During the 1950s, there were huge numbers of giant creatures gone wild films. There were giant Gila Monsters, ants, bees, wasps, shrews...you name it. What most of these movies also have in common is that they were terrible--with lousy special effects and silly stories. One of the few exceptions was "Them!". While not high art, at least they created some cool giant fake ants for this one. Most of the rest of the films really dropped the ball and the scary creatures looked utterly ridiculous...and this is definitely the case with "The Beginning of the End".
"The Beginning of the End" is a film that finds enormous grasshoppers that cannot be easily stopped thanks to the miracle of radiation! Entymologist, Dr. Wainwright (Peter Graves), and newspaper reporter, Audrey Aimes (Peggie Castle), try to warn folks...but naturally no one will listen until it's almost too late.
The biggest problem with this film is the utter cheapness of the production. Many of the scenes where the military attacks the creatures are laughable--sloppy in every possible way. It's very obvious that many of the clips are just stock military footage with grasshoppers sloppily placed on top of the footage. And, to make it worse, a very high percentage of the film consists of this footage. The scenes without the footage are actually pretty good and the folks do their best.
It's hard to believe now, since he had a good career in films and television, but Peter Graves made several crappy sci-fi/horror films in the 1950s. So, if you find this film unintentionally hilarious, will you be in for a treat if you see him in "It Conquered the World" or "Killers from Space"...films so bad that "The Beginning of the End" looks almost like "Masterpiece Theatre" by comparison!!
"The Beginning of the End" is a film that finds enormous grasshoppers that cannot be easily stopped thanks to the miracle of radiation! Entymologist, Dr. Wainwright (Peter Graves), and newspaper reporter, Audrey Aimes (Peggie Castle), try to warn folks...but naturally no one will listen until it's almost too late.
The biggest problem with this film is the utter cheapness of the production. Many of the scenes where the military attacks the creatures are laughable--sloppy in every possible way. It's very obvious that many of the clips are just stock military footage with grasshoppers sloppily placed on top of the footage. And, to make it worse, a very high percentage of the film consists of this footage. The scenes without the footage are actually pretty good and the folks do their best.
It's hard to believe now, since he had a good career in films and television, but Peter Graves made several crappy sci-fi/horror films in the 1950s. So, if you find this film unintentionally hilarious, will you be in for a treat if you see him in "It Conquered the World" or "Killers from Space"...films so bad that "The Beginning of the End" looks almost like "Masterpiece Theatre" by comparison!!