Night Fright

 
Night Fright is a 1967 TV movie staring John Agar, who we previously saw in The Mole People.  Our movie opens with some teens playing kissy face.  The radio tells us a fireball was seen blazing across the sky.  Something approaches the car and...what the hell?  That was a weird transition.  From scream to laugh.  Anyway, we now switch to two other teens.  I hope they last longer than the first couple.

Oh, I hope this guy dies soon.  His acting is so bad.  He keep rambling on about leaves and gravity and such.  His pauses are more pregnant than those of Shatner... and i'm a Shatner fan.  What are you trying to say!?  So the kids run and play in the forest for ever and then...another weird jump cut...to our credits?  Eleven minutes into the movie and its like someone forgot about them.   

The police talk about finding a crashed rocket then go to a murder scene.  Murder?  Murdered by...nature?  They keep saying the girl was 'chewed up' what makes them think it was murder?  Anyway the police look for clues.  Honestly I think Scooby and Shaggy could do better.  This looking for clues sequence just goes on and on.

They finally find some weird alligator like tracks.  Does this whole movie consist of people walking in the woods?!  The biggest excitement thus far is the sheriff nearly getting ran over by the teenagers.  The movie suddenly switches...to a commercial?  Oh, no...it just looks like one.  For a minute there I was about to head to the lobby for a snack.

So later, much later, the kids have a 'beach party'.  Looks like they're just in the woods near a lake.  Somebody better die soon.  Having a party in a place called Satan's Hollow...great idea by the way.  Nothing can possibly go wrong.  Finally, a deputy is cornered by the monster.  Even this is just a tease.  The teens are warned to stay away and most of them actually listen.  The kids that didn't leave get terrorized by the monster.  He slowly stalks a girl through the woods.  The sheriff shows up, shots the monster...then he runs away.

Later, a scientist tells us that a NASA experiment that launched animals into space is what crashed.  The animals have mutated and are responsible for the killings.  The sheriff forms a plan and everyone waits for the monster.  He uses a mannequin as a decoy and blows up the monster.  Jokes are made, hugs given, the girl is kissed and we have...The End.

Most of the movie takes place at night...or what we are supposed to believe is night.  The monster looks like a Klingon in a gorilla suit.  At one point, during the VHS boom, the movie was retitled, 'The Extraterrestrial Nasty'.  So after all this if you even consider watching this film...I pity you.  Don't do it.  This film is on the same level as Octaman or The Beast of Yucca Flats.  It's so bad and there isn't even a lot to make fun of.

The Giant Behemoth

Our credits roll across screen as if rocked by the ocean.  If I were prone to sea sickness...whoa!  Everything exploded.  The a-bomb fills the screen and a scientist tells us all about it.  This is typical movie stuffs.  A-bomb bad.  Mutation.  Nature good.  Our movie shifts its focus to an old fisherman and his daughter.  Eventually he is attacked and his dying word is, 'Behemoth!'.  Not quite as dramatic as the little girl in Them!  Later, the beach is filled with dead fish.  Meanwhile, the scientist from the opening learns of the mysterious goings on and heads to Cornwall.

 They begin to investigate but come up with nothing.  Most of this stuff is just exposition...and science!  See the fish dissection!  Thrill to the radioactive water tests!  Finally, the scientists are satisfied radioactivity exists in Cornwall.  Maybe now something  interesting will happen.  On the ocean they finally spot something; the snakelike back of a sea monster.  This brief moment of excitement is followed by meetings, discussion, and more exposition.

Later, a barking dog leads a father and son to the beach where the behemoth gives them a big lethal dose of radiation.  After destroying a helicopter the monster finally shows itself.  It rises and threatens a ferry.  The monster manages to sink the ferry, killing all on-board.  The military and scientists discuss how best to destroy the beast.  The behemoth rises from the Thames and begins its rampage of London.

This is actually a nicely done sequence with people freeing in terror and some closeups of the monster.  Soldiers attack with machine gun, rifle and pistol fire but this does nothing and they are melted by radiation.  The behemoth destroying the power lines reminds me of a similar scene in the first Godzilla film.

Our lead scientists completes work on a special radium torpedo and hops in a mini-sub.  It doesn't take long for the behemoth to find the sub.  He fires into the monster's mouth and it explodes.  The Thames begins to boil and bubble like a witches cauldron.  As the two scientists dive away a radio report says that the east coast of America is full of dead fish.  The End?

The star of our film, the Behemoth, was animated by Willis O'Brien, who was responsible for the groundbreaking special effects in the original King Kong.  When the monster attacks London it is a long sequence and makes up for the long science and exposition scenes.  Ultimately, if you enjoy films like Godzilla or perhaps Gorgo, the The Giant Behemoth is something you'd enjoy.