Customer Reviews

War of the Colossal Beast [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Col. Glenn Manning, from THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN, is back, and after his fall from the top of Boulder Dam, is a hideously scarred, out of control monster, with no recollection of his previous life. The story centers on the giants sister trying desperately to bring him out of his madness, and keep the authorities from destroying him. This sequel is more entertaining than its predecessor, with an exciting, and touching, conclusion. Classic 50's sci fi at its best!

This CD, War of the Colossal Beast, was as promised and deliverd promply. I found it to look new and was in good working order. thank you

This film fails to engage the viewer. Unlike the first one, the characters do not develop, there is no humor whatsoever, and the beast is just a brainless brute run amok rather than a military hero under severe and tragic stress. This one isn't even suspenseful or scary, it just kind of plods along: he is found, subdued, escapes, and meets his end.

Not recommended.

Hollywood Trivia: Oddly enough, the Producers of the two films seemed to think that cast changes and storyline shifts in WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST meant that this film could not be presented as a sequel. Thus, THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN has no official sequel.

Regardless of its status as a non-sequel, Colonel Glenn Manning of THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN returns in this less engaging follow up film. At the end of the original film, the insane Colonel Manning is apparently killed by his fall off the Hoover Dam. WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST opens with a fearsome mystery: Bread trucks are found in the Southwestern desert emptied of both cargo and drivers. A team sent to investigate the situation finds the trucks marked with huge fingerprints.

Just as they figure out that Colonel Manning may be the cause of these disappearances, Manning's head unexpectedly pops onto the screen with an animalistic groan. This is without a doubt the most startling moment in the film. Manning is horribly scarred and has a gaping empty eye socket. Any non-snoring viewer will jump in their seat.

Unfortunately, WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST never surpasses this early shock point. Colonel Manning is no longer simply crazed by having been rendered a giant, he is now suffering from amnesia and a head trauma which has rendered him truly beastlike. The story stays one-dimensionally set on the U.S. Military's repeated attempts to kill Manning (and Manning's sister's attempts to return him to sanity). There is no character development at all, and COLOSSAL BEAST lacks the unintended humor of COLOSSAL MAN's rampage through Vegas. It's nowhere as good as its predecessor, but the two films make a nice set of 1950s Monster Mash, nevertheless.

IN A NUTSHELL: THE SEQUEL TO 'THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN'

'The Amazing Colossal Man' was a watchable though completely ordinary b-film that got this sequel, the 'War of the Colossal Beast', starring, Sally Fraser, Roger Pace, and Dean Parkin as the colossal beast. This sequel is a rather awful, formula creature-feature b-film from 1958.

WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT: FAST START THEN A COMA

The beginning scenes depicting the mysterious disapearance of a truck carrying food, and the unseen giant on the inaccessible Mexican mesa are the film's high points. We have some tension and it is a scary ambience that sadly fails to be sustained.

AFTER THE MYSTERY: MIDDLE OF THE FILM BUT NO STORY

The 'monster' is captured, badly disfigured and seemingly no longer possessing a human awareness. Kept asleep for most of the middle of the film, we have only flashbacks of the epic climax of the first film, 'The Amazing Colossal Man', to keep us interested while the colossal beast lies in a coma that is disturbed only by his very loud breathing.

CLIMAX: AN ESCAPE BY THE MONSTER WHICH LEADS TO THE USUAL CLIMAX

Of course, like all creature-features, this one's climax is struck as the creature escapes. Of course the monster ends up with an L.A. school bus in his hands as crowds of parents and police groan.


-*THE CAST

Sally Fraser - Joyce Manning
Dean Parkin - Col. Glenn Manning
Roger Pace - Maj. Baird
Charles Stewart - Capt. Harris
George Becwar - Swanson
Robert Hernandez - Miguel
Rico Alaniz - Sgt. Luis Murillo
George Alexander - Army Officer
George Navarro - Mexican Doctor
John McNamara - Neurologist
Howard Wright - Medical Corps Officer
Roy Gordon - Mayor
George Milan - Gen. Nelson
Warren Frost - Switchboard Operator
Bill Giorgio - Bus Driver
June Jocelyn - Mother


-*THE CREW

Bert I. Gordon - Director / Producer / Screenwriter / Special Effects
George Worthing Yates - Screenwriter
Jack A. Marta - Cinematographer
Albert Glasser - Composer (Music Score)
Ronald Sinclair - Editor

-*THE MAJOR AWARDS

NONE

BOTTOM LINE: COULD THIS HAVE BEEN A GOOD FILM?

Seeing this film today does make one appreciate films such as the original 'Godzilla - King of the Monsters' and 'Rodan', for they were played with pathos and credibility that this film really lacks. What it would have taken to have raised the bar enough to have made this film be one that is well remembered, I do not precisely know. However, I do know that it is too obviously lacking in every filmmaking respect [after the first 20 minutes] even for a genre b-film from the 1950s meant for the 'Drive-In' market of the day, to be fondly remembered.

IN A NUTSHELL: THE SEQUEL TO 'THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN'

'The Amazing Colossal Man' was a watchable though completely ordinary b-film that got this sequel, the 'War of the Colossal Beast', starring, Sally Fraser, Roger Pace, and Dean Parkin as the colossal beast. This sequel is a rather awful, formula creature-feature b-film from 1958.

WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT: FAST START THEN A COMA

The beginning scenes depicting the mysterious disapearance of a truck carrying food, and the unseen giant on the inaccessible Mexican mesa are the film's high points. We have some tension and it is a scary ambience that sadly fails to be sustained.

AFTER THE MYSTERY: MIDDLE OF THE FILM BUT NO STORY

The 'monster' is captured, badly disfigured and seemingly no longer possessing a human awareness. Kept asleep for most of the middle of the film, we have only flashbacks of the epic climax of the first film, 'The Amazing Colossal Man', to keep us interested while the colossal beast lies in a coma that is disturbed only by his very loud breathing.

CLIMAX: AN ESCAPE BY THE MONSTER WHICH LEADS TO THE USUAL CLIMAX

Of course, like all creature-features, this one's climax is struck as the creature escapes. Of course the monster ends up with an L.A. school bus in his hands as crowds of parents and police groan.


-*THE CAST

Sally Fraser - Joyce Manning
Dean Parkin - Col. Glenn Manning
Roger Pace - Maj. Baird
Charles Stewart - Capt. Harris
George Becwar - Swanson
Robert Hernandez - Miguel
Rico Alaniz - Sgt. Luis Murillo
George Alexander - Army Officer
George Navarro - Mexican Doctor
John McNamara - Neurologist
Howard Wright - Medical Corps Officer
Roy Gordon - Mayor
George Milan - Gen. Nelson
Warren Frost - Switchboard Operator
Bill Giorgio - Bus Driver
June Jocelyn - Mother


-*THE CREW

Bert I. Gordon - Director / Producer / Screenwriter / Special Effects
George Worthing Yates - Screenwriter
Jack A. Marta - Cinematographer
Albert Glasser - Composer (Music Score)
Ronald Sinclair - Editor

-*THE MAJOR AWARDS

NONE

BOTTOM LINE: COULD THIS HAVE BEEN A GOOD FILM?

Seeing this film today does make one appreciate films such as the original 'Godzilla - King of the Monsters' and 'Rodan', for they were played with pathos and credibility that this film really lacks. What it would have taken to have raised the bar enough to have made this film be one that is well remembered, I do not precisely know. However, I do know that it is too obviously lacking in every filmmaking respect [after the first 20 minutes] even for a genre b-film from the 1950s meant for the 'Drive-In' market of the day, to be fondly remembered.

at start of film-y not show at least a giant hand or foot or the whole thing approachin the movin mex. teenangler p/u. 1st visit-ok,1st capture-ok and show it 1st breakin out w/ damage at the airport and again when it finally got away from the airport and damage along the way to the end-the observatory. i think this was all the action scenes---could have had more visual monster action; they have the monster y not use it more---$? the monsta or studio finally took him out so no more pt 3 of types.