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Beginning of the End (1957)

Audrey Ames, an enterprising journalist, tries to get the scoop on giant grasshoppers accidentally created at the Illinois State experimental farm. She endeavors to save Chicago, despite a ... See full summary »

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Teenagers from a rural community and their high school science teacher join forces to battle a giant mutant spider.

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Lt. Col. Glenn Manning is inadvertently exposed to a plutonium bomb blast at Camp Desert Rock. Though burned over 90% of his body, he survives, and begins to grow in size. As he grows, his ... See full summary »

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An expedition to Mexico finds and does battle with a mutated 25-foot man with one big eye.

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Lonely, deranged puppet-master designs a machine that shrinks people.

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Glenn Manning, "The Amazing Colosasal Man," believed dead after falling from the Hoover Dam, reemerges in rural Mexico, brain damaged, disfigured, and very hungry.

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A new planet moves into our solar system and four scientists (two couples) are sent to explore Planet Nova. In between romantic interludes, the cast faces an iguana masquerading as a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

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Adventure | Drama | Fantasy
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The son of a sorceress, armed with weapons, armour and six magically summoned knights, embarks on a quest to save a princess from a vengeful wizard.

Director: Bert I. Gordon
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A group of friends travel to a remote Canadian island to hunt, only to be attacked by giant killer animals which have populated the place.

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Horror | Thriller
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A man lets a former flame fall to her death rather than let her interfere with his new relationship, but her ghost returns to disrupt his impending nuptials.

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A con artist tries to sell bogus real estate deals in an area overrun by giant ants.

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Delinquent teen-agers ingest a substance and grow thirty feet tall, then proceed to take over a small town.

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Volcanic activity frees giant scorpions from the earth who wreak havoc in the rural countryside and eventually threaten Mexico City.

Director: Edward Ludwig
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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
Dr. Ed Wainwright
...
Audrey Aimes
...
Gen. John Hanson
...
Frank Johnson
Thomas Browne Henry ...
Col. Tom Sturgeon (as Thomas B. Henry)
...
Cpl. Mathias
...
Capt. James Barton
John Close ...
Maj. Everett
...
Guard at Lab
...
Illinois Highway Patrolman
...
Girl Teenager in Car
Hylton Socher ...
Frank - Soldier
...
Gen. John T. Short
Douglas Evans ...
Norman Taggart - News Editor
Paul Grant ...
Male Teenager in Car

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Storyline

Audrey Ames, an enterprising journalist, tries to get the scoop on giant grasshoppers accidentally created at the Illinois State experimental farm. She endeavors to save Chicago, despite a military cover-up. Written by Anonymous

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Never Before ...anything to compare it for THRILLS! See more »

Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Details

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Release Date:

28 June 1957 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Le début de la fin  »

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Company Credits

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Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(RCA Sound Recording)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Bert I. Gordon was inspired by Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments" (1956), the big movie hit of 1956. That film's biblical plague of locusts became Gordon's plague of giant grasshoppers invading a modern city. See more »

Goofs

Some editions (the MST3K episode at the very least) omit a short scene about 8 minutes in where Audrey tries to sneak some photographs of Ludlow and is caught by an officer who confiscates her camera. With this scene removed, there is an apparent continuity error when she later tells Col. Sturgeon that her camera was confiscated when she was there, then shows up at the checkpoint again to retrieve it. See more »

Quotes

Gen. John T. Short: Dr. Wainright, you're a scientist, you know what grasshoppers can do. I'm a soldier, I know what guns can do.
See more »

Connections

Featured in It's Tough to Be a Bug (1998) See more »

Soundtracks

Natural, Natural Baby
Words and Music by Lou Bartel & Harriet Kane
Sung by Lou Bartel & Chorus
An ABC - Paramount Record
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User Reviews

 
Hopping Good Fun
31 July 2002 | by (USA) – See all my reviews

Bert I Gordon has given the classic sci-fi and horror community plenty to enjoy and that doesn't mean that Mr BIG's films are going to win any Academy awards, but they certainly entertain and isn't that why most of us watch films? Stars Peter Graves, Peggie Castle amd Morris Ankrum take a back seat to mutated grasshoppers in this classic from 1957. Personally, I skip the MST3K version of the film, the original version is much more fun and entertaining on it's own.


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