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The Deadly Mantis follows a team of scientists and military personnel as they try to find and stop the titular creature as it starts attacking several military bases in the North Pole. The military team is led by Col. Joe Parkman (Craig Stevens) and General Mark Ford (Donald Randolph), but they are joined by paleontologist Ned Jackson (William Hopper) and journalist Marge Blaine (Alix Talton).
I read an article on praying mantises that opened with the following sentence: "From extreme camouflage to sexual cannibalism". Obviously, this unique insect has fascinated people since forever, not only because of their appearance, but also for their behavior or skills, as mentioned on this quote. Unfortunately, this creature feature resorts to a more traditional portrayal of it as a big "anything", instead of capitalizing on its uniqueness.
The Deadly Mantis follows a template, and it does so fairly well. However, its pace is a bit more clunky than, say, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. At times, it feels like it kinda sputters often, before actually getting things going. In addition, none of the main characters are that memorable. There's also the frequent objectification of Marge, which we are meant to take in stride because she does so as well, all while dozens of soldiers ogle and leer at her.
The special effects are not as great as other similar films, but they are effective. Director Nathan Juren tries to make the most out of his limitations, while still giving us decent amounts of destruction and chaos. It's not enough to put this in the same category as other similar films, but well... it's doing the best that it can.
Grade:
THE DEADLY MANTIS
(1957, Juran)
(1957, Juran)
"I'm convinced that we're dealing with a Mantis in whose geological world the smallest insects were as large as man, and now failing to find those insects as food, well... it's doing the best that it can."
The Deadly Mantis follows a team of scientists and military personnel as they try to find and stop the titular creature as it starts attacking several military bases in the North Pole. The military team is led by Col. Joe Parkman (Craig Stevens) and General Mark Ford (Donald Randolph), but they are joined by paleontologist Ned Jackson (William Hopper) and journalist Marge Blaine (Alix Talton).
I read an article on praying mantises that opened with the following sentence: "From extreme camouflage to sexual cannibalism". Obviously, this unique insect has fascinated people since forever, not only because of their appearance, but also for their behavior or skills, as mentioned on this quote. Unfortunately, this creature feature resorts to a more traditional portrayal of it as a big "anything", instead of capitalizing on its uniqueness.
The Deadly Mantis follows a template, and it does so fairly well. However, its pace is a bit more clunky than, say, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. At times, it feels like it kinda sputters often, before actually getting things going. In addition, none of the main characters are that memorable. There's also the frequent objectification of Marge, which we are meant to take in stride because she does so as well, all while dozens of soldiers ogle and leer at her.
The special effects are not as great as other similar films, but they are effective. Director Nathan Juren tries to make the most out of his limitations, while still giving us decent amounts of destruction and chaos. It's not enough to put this in the same category as other similar films, but well... it's doing the best that it can.
Grade: