47 Meters Down (2017, dir. Johannes Roberts) A strong entry into the shark movie subgenre from the director of the even better (and previously recommended) The Strangers: Prey at Night. 47 Meters Down throws enough new obstacles at the characters and the audience so that the brief sub-90 minutes runtime goes by rather quickly. The film is operating on a low budget, but you wouldn’t necessarily notice as the shark effects are effective and realistic looking enough (likely because most of the time you see them underwater and not jumping out of the water). What has kept this movie in my memory is the third act. It doesn’t offer the (wo)man vs. shark thrills of The Shallows or Jaws, but instead opts for something smaller, muted and haunting. (Watch on Singin' in the Rain. Haver does commentary on both. I still have them. (Watch on FilmStruck)
Beginning of the End (Mystery Science Theater 3000 version) (1957, dir. Bert I. Gordon) I first saw this risible Bert I. Gordon grasshopper orgy at the “Insect Fear Film Festival,” an annual event hosted by the Entomology Department at the University of Illinois. Every spring, EGSA graduate students would show a double feature of laughable 1950’s big bug films ... and treat the audience to a real live bug petting zoo during the intermission. It was great. That was 35 years ago; I wonder if they still do it? (I checked—they still do! The 35th annual fest was last February!)
Newspaper reporter Audrey Aimes (Peggie Castle) discovers giant grasshoppers bred as a university experiment. Besides trying to save the world, Audrey also meets cute and falls in love with bug scientist Ed Wainwright (Peter Graves). This film features some of the most ridiculous special effects ever put on film. When the grasshoppers attack Chicago (SPOILER ALERT) it looks like real grasshoppers simply jumping around on PHOTOGRAPHS of famous Chicago landmarks. You have to see it to believe it.
Netflix is offering the MST3K version of the film, all the better to recreate for yourself the atmosphere at that “Insect Fear Film Festival” all those years ago. (Watch on Netflix)
Newspaper reporter Audrey Aimes (Peggie Castle) discovers giant grasshoppers bred as a university experiment. Besides trying to save the world, Audrey also meets cute and falls in love with bug scientist Ed Wainwright (Peter Graves). This film features some of the most ridiculous special effects ever put on film. When the grasshoppers attack Chicago (SPOILER ALERT) it looks like real grasshoppers simply jumping around on PHOTOGRAPHS of famous Chicago landmarks. You have to see it to believe it.
Netflix is offering the MST3K version of the film, all the better to recreate for yourself the atmosphere at that “Insect Fear Film Festival” all those years ago. (Watch on Netflix)
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