CREEPY CLASSICS presents...

MOVIE NIGHTS

Every weekend we're watching movies together...whether you're in Pennsylvania USA, or Sydney Australia. It's a throwback! Back to the days when you had the anticipation for waiting till the weekend to see the classic horror or science fiction film that was listed in the TV Guide. The plan is to watch a movie at 7:30PM on Saturday night in your own time zone. Or, if you can't Saturday night...anytime during the weekend. Then, we'll all get together and e-mail our thoughts on the film...a few paragraphs...or simply a sentence if you'd like. They after-viewing reviews appear on our Creepy Classics/Monster Bash News Page. See the latest thoughts posted by viewers ther now.

Concept submitted by Mike Adams of Cartaret, New Jeresey.

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Creepy Classics Spotlight Movie Last Weekend - BEGINNING OF THE END (1957)

Every week, readers here are selecting a movie to view...then we all try to watch it together utilizing our DVD/video library. This past Saturday night, many of us watched BEGINNING OF THE END (1957). This was suggested by Bruce Tinkel, Edison, NJ. Details about movie nights to come are HERE. Please include your name and location after your comments, so we can see how we're all joining together from diffeent locals around the globe! Let's all Synch-Up Saturday nights at 7:30PM, or catch this week's movie sometime over the weekend!

Hey Synchers,

I am actually pretty close to the official time here as I watch this flick Saturday afternoon. I am watching this film on my big screen from a VHS tape with three friends, Mike, Tom and Crow, who were with me the first time I saw this movie, so my commentary may be tainted, as these guys like to talk through movies!

So here we go with Beginning of the End, a great title by the way, but misleading when you consider it is about giant grasshoppers!

Good old fashioned rock and roll!
Script by Fred Frieberger, later producer of the third season of Star Trek!
La-dee-da takes forever to get started, my friends are helping out with some good jokes.
Finally a grasshopper. Not bad, not bad.
That general was in Earth Vs. Flying Saucers, Giant Claw and Kronos too!
I wonder what went through Mr. Gordon's mind when he saw his sfx dailies. "This is cool", "If I only had more money," or "Looks awful, but those teenage suckers will love it."
Film drags in many spots, redeemed somewhat with fair to cheesy effects, made funner by Mike Tom and Crow, I reccomend you invite them the next time you watch Beginning of the End. In the end, their skit reminded me of Chicago native Rock Nelson and his giant horned toad.

Next week, one of my favorite vampire films, Horror of Dracula!
Ken Blose
San Luis, Mexico

Only seen this movie once before. I'm positive it was on Channel 7 ABC in NY during their famous 4:30 afternoon movie days. I'm not a big "big bug" guy since I grew up in a NYC apartment and we had enough of our own, so I never really wanted to see it or "Them" "Deadly Mantis" etc. more than the first time. I put aside all that and did enjoy it now forty plus years later. I've got all the Peter Graves sci-fi movies in my collection and in combo with Morris Ankrum, I'm sorry I avoided this for so long. I'm gonna watch "Killers from Space" this afternoon to remember Peter as he died just a few months back.

- Les Zuckerman
Cherry Hill, NJ

Now that's an afternoon of entertainment! Forget about the over use of radiation making things grow big...this is one just to unplug your brain and enjoy for what it is. Crazed entertainment. I remember seeingthis one off a NYC TV station like Les, but I saw it on Channel 9's after school "Science Fiction Theatre." They showcased sci-fi and horror films also at 4:30PM daily. I used to get my daily dose this way. From 8 years old through school I was in State College, PA where we got three NYC stations on early cable - 5, 9, and 11. These three stations brought me so many monster movies! This was from about 1967-1977...I got one huge does 'o' monsters.

Bert Gordon delivers what the kids wanted. Giant bugs that would eat entire towns. Chasing people, attacking the army. Then, the cool scientist (Peter Graves) comes up with the luring trap to drown the pests! I loved the rambling science mumbo-jumbo from Graves.

For all of it's lowe budget short-comings, this movie delivers the goods and the grasshoppers. Not a dull moment.

-Ron Adams, Ligonier, PA

Big bugs on the loose!

Whenever I'm watching a film like this I look for
what sub genres it belongs to, such as; Atomic radiation causes some kind
of nasty mutation, tough, smart and good looking woman teams up with guy
to solve the case, "Our weapons are useless!" and so forth. This one has
a lot of the standard issue plot elements. Apart from the transparent at
times giant grasshoppers and the clearly three dimensional insects on the
clearly two dimensional buildings I think the film works fine.

Sure there
are some gaps in logic, but when you're watching something like this on a
Saturday afternoon logic is not what you're looking for. I was amused at
the scene where Peter Graves explains about the giant vegetables in such a
matter of fact way, like "Oh yeah we have tomatoes the size of
basketballs, doesn't everybody?" Speaking of taking things in stride, I
noticed that no one was particularly freaking out at the prospect of the
end of the world and that the notion of dropping the A-bomb on Chicago was
met with rather mild criticism about the loss of property values. But, a
good time was had by me and I trust most of you all as well.

-Kevin Slick, Colorado

Above: Bizarre publicity still with a projected grasshopper.

Hi Ron:

"Beginning of the End" is my favorite Bert I. Gordon film. It has all the elements that one expects from a film from Mr. BIG: A unbelievably silly giant monster, sincere performances and incredibly cheesy special effects.

Peter Graves gives a solid performance that anchors the film. He plays he role with total seriousness that sets the tone for the entire film.
The plot does not make that much sense. Really, if you think about it, giant grasshoppers attacking Chicago is totally off the wall. That is what makes this film so enjoyable. It's a ludicrous plot but is actually works!

The special effects are hysterically funny. You can see the difference between the grasshoppers and the rest of the film. The scene when the grasshoppers are climbing up the skyscraper is a classic. They are obviously crawling up a picture of the building. The funny part is that they are crawling off the building picture onto the blank background.

I never understood why bazooka or other high powered weapons never killed the grasshoppers but the government was going to drop an atomic bomb on Chicago.

Another question is why did it take only three minutes for all the grasshoppers to go to the lake and drown?
"Beginning of the End" is the low budget answer to Universal's "Tarantula" and "The Deadly Mantis" if such a thing exists.
It's a movie that just gets more enjoyable with each viewing.

Bruce Tinkel
Edison, NJ

I simply cannot say anything bad about 50's giant bug movies.

The effects may not be the best, but I love Peter Graves as the hero, Peggie Castle as the lovely heroine and Morris Ankrum as the general. It makes a perfect movie!!

Giant locusts invade Illinois and the military tries to stop them.

This is a perfect film for me and I will not say anything but watch it and enjoy it for what it is.

Kevin Coon
Twin Falls, Idaho

Hey Ron, Bruce and all other fellow Synchmates, Just watched this fun "Big Bug" movie from "Mr B.I.G." himself THREE times this past weekend! (I guess I just couldn`t get enough of a dose of giant locust mania to satisfy my hunger cravings!- Hey, I wonder how giant locust would taste?- Maybe just like frogs legs? (Except maybe with a little more gristle added?) HA!- Anyway, folks, I first remember catching this one on the old AMC with Bob Dorian hosting it in the late 1980`s! (I actually taped his intro and concluding bits with the film on a blank VHS tape)

Bob tells about how Bert I. Gordon had trouble with his locusts while filming the movie (First he could only import MALE locusts from Texas and had to hire an entomologist to separate the males from the females!---And then fly them in to California-- Problem was, the males started to eat one another when they became hungry- and only a small number were left to work with! (Yes, they really are cannibals!) Talk about production headaches! This story is also covered on the audio commentary track included on the Image DVD on sale here at CREEPY CLASSICS! (The commentary is with Susan Gordon, Flora Gordon and moderator Bruce Kimmel). If you get a chance- Listen to it! Really Neat Background Info on Bert`s whole career is included here as well.

Hey, as far as the movie goes- This is a really "PUT YOUR BRAIN IN TOTAL PARK MODE" type of show! The acting by the leads {Peter Graves as our stalwart hero Ed Wainwright, the gorgeous and fashion concious Peggie Castle as our inquisitive photojournalist Audrey Aimes and the ever-present and steady Morris Ankrum as the tough military general trying to stop the obliteration of the Windy City from becoming locust food} is so earnest that IT HURTS! Although the story is obviously far-fetched and quite amusing in many ways, this film is really quite entertaining. (The opening 20 minutes or so are actually rather suspenseful and creepy!) But then the first locust appearance and attack happens (the tragic death of Ed`s partner-Frank Johnson-the deaf mute) at the destroyed wheat silos. The poor SPFX are what really bring this film down a level from other films of this genre.

The climax of the film when the giants invade Chicago and climb up the buildings is a schlock-scene classic and must be seen to be believed! On the plus side-I really do like the music score by Albert Glasser in this one. (Well done on a low budget) I also liked and laughed at some of the cheesy lines uttered during this film. My favorite is spoken by one of the soldiers right before they first encounter the menace in the forest outside Ludlow: "MAYBE WE CAN TRAIN ONE OF THESE GIANT WHATJITS TO PULL A PLOW" --

-My rating: 2.25/5 stars. -Hope Everybody Can Join Me Next Weekend for "Horror Of Dracula"- Dan Brenneis- Strongsville, Ohio- Monster Bash Staff Member And LifeTime FilmFan Extroadinairre.

Ron,
Here are my thoughts and observations on Beginning Of The End.

1. I like to get this out of the way. I was born in Illinois. I currently reside in a town in Illinois. Having said that I can safely say that this
film was not filmed in Illinois.
2. Albert Glasser- The soundtrack to this film is a meager attempt at an epic score for a non-existent good movie. There is a small scene
in the film where we see a car in the distance travelling down the road towards us. This little scene gets an overly dramatic cue from
Albert Glasser.
3. When Audrey Aimes (Peggie Castle) visits the makeshift military headquarters, she is told to wait while someone gets the captain.
The headquarters is a huge room with a series of desks. The captain tells the man who waited on Miss Aimes, to send her in. She's
already in! I just thought that was funny.
4. Of course, being a sci-fi movie in the fifties, Thomas Browne Henry and Morris Ankrum are on hand as military figures. I've seen the
Mystery Science Theater 3000 send-up of this film and it was stated that Thomas Browne Henry resembles Grandpa Munster(Al
Lewis). He really does.
5. I love the portable phone Audrey Aimes has in her car. She needs two hands to hold it. Speaking of her car, doesn't anybody use the
back seat. There's always three or four people crammed in the front.
6. When Dr. Wainwright (Peter Graves) and Audrey Aimes first see a giant grasshopper attack and kill Dr. Wainwright's assistant,
Audrey Aimes, the famous photographer, neglects to take a picture.
7. The giant grasshoppers do not invade Chicago. Several of them commit wholesale destruction on pictures of Chicago. Several of them
went off script and off picture as they scaled pictures of buildings and wandered off to seemingly float in the air.
8. Dr. Wainwright gasses one of the grasshoppers to study how to defeat the others. How was the insect bought to his laboratory which
is housed in a building several stories up? Did they put it in a giant mason jar with holes poked on the top and send it up a freight
elevator?
9. In any giant creature film of the fifties, it's usually the hero of the film who inadvertently causes the said creature or creatures to
become giant. At the end of the film he is congratulated for defeating the creatures he created to begin with. At least in this film,
Dr. Wainwright admits blame by stating the obvious. He said, "In a way I feel responsible."
10. In a film involving giant grasshoppers, wouldn't you expect at least one of them to hop?

I liked the performances of Peter Graves, Peggie Castle, Morris Ankrum, and Thomas Browne Henry. They needed a better creature or maybe better effects. Imagine what Ray Harryhausen would have done with this film. Guaranteed one of grasshoppers would've hopped.
Kirk Smith
Manito, Illinois

You can get the DVD of BEGINNING OF THE END (1957) in the Complete DVD Catalog in-line at Creepy Classics.

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