804-The Deadly Mantis

Film Year:  1957
Genre:  Science Fiction, Horror
Director:  Nathan H. But Am
Starring:  Craig Stevens, William Hopper, Alix Talton, Pat Conway
MST Season:  8

The Movie

*I HAVE SURVIVED WATCHING THIS MOVIE UNRIFFED*

“For every action…there is an equal or opposite reaction.”

Universal International scored two memorable sci-fi hits featuring man versus oversized critters with The Incredible Shrinking Man and Tarantula.  Naturally one goes to the well again, maybe one time too many.  Giant insects brought box office, and here we go again.

The Deadly Mantis is about…well, a deadly mantis.  An ancient, gargantuan praying mantis is unearthed, causing disappearances in the arctic.  A scientist and a reporter investigate at a military station in the far north and wind up with a first hand glimpse of the giant bug as it makes its way toward civilization.

We’ve seen many massive insect/arachnid movies on MST, like Earth vs. the Spider and Beginning of the End.  Deadly Mantis easily ranks among the best made of these critter movies, being a respectably budgeted production by a major studio.  Puppeteering of the titular monster is strong and the puppet itself is wonderful, especially in comparison to the similar monster Kamacuras from Son of Godzilla.  Sets and locations are delightfully diverse, which give us wonderfully snowy scenery pushing forth into its cityscape climax.

“Awwww she’s like a butterfly gliding across the lily pond!”

The human cast is mostly The Deadly Mantis’s weakness.  Roles are regulated to their most cliché, while a lot of actors are in earnest, ham-it-up enhancement of a not-too-special script.  Victims of the mantis are given “petrified with FEAR!” deaths all to often, as they stand still, waving their arms in the air, and scream as doom looms upon them.

Deadly Mantis is middle-of-the-road Universal International 50’s sci-fi, but it’s fun.  Those who like giant monster movies will eat it up.

The Episode

"For every action…”
“There is a Jackson!”

Four episodes into season eight, and we’re dealt our fourth Universal International film in a row.  By now Mike, Servo, and Crow know what to expect and just seem at the ready when the film starts.  Luckily The Deadly Mantis is a far better movie than both Leech Woman and Mole People, so it doesn’t really fight back.  There’s a bit of a balance at hand in the riffing of this episode, where the crew doesn’t quite respect the film they're given but merely seem relieved that it’s goofy fun.  Their primary target is the lackluster human cast, playing around with the clichés of shallow romance (“But I got a mantis in my pantis.”), casual sexism (“Like she’s really a photographer, she’s just a woman!”), and grumpy old scientists who also become senile at the hands of our boys (“Who are you people and where is my soup?”).  They have fun with the mantis too, giving him his own personality.

“I feel a disturbance.  As though a million monkeys cried out at once…and then were silenced.”

The most notable aspect of the host segments in this particular episode is that closes out the “Deep Ape” arc that started in Revenge of the Creature, with a rather delicious parody of Beneath the Planet of the Apes that finds Mike stupidly helping Professor Bobo and Peanut fix a thermonuclear device for a group of underground dwelling mutants.  This is also noteworthy for being the first planet that Mike has “accidentally” destroyed, leading to his trial in Agent for H.A.R.M.  Most of the other segments deal with the Satellite drifting through space:  harassed by Pearl, listening to the radio, and accidentally hitting an alien.  I especially enjoyed this last segment, which lead into a delightful follow up where Crow prepares a meatloaf for everyone’s enjoyment while they inquire what happened to the beast.

The Deadly Mantis is near and dear to my heart as the first episode of the series I ever watched.  But even if I weren’t blinded by nostalgia I think I’d be singing high praises of it.  The movie is good, the riffing is hysterical, and the host segments are a gas.  This is the first great episode of the Sci-Fi era.

Classic

The DVD

Shout Factory released The Deadly Mantis on their Volume XXVII set.  Video had minor damage in places at the top of the screen and a missing bumper at the end of the first host segment.  Audio was strong.

Special features kick off with an introduction by Mary Jo Pehl, who reflects on the goofiness of the movie, restrictions of the Sci-Fi Channel, and the skeptic treatment of science in these movies.  She misremembers a few things about the movie (I don’t recall any moment in the film where the scale of the mantis was barely larger than a human being), but she has some fun comments on the episode.

Second up is Chasing Rosebud:  The Cinematic Life of William Alland, a twelve minute documentary on the unsung producer of The Deadly Mantis.  This featurette mostly covers Alland’s work at Universal Interrnational, championing him as the one who kept monster movies flowing through Universal after the studio cooled on them in the 1950’s, having came up with the classic 3D productions of It Came from Outer Space and Creature from the Black Lagoon, and pushing films like Tarantula, The Mole People, and, of course, Deadly Mantis down the pipeline.  Details on Deadly Mantis are few, merely referring to it as “assembly line” and a “merciless” use of stock footage.

Closing out the disc is a theatrical trailer.

Shout also released an uncut Blu-ray of the film, which features the MST episode as a bonus feature.  The episode transfer is a little better than what is seen on the DVD, and the missing bumper has been restored.  However, all the bonus features have been dropped except for the trailer, though a stills gallery is also included.  The movie itself looks great though, and if presentation is what you want then this disc is worth having.