the real story of this movie is how functional civic society can be when you have publicly funded expert guys on call that can show up when you need them to poison a cave, electrify a cave, blow up a cave, and so on.
there was no public hearings or consultation with politicians, the sheriff was free to just electrocute the blown up poison cave with a posse consisting of a high school teacher, road worker, and uhhh whoever these other guys are #monsterdon
#monsterdon This is pretty good compositing. Better than you'd expect for this movie.
does the spider have asthma
#monsterdon "Remember, your motivation in this scene is that you're a teenager."
#monsterdon "There's a cave with human remains"
Should have been enough to get the sheriff out here.
In the 1950s, high school multi-purpose rooms were used for band practice, drama and other clubs, and storage for giant bugs which were unusually common at this time.
#monsterdon I mean, forget pure scientific curiosity, wouldn't it be nice if we could examine it and determine if it's ever laid eggs?
Because they lay hundreds of them at a time.
Cops when they see a batβ¦
#monsterdon Some of these students were held back a few years.
Those were the days when we really made babies cry in terror for film effects π
Puppet people?!
#monsterdon movies in a #monsterdon movie?!?
Did every small town in the 1950s have a tanker truck of pesticide handy? Like ready to go at a moment's notice?
#monsterdon "It's her father."
Well, he had a good personality.
π¦#MONSTERDON ποΈ
βοΈ LEGGY TRIVIA ππ·οΈ
They prepare to spray DDT all over the cave, as was the custom through the 1950s. In 1962, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, documenting for the general public the environmental harm caused by the indiscriminate use of DDT.
It was often sprayed via plane over large areas, even with people.
Part 1 of 3
π¦#MONSTERDON Goodbye!
I live for Big Bug movies π·οΈ, especially when hanging out with the Real-Time Film Analysis Squad. Thank you everyone for making this so fun!
β€οΈ and Thank You @Taweret for hosting tonight's arachnid adventure. We wait for the weekly poll like piranha.
π ±οΈ and Thanks @cherizilla for access to archived Bingo cards!
πΈand Thanks to @randy_s for helping out with the MonsterdonDrink!
kinda surprising that we skipped right over fire as a potential solution. would've cost too much to write a scene around it, maybe.
I like the spider noises. They are ridiculous, but those are pretty good "monster makes scary noises" noises
This kaiju spider actor I believe is a Texas Brown (Aphonopelma hentzi) based on the light carapace and patch on the abdomen. They are known to be docile, calm, and curious. They are large but shy.
π¦MONSTERDON ποΈ
βοΈ LEGGY TRIVIA ππ·οΈ
Check out those hairy legs. The giant prop legs used straw from brooms for spider fur.
Remember kids, if you see a cave with a DANGER DO NOT ENTER sign in front of it, it's imperative you enter it immediately! #Monsterdon
Earth vs. the Spider (1958) - 3/5
a perfectly average #monsterdon movie, representative of the middle tier of the genre
#monsterdon We never did check to see if it had laid any eggs anywhere, so let's just hope for the best.
"At least until some egghead comes along and digs it up again!"
Bert I. Gordon, sadly misreading the possibility of a sequel.
#monsterdon That was a pretty huge arc to be created by ordinary electrical lines.
If they could do that, you'd be fried just walking under the power lines.
[SHIRTLESS DIGGING INTENSIFIES]
Great cameo from luminous algae just now
#monsterdon It still hasn't occurred to them to bring a light.
This is why nobody ever graduates high school in this town.
#monsterdon I don't actually enjoy talking to people, but it seems like it would have been fun to shout "OPERATOR! I was cut off!" whenever your phone stops working.
I got my money on NUCLEAR POWER #Monsterdon
I dunno what happened to her dad, but apparently it sucked.
"it's like glue, I can hardly get loose" say characters who have pulled their hands off the net half a dozen times already
how many horror movies wouldn't have started if people just respected other folk's privacy?
That was Earth vs the Spider! It's too bad Earth couldn't be in the film but it was probably still unconscious from being hosed down with DDT.
Huge thanks to everyone's favorite egghead @Taweret for digging this up again, and special thanks to the eight legged freaks of the #Monsterdon crew for helping me find my bracelet.
I'm going to go buy a new mattress.
π·οΈβ€οΈ
EARTH VS. THE SPIDER (1958)
1.5 legs out of 8
the tarantula(s) were cute, everything else was rather dull
anyway fine, the Power of the Electron saves the day. it's a cromulent ending but it does wear on you without characters or stakes to care about
- What's the problem Joe?
- Well, I'm 35 and still in high school...
#monsterdon
#earthvsthespider1958
Man, that's two deputies in a week. Sheriff's gonna catch hell about this. #Monsterdon
STOP HARRASSING THE SPIDER, DICKSHIT #Monsterdon
TERMINALLY STUPID PROTAGONISTS #Monsterdon
#monsterdon I like the device of having a real insect or spider climb over a photograph of the real set.
They did it in Empire of the Ants, too.
#monsterdon What is the MOST Bert I Gordon thing? Giant beings? Tiny People? How about shameless self promotion?
#monsterdon In this town you have to go to high school until you're 45.
Bats all, folks
Love the dude going spider hunting in his three-piece suit :D #Monsterdon
I love how they're driving in an open top car and absolutely nothing is blowing their hair.
This #Monsterdon film is nothing but heterosexuals shamelessly heterosexualizing, and I want to know why mastodon dot social doesn't ban this sort of thing. #Monsterdon #ReferenceToYesterdaysMainCharacter
i like seeing what @ryan picks for the double feature - like this isn't a #monsterdon movie because it intends to be a comedy, but it sure looks like a nice complement #monsterdon
#Monsterdon π·οΈ πΈοΈ π ποΈ π±
Earth vs the Spider.
That movie was dynamite! The end was shocking! Teenagers trapped in the dark eating candy bars, hiking in dresses, avoiding giant drafts of DDT and avalanches caused by the freeing explosions of the local townspeople! Oh what a tangled web we weave...
Thanks, @Taweret and all #monsterdonians
sure, sure, plasma arc, that's what spiders are vulnerable to #monsterdon
I don't know what the problem is, they just need an elvish blade and the distilled light of a star. Hardly complicated π #Monsterdon
BEHOLD, THE CAVES OF MORIA
@JoeWynne Remember the monster that challenged the world (but just inconvenienced a county or two)?
they blow the cave with the kids in it. it turns out the spider wasn't after them to eat, it had gotten full by draining the cops. it just wanted them to play house, dressing them up and putting them in situations to roleplay. this is the only efficacious route to a marriage with the remaining runtime #monsterdon
THE END! It-- oh, shit. Nevermind. #Monsterdon
"No living thing can survive for long when its food supply is cut off!"
...Guys it GREW UP in that cave, what makes you think it doesn't have a food supply in there? #Monsterdon
prolly breathing hard from all the DDT it's been huffing
"Remember dear, no emotions. We had our five minute mourning period, we're done with that now." #Monsterdon
Don't think about your dead Dad and other victims. Finish your homework.
Parenting in the 50s.
WHAT DID I JUST SAY #Monsterdon
Oh sure get RIGHT UP CLOSE to the DEFINITELY DEAD SPIDER #Monsterdon
#monsterdon They're not even pretending there's a light source in this cave. They're not even doing the thing where a single match lights up the whole cave.
Nah, the cave is just already lit.
"Maybe that's what happened to your old man."
Yeah, he's probably smeared all over the road somewhere nearby. Let's go see if we can find him!
βJust because something isnβt good doesnβt mean itβs badβ
Thatβs should be the monsterdon credo
The irony is, that last shot of the spider represents an actual denouement as far as #Monsterdon is concerned :P
#monsterdon We got the Giant Crab Creatures (Corman, 1 year earlier) ending for the spider. Poor thing, died as it lived, just trying to get a bite to eat.
Also, let's hear it for that Thereminist!
#monsterdon There's one thing I forgot to tell you : Don't cross the streams.
amazing! what a coincidence that mike and carol are in just the right spot to help with the electrodes!
I need fanfic about what happens the day after all this when they have to explain what they were doing to the mayor. #Monsterdon
Too much cave exploring
That dude really wants to electrocute something large and freakish...
Quick, kids! Run to the next postcard before the spider sees you! #Monsterdon
It's an interesting engineering problem. How do we blow up the teenagers inside the cave while we stay outside.
Earth vs The Spider
Except we never leave this village
ahaha, of course. it's 1958, so the solution to the problem the heroes are having is going to be⦠electricity!
SWEATY MEN, WORKING LONG HOURS TO GET THE JOB DONE, DESPERATELY IN NEED OF AQUA VELVA #Monsterdon
"could take days, maybe a week even"
I like this no-nonsense mining character. I think I'd rather see him in a more interesting movie.
"That girl's just too darn emotional. She should be like me, a bland automaton."
NUCLEAR ALGAE
That's rough when you have your bracelet-holding privileges revoked. It's a piece of jewelry designed to not leave the body.
if nothing else, this movie gives a lot of screen time to the creature at least
Who's in charge of the bazookas in this town?
Quick, retreat to the GAY MATTRESS FACTORY #Monsterdon
Bert I Gordon using a Bert I Gordon Film to advertise for a Bert I Gordon Film in which he will have another ad for a Bert I Gordon Film
#monsterdon "Forget about it, you have your homework to get ready for tomorrow."
Yeah, typical teenage girl, getting all emotional because her father was eaten by a giant spider.
π¦MONSTERDON ποΈ
βοΈ LEGGY TRIVIA ππ·οΈ
Not as well known, though, is that in Carson's book, she accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation that the pesticide was safe and public officials of accepting those claims.
Would never happen today.
Part 2 of 3
Whithers?!
Her dad was Yoda? #Monsterdon
@CactuarJoe I think 15 mintues is a respectable time for the monster to show up. Well done.
#monsterdon #EarthVsTheSpider π·οΈπΈοΈπ·οΈ
#monsterdon How did he know the stalactite was going to fall?
Did he read the script?
#monsterdon
Let's explore the cave, but remember yelling the missing man's name won't do any good. So just wander aimlessly through the darkness.
RE: https://timeloop.cafe/@apLundell/116870342145746730
Me: All of my nightmares begin with the American International Pictures logo
Therapist: [sarcastically] Why do you think *that* is?!
Me: Yeah yeah yeah⦠because #Monsterdon
A good way to start any film.
Wow, that class is full of 40 year old teenagers. #Monsterdon
"Dad didn't come home last night."
"I'm sure he wasn't murdered by a giant spider. Don't worry."
#monsterdon