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film summary
It's time for Them! You
know, Them! This movie is about them there giant ants
that attack them people. Them there scientist blew up
them atomic bombs, morphing them ants into them giant
ants that like them there sugar and kill them there
people because that's the way them are!
Somewhere in Arizona or something,
people keep disappearing. They finally figure out that
the "them" the little girl is screaming about
is a horde of giant ants. These 7-12 ft. long ants go
around and make war with everything they see, and they
do what ants do: colonize and reproduce. Luckily, they
find them early enough to shoot, blow up, and gas all
them ants to pieces!
Although the plot didn't have much
on the basic level, the subtle level had a lot. It has
a great plot that flows well that rarely goes off track.
It's giant ant related form beginning to end! It is
also quite funny at times, but not overboard. There
is good acting too, with notable actors including cameos
of a bunch of famous stars of the time (ask someone
who was living at the time and they will point a bunch
out). The plot is quite original, being only the second
or so atomic-bomb-created-monsters-on-the-loose movie
of the 1950's. It is quite a bit like "The Beast
from 20,000 Fathoms", but everything else is original
for obvious reasons. It spurred off a bunch more giant
bug movies, including "Tarantula", "The
Deadly Mantis", and "The Black Scorpion".
Its ideas also seem to affect later movies, like the
fact that the whole run-through-tunnels-blasting-bug-things-while-saving-kids-and-destroying-queen-nest
was later used in "Aliens". Plus, the "cement
river" setting was used in "Terminator 2"
and the idea of mutated monster taking over the earth
was later used in "Godzilla"(1998).
The giant ants are quite convincing.
It seams like they wanted to make the movie as realistic
as it possible could be. Them ants really act like ants.
The giant robot-things used to make the ants are quite
realistic. It's not as good as today's standards, with
movies like "The Lost World: Jurassic Park"
using the medium a lot better, but it was great for
the time. It has enough believability to make this classic
"horror" film actually scary (for little kids,
at least). But they didn't spare any expense on this
movie. It was originally going to be made entirely in
color. But black and white is better; it's scarier that
way. Plus the few bloody scenes don't look as grotesque,
letting your mind be scared instead of grossed out.
From what I heard, the ants were suppose to be made
in purple and green for some odd reason, which would
have taken away from the realism they were striving
for. The movie was also suppose to be in 3-D, which
is a disappointment because it would have been cool
to see giant ants popping out of the screen.
As a whole, great movie! The plot
is great; it was done very well and had very few flaws.
The movie flows right, doesn't slow down to a crawl,
and gets you into the mood and keeps you there. It is
one of the few movies that want to be sci-fi, action,
horror, and comedy at the same time, and succeeded.
It runs on a formula that many special effects movie
use now (but with a better plot). It's what a lot of
young blockbusters want to grow up to be. Basically,
them here movie is one of the better ones. You will
never see ants or say the word "them" in the
same way again.
In the 1950's the world was testing A-bombs, Hydrogen
Bombs, strange results were beginning to appear &
Hollywoods imagination was added to the theories. The
results a series of movies about radioactive mutated
creatures. The first was "THEM".
"THEM" (1954) is a landmark
movie about giant radiation-mutated ants that gets better
with age and boasts remarkable, Academy Award-nominated
special effects.
Summary: Our story begins in a New
Mexico desert with a shocked wandering child, destroyed
general store & battered corpse full of enough formic
acid to kill 20 men. The search begins to find &
destroy these menacing insects. The giant mutated ants
are on the move and the climatic battle is in over 700
miles of Los Angeles sewers.
An ALL-STAR cast led by James Whitmore,
James Arness and Edmund Gwenn.
Special Features include; Behind
the Scenes Archive footage, Montage & Operation
on the Giant Ants, & film trailer.
This was the first and probably the
best movie featuring the worlds & Hollywoods take
on the possible results of radioactive mutation.
"THEM" in a great
Black & White Standard version (Original theatrical
exhibition) digitally restored presenting a very exceptional
picture & sound. This sci-fi classic is worth the
price of addmission so get out the popcorn and ENJOY!!
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