Le retour de l'homme colosse

Colonel Manning, the amazing 60ft colossal man from the same film, falls into the Colorado River at the end of that film from not-so-friendly military firepower. It seems now though that he survives that only to be swept down river into Mexico where he resides in the mountains and yanks trucks off the road for food. OK, the story in this one in not anything grandiose to be sure, but Bert I. Gordon's follow-up is satisfying to a point. This time around Glenn's sister still believes her brother to be alive and flies down to Mexico - soon to be followed by a military officer who didn't believe her in the first place. Well, Manning is discovered in the mountains, tricked into eating bread loaded with something that knocks him out, and then transported to Los Angelos. From there on we basically get what we got in the first film. There are some differences though. Manning is played this time by the same guy that played the giant with the bad face and eye in Gordon's The Cyclops. He has virtually no dialog. This means that it is a lot more difficult to feel for the character as one might have in the first film. This film does show some attention to the bureaucratic way in which our government works. The acting is competent and Gordon's direction fair. His special effects are again nothing so special. We have the one brief moment of color in the climax. We also get a pretty lengthy flashback taken entirely from the first film. This is a decent sequel but not as "good" as its original source material.

This is the story of how "War of the Colossal Beast" made an imprint on my life. I saw it when I was almost 2. I remember my parents lying in bed, dead asleep to the world and their bedroom tv was on. I remember being in my crib (I remember the bars!) and being thirsty so I picked up my bottle but there wasn't any water in it. I remember looking at their tv and I remember seeing this giant with one eyeball and big teeth... growling!!! It had my attention. After that, the Star Spangled Banner played and the tv went to the snowy picture. My parents, by the way, never budged. To be honest, my mom was snoring. I was scared out of my skin. I cried and threw my bottle at their bed. I think I hit my dad because my dad stirred, sleepily leaned over and turned the tv off. I sat in the dark! I was afraid that the giant with the one eyeball and big teeth that was growling was going to come through the window and get me and my parents didn't care because they stayed asleep!!! As I grew older, I could not be in the room alone if the Star Spangled Banner on tv played and the station was signing off. I used to scream like crazy. The older I got though, I controlled the screaming but I grew anxious, broke out in a cold sweat and demanded to change channels. Now that digital and satellite cable has arrived, I can look at the Amazing Colossal Beast and laugh at the cheap special effects because I know the tv wont play the Star Spangles Banner and trun to snow. The moral of the story is: no matter how cheesy and bad you think a sci-fi movie from the 50's is, don't leave your infants or toddlers in front of them. Lord knows what they will remember and Lord knows how it will effect their psyche!!!

The sequel to The Amazing Colossal Man, which has never been on DVD due to rights issues. I saw that one on TNT's Monster Vision years ago. I think I may have seen this one, too. If not on TNT, I may have seen it on MST3K. I may have also seen Earth vs. the Spider and Village of the Giants on MST3K, too - they loved Bert I. Gordon. It's funny that all three of these films have such low ratings (none are above 3.0), because, while they aren't good films, they are nowhere near that bad. They're pretty typical B movies. War of the Colossal Beast actually has a pretty emotional core, and the film's final moments are quite touching. It also has a fantastic opening sequence (Gordon really seems to know how to open his movies - all three of these start off beautifully). We don't see the Colossal Beast, just a truck driver driving full speed, frequently looking behind him and screaming. Dean Parkin is quite good as the title character, who has become a near-mindless monster, half his face torn off, after being nearly killed and falling off Hoover Damn in the first film. Like most B movies, the plot is pretty lean, and there are long stretches when nothing's really happening. There's also a nearly ten minute stretch which I think is just footage from the previous film.

War of the Colossal Beast is a sequel to Gordon's earlier The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), and it picks up where that one left off. However, the film features a different cast. It was distributed theatrically by American International Pictures as the top half of a double feature with Attack of the Puppet People.

This sequel has competent acting performances, fair direction and ordinary special effects. It is also an obvious attempt at milking dry an already successful formula.

Unlike the first film, the character of Manning virtually has no dialogue which makes it far more difficult to feel empathy for the character.

The special effects are pretty ordinary by any standards with great reliance made on double exposure shots. However, quite a good job was made with Manning's facial make-up and the audio of his character's grunts and groans which effectively contribute to the "horror" aspect of the film.

The film is short enough as it is but unfortunately much of it consists of flashback footage from the first film which merely serves to pad the movie.

Despite the film's title, the Colossal Beast does not really engage in much of a "war" with anyone. For much of the time we see Manning being captured, him lying on his back and some military vehicles being maneuvered into position.

The War of the Colossal Beast does serve to highlight one theme that threads itself through many aspects of life in any era. Namely, how we choose to deal with big and seemingly intractable problems which are often of our own making.

Plot- an army officer is accidentally exposed to radiation causing him to grow to 6o-foot proportions with a deformed half-face. When the army transports him from Mexico to LA for treatment, he breaks loose causing panic. At same time his sister tries to rescue the giant from the tragedy that has befallen him. So what will happen.

The sci-fi cheapo's definitely a cut above the usual '50's monster flicks. It''s well-crafted (note how well scenes are staffed and directed); also, special effects with the giant are expertly matted onto conventional background giving fairly realistic effect; then there's good nuanced acting, especially Fraser; along with an ending that's not predictable since the giant is somewhat sympathetic. Most of all is the unusual plot where there's a '50's monster not predictably evil, despite the panicked crowds. In a general sense, the flick can be taken as having a deeper layer that puzzles the audience as to what they think their reaction should be to a monster that's not really one. After all, does the giant kill anyone or does the screenplay purposely maintain his basic innocence beneath the grotesque form. Anyway, see what you think.

All in all, I was somewhat surprised by the drive-in flick's unexpected dashes of quality. Meanwhile, Maltin's unreliable Classic Movie Guide only rates the cheapo a 1.5 out of 4. I'd definitely give it a 2.5 or maybe better. So, don't let the teen-age title fool you. It's much better than the usual drive-in fare, along with a number of surprising qualities.