Product Details

• Actors: Tim Holt, Audrey Dalton, Hans Conried, Harlan Warde
• Directors: Arnold Laven
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1957
• Run Time: 84 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302872669
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #248,389 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A highlight among 1950s creature-features, The Monster That Challenged the World is a near-classic B movie that never goes out of style. When an earthquake reveals a nest of giant, prehistoric sea mollusks at the bottom of California's Salton Sea, the local body count skyrockets. Navy lietenant Twillinger (Tim Holt) takes command, assisting the obligatory scientist (Hans Conreid) while wooing the June Cleaver wanna-be (Barbara Darrow) who inevitably tangles with the monster--a flailing caterpillar-like beastie with snapping mandibles and a voracious appetite. With a moment of vintage gross-out ("Get the eye! Get the eye!"), well-handled suspense, and the requisite balance of tepid romance and sci-fi jargon, this is a prime companion to any film in the atomic-monster lineup. The aging Holt made only two more movies after this (following a thriving career in Westerns), but he gives Monster his best shot and comes up a winner. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

It was just another routine Navy experiment on the placid waters of California's Salton Sea. Or was it? When a trio of researchers disappear, the Naval base's head of intelligence and his assistant rush out in a patrol boat to investigate. What they discover terrifies and confounds them: a boat, adrift, with one man scared to death - literally - and two others dead, mysteriously drained of body fluids. There are no clues, save for an inexplicable, jelly-like substance found near the bodies.

Suspecting radioactivity in the water, they send the gel in for analysis, and divers conduct a sea-floor investigation. What they discover is a giant, radioactive, prehistoric monster bearing eggs . . . and the terrifying possibility of thousands more. The trouble really begins when an earthquake stimulates the slimy sea monsters to life.

This edge-of-your-seat thriller, featuring Hans Conried ("The Danny Thomas Show") and Tim Holt (Treasure Of The Sierra Madre) blends drama, romance and tension for a totally terrifying scenario. As the Los Angeles Times aptly notes, "it turns our very familiar Imperial Valley into a land of literally creeping terror."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ESCARGO STRIKES BACK., January 15, 2000

By 

"cb_33" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monster That Challenged The World [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is one of the best cold war flicks. It has all the traits THEM, BEGINNING OF THE END, IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA, and has all the warmth of TARANTULA, an THE GIANT BOHEMOTH. Misunderstood creatures from a past age whom are suddently unleashed on a present day world. the victom count is low but well placed. The last sceen comes right out of Norman Rockwell. this is the 50's lest we forget. what is nice about this film is that your told why every thing is happening. this is a very enjoyable title, this is one of my collection, and is top shelf. I think you will enjoy this as much as I do.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You had to be there....., October 1, 2001

By 

Jack K Stinson (Columbus, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Monster That Challenged the World (DVD)

I first saw this movie on TV, late one night when I was working in Mexico and living in the southern California town of El Centro. Yep, right smack dab in the center of where the Monster decided to challenge the world! I started looking at the local canals a lot more closely at night!

The DVD version has crisp video....much nicer than the VHS version. It was a MUST HAVE for my collection.
Okay, the flick is a little on the lame side....but it's still one of the most fun of the genre. Those mighty mollusks are simply too funny for words. And our hero is so busy chasing women, he almost lets the Imperial Valley and all of Baja Norte fall into the evil mollusk mandibles (do mollusks have mandibles?).
Absolutely essential viewing if you've ever lived in Baja or the Imperial Valley, or even in Southern California. And essential if you are at all into the B monster flicks of AIP and the like.
And it makes the Salton Sea look so very large! It is also fun to see the place as it looked in the late 50's.

Jack Stinson

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Killer Critters, January 12, 2002

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monster That Challenged The World [VHS] (VHS Tape)

You're not likely to be frightened by MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD, but as 1950s sci-fi/horror programmers go it is better than most. The story, which resembles everything from THEM! to THE THING to BLACK LAGOON, concerns prehistoric eggs that are irradiated by atomic blast and then released by earthquake into a saltwater sea by a military station--where several military men go missing as a result.

The cast, script, story, and monster are all okay but nothing special and never rise above the "B Movie" level, but the movie is an enjoyable way to spend a rainy evening. It's also mild enough for use as a "family night" film with older kids, and would be a good way to introduce them to the genre without giving them fits; younger kids, however, will either be bored or genuinely frightened, so you might want to prescreen it just in case.