When I was a little kid, I played this one video game called Vigilante 8: Second Offensives. In that game, there was a level where you can find a meteor and a giant ant would come out and attack. Since then, I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of giant bugs in fiction. Only a few years ago did I find out about this movie, 1954’s Them!. This was the first giant bug movie, which depending on your taste, is an accomplishment or a failure on the movies part. So, for the third day of Cultober, let us take a look at Them and see what makes it such a classic film for the time of the 50s.
Taking place in the desert town in New Mexico, police officer Ben Peterson investigates a series of disappearances and murders after finding a little girl wandering the desert in a catatonic state. Soon, more and more people disappear and it is later found out by him and a pair of scientists that there are giant ants wandering the desert due to the nuclear testing that had occurred and now they are attacking people for food, and it is up to them to defeat them, or rather, Them! Eventually, they start to move from the desert and start attacking people in the air and in the sea, causing worldwide panic, and the group must do what they can to stop Them! Of course, I can’t say that you should expect giant ants fighting humans with guns in this movie, at least not for a while because these ants don’t just show up.
Them! Is a very slow movie, for good reasons. You see all the destruction that the giant ants do, but aside from that, there is very little of them for the first thirty minutes. You can hear their bizarre signal a they call out to one another, you can see the destruction they cause as they attack and kidnap people, and you can see their strange obsession with sugar, but aside from that, we don’t really see the giant ants. But when they do come up, you can pass the effects off as looking pretty silly by today’s standards, but the costume for the creature looks amazing, and kinda uncanny. Comparing the size of these massive ants to the size of the human actors makes you both disturbed by the threat of these creatures and impressed by the special effect artists that had to make those things. And they made a lot of them too. Many of the costumes were burned for the film and destroyed, and they had to make a hundred of them, so you really grow to appreciate the effects. Plus, I’m a sucker for old monster puppets, animatronics, and costumes. They just have a sort of charm to them.
Sadly, this is a movie I have very little to talk about. There isn’t much bad in the movie, if any at all, but what good there is there, there isn’t much to discuss. I like the suspense, I like the monsters, and despite being a 50’s movie ends on a real dire note, but aside from that, there isn’t much else to talk about. Maybe it’s best if you give this movie a watch. It was referenced in several bands, movies, and TV shows, and was even rumored to have a remake, one by the director of the original Superman and The Omen, and the other by one of the guys behind the Back to the Future franchise. It’s a real classic that deserves it’s critical status. Give it a try.
Taking place in the desert town in New Mexico, police officer Ben Peterson investigates a series of disappearances and murders after finding a little girl wandering the desert in a catatonic state. Soon, more and more people disappear and it is later found out by him and a pair of scientists that there are giant ants wandering the desert due to the nuclear testing that had occurred and now they are attacking people for food, and it is up to them to defeat them, or rather, Them! Eventually, they start to move from the desert and start attacking people in the air and in the sea, causing worldwide panic, and the group must do what they can to stop Them! Of course, I can’t say that you should expect giant ants fighting humans with guns in this movie, at least not for a while because these ants don’t just show up.
Them! Is a very slow movie, for good reasons. You see all the destruction that the giant ants do, but aside from that, there is very little of them for the first thirty minutes. You can hear their bizarre signal a they call out to one another, you can see the destruction they cause as they attack and kidnap people, and you can see their strange obsession with sugar, but aside from that, we don’t really see the giant ants. But when they do come up, you can pass the effects off as looking pretty silly by today’s standards, but the costume for the creature looks amazing, and kinda uncanny. Comparing the size of these massive ants to the size of the human actors makes you both disturbed by the threat of these creatures and impressed by the special effect artists that had to make those things. And they made a lot of them too. Many of the costumes were burned for the film and destroyed, and they had to make a hundred of them, so you really grow to appreciate the effects. Plus, I’m a sucker for old monster puppets, animatronics, and costumes. They just have a sort of charm to them.
Sadly, this is a movie I have very little to talk about. There isn’t much bad in the movie, if any at all, but what good there is there, there isn’t much to discuss. I like the suspense, I like the monsters, and despite being a 50’s movie ends on a real dire note, but aside from that, there isn’t much else to talk about. Maybe it’s best if you give this movie a watch. It was referenced in several bands, movies, and TV shows, and was even rumored to have a remake, one by the director of the original Superman and The Omen, and the other by one of the guys behind the Back to the Future franchise. It’s a real classic that deserves it’s critical status. Give it a try.
Luis Lopez:
Despite being a possible sex addict.
Luis is a very calm person, rarely showing his emotions. And is the voice of reason for every other character of BOGT game.
Luis also dosen't fully enjoy his criminal lifestyle.
On some occasions Luis expresses the choice of getting REAL jobs..
Johnny Klobitz:
Johnny is a realist.
He knows he is a bad person, and won't deny that he kills and steals on a daily routine.
But he also has more limits then Billy Grey, the traitor of the game.
Billy, within 15 minutes of his release from prison brings back the war against the angels of death, when Johnny tried so hard to make them finally have a trouce.
Niko Bellic:
An angry war veteran.
Who besides his soft side.
Is someone you shouldn't even LOOK at the wrong way.
He kills without remorse.
His anger is a loose cannon, that won't take much to be lite.
And he knows how to use a weapon, and can kick ass with it..
Despite being a possible sex addict.
Luis is a very calm person, rarely showing his emotions. And is the voice of reason for every other character of BOGT game.
Luis also dosen't fully enjoy his criminal lifestyle.
On some occasions Luis expresses the choice of getting REAL jobs..
Johnny Klobitz:
Johnny is a realist.
He knows he is a bad person, and won't deny that he kills and steals on a daily routine.
But he also has more limits then Billy Grey, the traitor of the game.
Billy, within 15 minutes of his release from prison brings back the war against the angels of death, when Johnny tried so hard to make them finally have a trouce.
Niko Bellic:
An angry war veteran.
Who besides his soft side.
Is someone you shouldn't even LOOK at the wrong way.
He kills without remorse.
His anger is a loose cannon, that won't take much to be lite.
And he knows how to use a weapon, and can kick ass with it..