Film (3.5/5)

Nathan Juran, a familiar name in the B movie genre, directed many low budget fan favorite science fiction movies. Prior to that, he was an art director for many classics, including Winchester ’73, Bend of the River and The Razor’s Edge. He went on to become a director and wound up mostly famous for the wonderfully inept movie, Attack of the 50 foot Woman. But despite that hiccup in his career his resume includes classics such as The Seventh Voyage Sinbad, 20 Million Miles to Earth and First Men in the Moon, featuring special effects by Ray Harryhausen. Juran’s direction in his science fiction films was solid and stable, but often hampered by low budgets and poor special effects which led to some of his films being labeled as ‘schlock’. One such film, which was his first film he directed in the science fiction realm, was the 1957 classic The Deadly Mantis.

In this sci-fi thriller, the antagonist is a giant prehistoric mantis, having been awakened from an icy hibernation due to nuclear testing, a common theme in the 1950s. The big bug goes on a rampage both on land and in the skies. It’s up to the military led by Col. Joe Parkman (Craig Stevens) and a scientist (William Hopper) to find a way to stop the beast. A museum magazine editor (Alix Talton) is also on hand to photograph the monster and is the token female lead that all the male characters get excited over. This was the 50’s, remember. 

Being a person who grew up being entertained by giant monster movies, I am proud to say that I’m a huge fan of The Deadly Mantis. To me the film doesn’t get the respect that it should. It has everything you can ask for from a film from the 1950s. The film has the standard formula of a giant monster, military troops looking for ways to kill it and usually failing, a scientist, a love interest and a lot of troops acting like they haven’t seen a woman before. The special effects by Clifford Stine are typical of the 50s which has a certain charm to them. The on-land mantis design is marvelous, while the flying scenes with the monster, while not the greatest are still done with a sincere effort. The acting and dialog are fine and no different than any other similar genre picture going on at the time. What stands out to me, which doesn’t get enough credit is the cinematography by Ellis W. Carter. Take for example, the scene taking place in the fog where the cast is riding a bus and the creature is lurking about. This may remind you of The Mist in some aspects. Other great shots of the giant mantis heading toward potential victims are quite effective.

Audio/Video (4/5)

Scream Factory presents The Deadly Mantis on Blu-ray and it’s a solid package. Having been given two previous DVD releases from Universal in both The Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection Volume 2 and part of the Universal Vault Series MOD line, this Blu-ray presentation is a huge upgrade.

Given a new 2K scan the black and white widescreen image is quite crisp, sharp, and smooth with black levels and the greyscale looking balanced. Film grain is present; no DNR seems to have been applied. The only problematic area for the image was the air force stock footage which one would expect to be grainy with severe print damage and not much that could be done for it.

English DTS-HD Master 2.0 is the audio provided for this release and everything from the dialog to screams, gunshots and other action sounds are loud and clear. No audio issues were detected.

Optional English subtitles are available for this release.

Extras (3/5)

Extras for this package are few but significant. There is a new audio commentary with film historians Tom Weaver and David Schecter. This is a highly informative commentary with Weaver and Schecter sharing the usual tidbits about the cast, the crew, the monster and some stories to go with it. This is definitely essential to commentary aficionados, especially if you adore and are die-hard fan of The Deadly Mantis

Another cool extra for this release is the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode 804, The Deadly Mantis that first aired on 2/22/1997. Yes, this is the episode which is also on the Shout Factory MST3K Volume 27 DVD set that is packaged with Rocket Attack USA, The Slime People and Village of the Giants and now it’s been ported over for those who don’t want or really need the box set. Consider the MST3K version another way of seeing the film with “people talking during the movie”, but with a few hundred laughs. A theatrical trailer and a still gallery round out the supplements

Overall (4/5)

The Deadly Mantis Blu-ray release is a long overdue one that should satisfy fans and collectors alike. For those who are familiar with this movie, you are in for a real treat with the awesome picture and sound quality. For fans new to giant bugs from this era and are looking for similar movies to watch, I would also recommend Them! (giant ants) , Beginning of the End (giant grasshoppers) Monster from Green Hell (giant wasps), The Black Scorpion(giant scorpions), Earth vs. the Spider, Tarantula (which is an upcoming Scream Factory release). Easily a no-brainer to pick up! And more science fiction thrillers from the 50s are on the way courtesy of Shout Factory as in June, Monster on the Campus, The Monolith Monsters and This Island Earth are all forthcoming!