1999 VHS • AMC Monsterfest TV Broadcast 60 FPS

About

A documentary special hosted by Roger Corman for AMC's Monsterfest programming block, running approximately 55 minutes, tracing the history of giant monster films from the earliest silent era through the late 1990s. The program is framed as a tribute to the giants of the industry and is structured chronologically.

The survey begins with French filmmaker George Melies and his 1912 film Conquest of the Pole, moves through the animated dinosaurs of Gertie the Dinosaur and Willis O'Brien's The Lost World in 1925, and identifies O'Brien as the father of stop motion animation. King Kong's 1933 production is covered in depth, with commentary on stop motion technique and Kong's emergence as a cultural icon.

The post-war atomic age is framed as the catalyst that brought genuine dread back to the genre, culminating in the 1954 debut of Godzilla, now with over 20 films and 200,000 fan club members. The British Gorgo, notable for its maternal plot twist, and the campy American giant insect films of the 1950s are surveyed before the program addresses the arrival of CGI and its role in reviving the destruction picture. The closing segment asks what new monsters the 21st century will produce and notes that the best monster is always the one the audience does not see coming.

Human-made No record of this work says a model made it. What this means.

Archive

Internet Archive, in The VHS Vault

Licence or status

The Internet Archive states none for this item.

Credit

The Vista Group®

Language

English

Subtitles

English

Who can watch

The archive gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Teens profiles and older, judged from its collection and subjects. How films are placed