BEGINNING OF THE END
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| Not Rated
| | Copyright 1957 AB-PT Pictures Corp.
| | Reviewed by Andrew Borntreger on 'a long time ago'
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- Ed - Scientist whose experiments with radioactive isotopes caused this mess.
- Audrey - Female reporter, she's always snooping around but does she get chomped? Oh no...
- Frank - Deaf mute guy, a giant locust eats him.
- General Hanson - In charge of the defense of Chicago. You might recognize him from The Giant Claw.
- Colonel Sturgeon - National Guard Commanding Officer, he charges off into battle. Presumed grasshopper chow.
- The Giant Locusts - Huge grasshoppers (I mean big, elephant sized big.) created by radiation.
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| Huge people chomping grasshoppers! Hehehehehe! Not only that, they're huge people chomping SUPERIMPOSED grasshoppers! A true b movie here, it starts off with something attacking two lovers parking (We don't get to see what, just the girl reacting to it.) and then a town is destroyed. Audrey stumbles across this breaking story, with the assistance of Ed and "I'm human bait" Frank we find the true horror is special effects. Pretty soon the ravenous insects have chewed their way through National Guardsman and Chicago is in peril. Mankind's only hope might be nuking Chicago to stop them! Can Ed find another way? Time is running out and you'll have to watch to find the answer... ...ah heck, he uses stereo equipment to imitate their call and drown them in the lake. The darn thing was filmed in 1956, like it's any secret. I really wanted to see more shots of people getting eaten, this is accomplished by showing the locust, then the person's face (contorted in fear), and shoving some suitable music in. You still need to see this just for the effect of grasshoppers walking around on photographs of buildings. |
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| Things I Learned From This Movie: | |
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- Radiation can render you deaf and mute.
- Doing fifty miles per hour in a convertable will not mess your hair.
- A mute guy trying to scream is ghastly but amusing.
- Public disturbances, natural disasters, and giant grasshoppers are the responsibility of National Guard units.
- Oversized insects prefer people over foliage.
- Locusts screech before attacking.
- Polygraphs work on giant grasshoppers.
- Chicago looks like a photograph, I mean really...
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- 7 mins - Not this road again. How many times are we going to see this scene? Well, in just one moment a dark then a light car will pass by...
- 16 mins - A car phone? In 1956?
- 20 mins - Those are some darn big tomatoes.
- 23 mins - Here's that scene with the cars going by again...
- 37 mins - How in the name of all that is common sense did a screeching grasshopper, the size of a dump truck, sneak up on them?
- 47 mins - I'm pretty sure tanks and napalm will do the trick.
- 56 mins - Ed, how exactly are you planning on catching a very large, very annoyed, grasshopper?
- 70 mins - Observation posts my butt, those are snack stands for locusts.
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- Audrey: "Town of a hundred and fifty people just doesn't disappear."
Ed: "This one did."
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| | Audio clips in wav format | SOUNDS | Starving actors speak out | |
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| File | Dialog |  | beginend1.wav
| Ed: "We saw Frank Johnson killed by a giant locust."
| | beginend2.wav
| Ed: "I think you'd better call in the regular Army Tom."
Col Sturgeon: "Where would I get off calling for the regular Army to handle some oversized grasshoppers?"
| | beginend3.wav
| Announcer: "The giant locusts have reached the Chicago south side and nearby suburbs."
| | beginend4.wav
| Ed: "Well, there's one thing I have to get myself, something that will tell me when I've succeeded."
Gen Hanson: "What's that?"
Ed: "A live giant grasshopper."
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| | Click for a larger image | IMAGES | Scenes from the movie | |
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| | Watch a scene | VIDEO | MPEG video files | |
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| | Leave a comment | EXTRAS | Buy the movie | |
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