Horror Patch’s HALLOWEEN MONSTER MASH – Day 19: Them!
In this holiday feature, we will showcase the best monster movies ever made during each day of the month, leading up to Halloween.
DAY 19
THEM! (1954)
While investigating a series of mysterious deaths, Sergeant Ben Peterson (James Whitmore) finds a young girl (Sandy Descher) who is unable to speak. As Peterson joins forces with FBI agent Robert Graham (James Arness) and scientist Dr. Harold Medford (Edmund Gwenn), he discovers that all the incidents are due to giant ants that have been mutated by atomic radiation. Peterson and Graham, with the aid of the military, attempt to find the queen ants and destroy the nests before the danger spreads.
This 1954 classic began the nuclear monster movie cycle of the 1950’s. It also was the first big bug film of the era, with many others to follow in its footsteps. None of which were as good as Them!
I absolutely love this film, it’s one of those movies you sit back with a big bowl of popcorn and your best significant other on a rainy or snowy Saturday night and enjoy a really great monster movie. Them! is what that’s all about.
The cast features stalwarts of the genre including James Whitmore, James Arness (Gunsmoke, The Thing From Another World), Edmund Gwenn (Miracle On 34th Street), and Joan Weldon.
I know this is the first big bug horror film of the silver age. But I always thought Black Scorpion was the better movie.