The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) Review

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) Review

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is considered a classic monster movie. Conventions such as modern warfare awakening an ancient creature or scientists explaining what the monster is to a board room full of people were first implemented here. You’d think those clichés began with Godzilla or Gamera, or even further back with King Kong, but the link between nuclear weapons and the emergence of monsters started here, in the early 1950’s.

A nuclear bomb test in the arctic awakens a prehistoric monster, which makes its way down the east coast to New York City. The monster being born out of nuclear radiation sounds like a rip-off of Godzilla, but it actually predates the original Godzilla by a year, making this the first true radioactive giant monster on film. On the poster, it shows the monster blowing fire, which it doesn’t do in the movie, but the concept was the source of inspiration for Godzilla’s atomic breath. 

The number one positive thing about this movie that no one can deny is the stop motion effects by Ray Harryhausen are exceptionally well done. The scene with the Rhedosaurus, as it’s called (not a real-life dinosaur) rampaging through New York, wrecking buildings and eating people, is technically proficient and quite entertaining, but even though this occurs toward the later part of the film, the Rhedosaurus still makes memorable appearances earlier on, including a scene in which it destroys a lighthouse. This scene was the main basis of the short story by Ray Bradbury upon which the film is based. 

Even as a huge fan of giant monster movies, Beast is far from a personal favourite. The monster scenes are all spectacular and rendered with the utmost care, but its lacking in other departments, such as story, characters, and world-building. With King Kong (and, to a lesser extent, Godzilla and Gamera), you get a sense of personality through the special effects. While Rhedosaurus looks cool, it boils down to just an angry lizard. Sure, it has little details like the tongue flicking and subtle movements of its body, but it’s rather one dimensional and not terribly unique. 

The human characters are all stock, but the acting, too, is generic. Even though most giant monster movie fans will agree that the number one attraction is the monster and the human characters are secondary, even the greatest of the genre have at least one or two memorable characters. Carl Denham and Anne Darrow in King Kong, the trio of Brody, Hooper, and Quint in Jaws, Dr. Serizawa and Emiko in Godzilla, hell, even the kid in the original Gamera is more memorable than anyone in Beast. 

I think The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is a little overrated, despite being such a classic, and the inspiration for so many other monster films, and featuring such great effects. It’s good, but it isn’t as classic or as amazing as other films of its type. It’s worth seeing at least once, but isn’t very re-watchable for me, beyond the stop motion effects scenes. Given the premise, you’d think it would be like watching an American version of Godzilla, but the film is actually more akin to 1954’s Them! which featured giant irradiated ants, and how fitting that you can find both films, as well as Son of Kong and the original Mighty Joe Young, collected in a blu ray box set.