Rivas, Mario Navarro, Carlos Múzquiz
Directed By: Edward Ludwig
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 9780790779287
Format: Black & White
ISBN: 0790779285
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2003-10-21
Running Time: 88
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1957-10-11
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Editorial Reviews:
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They're big. They're bad. They scuttle along in caverns miles beneath the Earth - until an earthquake opens paths to the surface. Now these monsters of genus Arachnida are invading our world with deadly force. With top special effects co-designed by King Kong's Willis O'Brien, The Black Scorpion is horror with a sting more lethal than the king-sized ants that overran Los Angeles's sewers in the classic Them! Can humankind survive these invincible juggernauts? That fate rests on the shoulders of Hank Scott (1950s monster movie stalwart Richard Denning) as the creatures rip a train from its tracks, snatch a helicopter from the sky and, in the film's most gripping sequence, battle each other in their subterranean lair. Watch out! DVD Features:
Featurette:Stop-Motion Masters with Ray Harryhausen; Never-before-seen test footage of the Las Vegas monster and beetlemen; Harryhausen-animated dinosaur sequence from Irwin Allen's 1956 The Animal World
Theatrical Trailer:Giant monsters trailer gallery featuring this film, The Beat from 20,000 Fathoms, Clash of the Titans and The Valley of the Gwangi
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Underrated. Cool Giant Scorpion Monsters !
Comment: Id call this an underrated movie. Im a little biased since I like monster movies. This really is very entertaining with large scorpions terrorizing the population. There are other creepy crawling monsters as well. The effects are by Willis O'Brien, and while not up to King Kong, this is still really good. They kept repeating a close up of the scorpion drooling which I didn't need. This is as good as Tarantula, not as good as Them and way better than the Monster from Green Hell. The DVD transfer from Warner is excellent too. If you like bug monsters, give this a shot..
Customer Rating:
Summary: Another great giant monster
Comment: What horror lurks deep beneath a volcano? At least in Mexico, the answer is giant scorpions! Another great classic movie with the giant monsters running amok, eating people, causing great distruction, and then walla! the hero (and usually scientist) comes to the rescue of not only killing off the beasts, but winning the woman at the same time. These old classics are corny by todays standards and special affects, but you can't beat them. These giant scorpions are pretty decent for the clay / stop action photography of the time, and there are even a few other interesting beasts under the volcano like giant worms, and some other bug that chases the little stow-away boy. Just love the sounds they have also as giant critters...makes me wonder if they make sounds now but we just can't hear them cause they're too small....lol Anyway, worth watching as long as you don't have expectations of this being a blockbuster movie. It's definitely something to add to your collection of classic monster movies also.
Customer Rating:
Summary: BETTER THAN DVD COVER!!!
Comment: The dvd cover illustration shows the bad mock-closeup (minus drool) used several times too often in this 1957 b&w giant monster classic. It gives the unwary viewer the false idea that one is in for an unintentional laugh-fest. Quite the opposite! This is an extremely well made stop-motion Willis(KING KONG)O'Brien animation masterpiece! The giant scorpions (and there are many!) move quickly and attack violently, stinging human victims as well as themselves. And the acting, photography and location shooting are all top-notch making this a must see and one of the top three of it's kind along with BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS and THEM!
So don't be swayed by the cover into thinking this is just some lame grade Z cheepie. It's really ONE OF THE BEST!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Mildly Entertaining, Best Recalled For O'Brien's Stop Motion Animination
Comment: "Big Bug" movies were all the rage in the late 1950s and early 1960s--and the stop-motion animation for THE BLACK SCORPION was created by Willis O'Brien, who created the legendary KING KONG. Alas, there is a very big difference between KING KONG, which had a budget as big as its namesake, and THE BLACK SCORPIO, which looks like it was filmed for five dollars and twenty-eight cents! But while THE BLACK SCORPION is hardly the best of the best of its genre, it is still amusing enough to appeal to fans of 1950s horror in general and O'Brien in particular.
The story is essentially a riff on the 1954 creature-feature THEM!, which sported giant killer mutant ants unleased by atomic radiation; in this instance we have giant killer prehistoric scorpions unleashed by a series of earthquakes and volcanic erruptions in Mexico. The earthquakes and such attract the attention of geologist Hank Scott (Richard Denning), who is soon distracted by the charms of local ranch owner Teresa Alverez (Mara Corday)--but before the two can become seriously involved they find her ranch over-run by creepy crawlies that drool in close up and have a really nasty sting.
The high light of the film finds Scott and company lowered into a deep crevass, the better to show the scorpions in their natural habitat. It is indeed a mighty rip off from THEM!--but it works well on its own, and it is all the more interesting due to the O'Brien factor. A similar scene was cut from KING KONG, and rumor has it that O'Brien recycled both the spider and the worm from that lost scene for use here. There is also a memorable scene in which a train is attacked by multiple scorpions and a memorable finish for the last surviving scorpion, so it is easy to forgive the lackluster rest.
The DVD is quite interesting, for it includes several bonuses of interest to stop-motion fans. No, THE BLACK SCORPION is never going to rivial any of the really good "big bug" films, but stop-motion fans and those who love 1950s "B" horror will find much to enjoy. Recommended.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fun 50s Giant Monster Movie Madness
Comment: In the wake of Warner Brother's 1954 "giant" box office sensation THEM! came a torrent of other atomically-mutated-monster movies, including the 1957 film THE BLACK SCORPION (also a Warner Bros. picture). The giant scorpions and other monsters in the movie were animated by the father of stop-motion movie animation Willis O'Brien of KING KONG fame and Pete Peterson. While THE BLACK SCORPION may not be as well known or as good as THEM! or TARANTULA, it's still a very good 50s sci-fi monster flick. The descent into the scorpion's underground lair (a similar scene to that of THEM!) is worth the modest price of admission alone, with creepy, black scorpions running all over the place, a giant spider and a giant, clawed, centipede-like worm. The film literally ran out of money before the picture wrapped and a few of the scorpion scenes are simply matte shots of a scorpion shadow. Fortunately, this very cheap "special effect" by no means ruins the picture. Along with the good B&W film transfer comes some excellent DVD extras including a short "Stop-Motion Masters with Ray Harryhausen" documentary and never-before-seen test footage of "The Las Vegas Monster" and "Beetlemen" animated by Pete Peterson, a contemporary with Ray Harryhausen. If you're a fan of classic 50s sci-fi don't let this one get away.
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