This is a popular but very minor entry in the monster animal cycle of the 1950s, whose principal asset emerges the Mexican locations (moodily enough shot, in black-and-white, by Lionel Lindon: incidentally, one interesting and effective repeated touch has the camera zoom in to catch the scorpion about to move in on the action).
The special effects by the great Willis O'Brien are notable yet variable the drooling scorpion(s) are risible as opposed to scary, and the scene in which one of them fights a gigantic mutant worm(!) won't dispel memories of the struggles King Kong had with any of the prehistoric inhabitants on Skull Island! The human cast is likewise so-so: Richard Denning (from CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON [1954] and CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN [1955]) is an adequate and likable hero; Mara Corday (from the somewhat similar TARANTULA [1955] and THE GIANT CLAW [1957]), however, makes for an unbelievable lady ranchero; and then there's a Mexican boy who has to be the most overbearing child actor the genre has produced since the Donnie Dunagan of SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939)!
The scenes of mayhem deliver the goods despite the obvious process work involved (exposed by the extra-clarity of the digital transfer); typically, the climax sees the lone surviving (and biggest) scorpion cornered in some public place in this case a stadium where it's dealt a relentless onslaught from the military (though the bugger does manage to drop a couple of choppers before being electrocuted: funnily enough, prior to this, the only weapon they thought of using against the critters, with no effect whatsoever, were endless rounds of bullets!).
The special effects by the great Willis O'Brien are notable yet variable the drooling scorpion(s) are risible as opposed to scary, and the scene in which one of them fights a gigantic mutant worm(!) won't dispel memories of the struggles King Kong had with any of the prehistoric inhabitants on Skull Island! The human cast is likewise so-so: Richard Denning (from CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON [1954] and CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN [1955]) is an adequate and likable hero; Mara Corday (from the somewhat similar TARANTULA [1955] and THE GIANT CLAW [1957]), however, makes for an unbelievable lady ranchero; and then there's a Mexican boy who has to be the most overbearing child actor the genre has produced since the Donnie Dunagan of SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939)!
The scenes of mayhem deliver the goods despite the obvious process work involved (exposed by the extra-clarity of the digital transfer); typically, the climax sees the lone surviving (and biggest) scorpion cornered in some public place in this case a stadium where it's dealt a relentless onslaught from the military (though the bugger does manage to drop a couple of choppers before being electrocuted: funnily enough, prior to this, the only weapon they thought of using against the critters, with no effect whatsoever, were endless rounds of bullets!).