Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

There is true widescreen and there is false widescreen. This is one of the many (And I do mean many) dvds released under the latter. Amazon lists this as being 1:66.1. That's when a good print of 2:35.1 the most common of the widest scope is not available they work with something reasonable that loses some of the sides, but it is livable. This Movie looks like it was filmed at 1:33.1 fullscreen (TV shaped) then cropped at 1:85.1. I mean how do you explain why the Behemoth's head keeps disappearing behind the upper black bar way too often. This movie should have been presented in a fullscreen format. I would really love to know who was the person who came up with the idea and said "Hey! lets cut the top and bottom of the picture of a movie and we'll call it WIDESCREEN!" As for the movie itself, EH.. it aint so good. It's ok, but it aint so good. It so so, but it aint so good. Maybe I'd have a better opinion of this movie if the Behemoths head wasn't coverered up by the added black bars.

to say this movie is underrated is well an understatement. I'm amazed that all the astute fan reviews have not noted the magnificent spine tingling music score the dramatic lighting in many scenes and the juicy sound effects not to mention the distinctive memorable roar of the monster. There was only one perfect giant monster picture and that was the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms but while the Beast is equivalent to the technical polish of say TVs Twilight Zone
the Giant Behemoth is like TV's the Outer Limits, rich with atmosphere and it scares the hell out of you. Those hair raising closeups of the monster with those piercing, hypnotic Plutonian eyes. The superbly played out Sherlock Holmes style hunt for the creature in sharp B&W photography filmed mostly on location. Finally the grippingly presented theme of radioactive fallout was never portrayed to such dramatic effect not even in Godzilla 54'. The ferry scene is chilling because it plays like a commercial almost, seemingly out of place int he movie with a tame documentary style routine and then a female passenger sees somthing big and funny looking in the water and starts to point at it with mild amusement until we hear a woman's scream and the rest is horror movie history. This scene although flawed has taken a famed life of it's own by the infamous deletions it faced in many releases. Like it was banned for being too grim perhaps which is likely because the movie was given an x certificate in it's first uk release which in a way makes sense because the film does scare children for real. but from the opening heaving shots of the deep atlantic to the,eyepopping shots of the monster chewing dock cranes ,industrial power lines and incinerating farm boys on piles of hay to the daring underwater climax the Giant Behemoth will make you say WHOA! one way or another before it is over. It's a true classic.