‘Deadly Mantis’ Among Sci-Fi Films Back On Video

The buzzing sound from above was almost deafening.

Eskimos interrupted their fishing, looked up and were startled by what they beheld.

An insect, bigger than anything they had ever seen, zoomed across the sky and quickly disappeared beyond the horizon.

Egads! It was a huge praying mantis, headed south toward America.

That wasn’t so surprising.

In the 1950s, with the exception of Godzilla, practically every movie monster made a stopover here to wreak havoc on some U.S. city.

In this case, the movie was “The Deadly Mantis,” a 1957 release from Universal. It, along with 11 others films, has been repriced and in some cases repackaged as part of MCA/ Universal’s Sci-Fi Collection. Each includes the original theatrical trailer.

“The Deadly Mantis” has everything any good monster film is supposed to have.

There is a slow buildup to the first major appearance of the monster after a few brief teasing glimpses. And there is that five-minute segment in which the expert scientist gives us a lesson on what the lifestyle of a normal-size praying mantis is like.

The movie opens with an explosion in the Antarctic and a voice telling us “for every action, there is an equal reaction.” The camera quickly zooms to the North Pole and the arctic where, sure enough, some icebergs are breaking up.

Encased in one of them is the giant mantis, frozen there for millions of years. The iceberg begins to melt as it drifts south - and everyone in the audience knows what that means. That boy’s coming back to life.

Along the way, the mantis battles jet planes, destroys buildings and lands atop the Washington Monument. That the figure used for the deadly mantis seems somewhat stiff doesn’t detract from the film’s fun. Hey, you’d be stiff, too, if you’d slept for a million or so years.

You’ll spot some future TV personalities in “The Deadly Mantis.”

Craig Stevens, who would star in “Peter Gunn” on the small screen, gets top billing. Also in the cast are William Hopper (Paul Drake on “Perry Mason”) and Pat Conway (Sheriff Clay Hollister on “Tombstone Territory”).

Another notable entry in the collection is “It Came from Outer Space” (1953) starring Richard Carlson and Barbara Rush. It’s the first time the movie has been released on video by MCA/Universal in more than 10 years.

In recent years, the video rights had been leased to Goodtimes Video, which likes to distribute its product in the less desirable LP speed. MCA’s version is standard play and, therefore, better quality.

Based on a Ray Bradbury story, “It Came from Outer Space” is about aliens who crash-land on Earth and attempt to get their spaceship repaired so they can continue their journey. They get “help” by taking over the bodies of some citizens of a nearby desert town.

It’s a good sci-fi entry with some creepy sequences.

The movie originally was filmed in 3-D. In the early 1980s, before Goodtimes picked it up, MCA released a 3-D version on video.

Because of the poor technology available then, the results were unpleasant. We sure would like to see them try it again.

Others in the Sci-Fi Collection include:

“This Island Earth” (1955): Jeff Morrow, Rex Reason and Faith Domergue star in this Technicolor effort hailed as a breakthrough sci-fi effort when it was first released. It still has its moments.

“Cult of the Cobra” (1955): Six American G.I.s investigate an Asian group of snake worshippers, and do they ever get a few surprises. Faith Domergue and Marshall Thompson of TV’s “Daktari” star.

“Tarantula” (1955): A scientist’s experiments go awry and results in the escape of a huge tarantula. The ugly spider terrorizes the countryside before John Agar and jet pilot Clint Eastwood finally subdue him.

“The Mole People” (1956): Hugh Beaumont, better known as Ward Cleaver of “Leave It To Beaver,” joins John Agar on an expedition into the Earth to discover a lost race of people living there. Don’t miss the opening remarks by Dr. Frank Baxter, who talks about the still undiscovered mysteries inside our Earth.

“The Monolith Monsters” (1957): Fragments of a meteorite began to grow and reproduce when exposed to water. Then things get pretty rocky for the residents of a desert town.

Lola Albright and Grant Williams star.

“Monster on Campus” (1958): The blood of a recently discovered prehistoric fish periodically turns a college professor into a murderer. Troy Donahue and Joanne Moore headline the cast.

“The Leech Woman” (1960): Colleen Gray is the title character who must murder to replenish the serum that keeps her from aging.

“Island of Terror” (1966): Peter Cushing’s cancer research gets out of hand and results in some pretty horrible mutations.

“The Andromeda Strain” (1971): Scientists race against time to isolate a deadly virus from outer space. Arthur Hill, Kate Reid and James Olson star.

“The Last Starfighter” (1984): Outer space visitor Robert Preston recruits a teenager who uses his video game prowess to save a distant planet under siege. A silly premise turns out to be enjoyable fare.