“The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms” / Z-View

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

Director:  Eugène Lourié

Screenplay:  Lou Morheim, Fred Freiberger (based on a short story by Ray Bradbury)

Starring:  Paul Hubschmid, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway, Kenneth Tobey  and Lee Van Cleef.

Tagline:  They couldn’t believe their eyes! They couldn’t escape the terror! And neither will you! 

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When a nuclear blast frees a prehistoric monster, the terror mounts as the dinosaur makes its way to New York City!  The true star of The Beast of 20,000 Fathoms is Ray Harryhausen’s Rhedosaurus.

There are a couple of surprisingly frightening scenes when the dinosaur devours some folks!  I was also impressed when a bazooka wounds the Rhedosaurus and its blood releases a prehistoric virus that is fatal to humans! That’s a plot twist I wasn’t expecting in a movie made in 1953. A military sharpshooter (played by Lee Van Cleef) with a radioactive shell is humanity’s last hope.  The final scenes at a amusement park’s wooden roller coaster are still pretty impressive.

The Beast from 20,000 has some fun moments and rates 3 of 5 stars.