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Stars:
Richard Denning, Mara Corday, Carlos Rivas, and Mario Navarro
Writers:
David Duncan and Robert Blees
Based
On A Story By: Paul Yawitz
Director:
Edward Ludwig
Feature
length: 88 minutes
Extras:
Stop Motion Masters With Ray Harryhausen Featurette, Never-Before-Seen Test
Footage Of The Las Vegas Monster And Beetlemen, Harryhausen Animated Dinosaur
Sequence From Irwin Allen’s 1956 The Animal World, Trailers
Languages:
English Monaural Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Snap Case
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound:
Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1957/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: Warner Brothers Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Warner Home Video
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
In
addition to this year’s August Warner horror catalogue titles released on DVD,
Warner Home Video is also releasing three classic sci-fi monster pictures just
in time for Halloween. These are “The Valley Of Gwangi,” “The Beast From
20,000 Fathoms,” and “The Black Scorpion.” In a tradition that is not
unlike the giant bug classic “Them,” which was released on DVD last year by
Warner Home Video, “The Black Scorpion” follows a group of scientists who in
conjunction with the Mexican military, attempt to save the world from an
invasion of blood crazed giant scorpions released from the bowels of the Earth
after a volcanic eruption. The film features a combination of stop motion
creature effects by Willis O’Brien and some disgusting close-ups of the
salivating scorpions that at times is unintentionally humorous. In many ways
this film is definitely “Mystery Science Theater 3000” material and I would
not be surprised if they parodied it on one of their episodes, but this is also
a vintage product of cold war 1950s monster pictures where the enemy is just
beneath us and has always been there waiting for an opportunity to strike. There
is not much of a reason for these creatures existence other than they appear to
have been dormant under the Earth for centuries. They are not the results of
some nuclear testing or science gone horribly wrong and these nocturnal
subterranean invaders are also not from outer space. They seem to be a surprise
from Mother Nature.
By
our own standards the film is at times quite campy with ridiculous acting and
characters practically essaying the onscreen action even though we can see
what’s happening for ourselves and yet I would not want to see this any other
way. Think of “The Black Scorpion” as drive-in cinema for your home and just
sit back and enjoy. Among the memorable moments include a fight between a giant
worm like creature and scorpion underground, a giant spider attacking a
defenseless Mexican boy, hordes of giant scorpions feasting on hapless train
passengers, and a climactic fight with tanks and choppers against the biggest
and baddest scorpion of them all.
Presented
in the original (1.33:1) theatrical aspect ratio, the film on DVD has some
scratches and anomalies, but it still quite fun to watch with a good grayscale.
The English Monaural Soundtrack is free of an analogue crackling and hissing and
other unintentional background noise. English Captions and Closed Captions for
the hearing impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles are also encoded
as options.
Extra
features include an interview clip with Ray Harryhausen discussing how he came
to work with his mentor Willis O’Brien (3:18), the prehistoric sequence from
Irwin Allen’s 1956 special “The Animal World” complete with an
introduction by Harryhausen (11:34), and some vintage test footage for the
unproduced “The Las Vegas Monster” and “Beetlemen” (4:39). The mutated
baboon creature from “The Las Vegas Monster” is pretty cool looking and
looks quite alien. Trailers for “The Black Scorpion” (2:08), “The Beast
From 20,000 Fathoms” (2:33), “The Valley Of Gwangi” (2:41), and “Clash
Of The Titans” (1:48) wrap up the extra features on this DVD. The menus are
standard interactive still frames that are easy to navigate.
“The
Black Scorpion” is available on DVD-Video now at retailers on and offline from
Warner Home Video.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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