Insect Fear films (1 Viewer)

[Thomas Newton]

OK, now that "THEM!" is out, what other good "insect fear films" (to crib a phrase from a long-deleted university Web page describing the ant-themed version of an ANTual festival) are out there?

I'll start the list with a few possibilities:

CreepShow (last segment, with the cockroaches)

MANT ("The bad news is that the radiation is causing your head to turn into that of an ant. The good news is that you didn't have any cavities.") Only seen in the form of bits and pieces within Matinee.

MST3K DVD where they poke fun at some B-grade giant grasshopper movie

The Fly (original version, modern version).

 

[Fred Bang]

There's ARACHNOPHOBIA and Eight-legged freaks (I guess).

There's also an ant movie called Phase IV (i think) which was OK (for the time).

Let's also mention WAR OF THE COPROPHAGES, one of the best X-Files episode out there.

 

[Jim_K]

There were many "Giant Bug" films made in the 50's. Many of them were grade Z quality.
THEM! is easily the best of the bunch.
Another very good one was Jack Arnold's Tarantula.
Mothra is a fantastic fantasy film - It's a very classy production & not your typical Japanese monster cheese-fest.
Tremors is a fantastic parody of this genre.
In a way Starship Troopers could be considered a bug film.
Mysterious Island has a classic sequence involving Giant Bees.
I also remember some pretty awful ones made in the 70's like The Swarm & Empire of the Ants.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Didn't see that MST3K episode, Thomas, but I just bet the movie they pilloried and parodied would have to be The Beginning of the End, starring Peter Graves. It's the only giant-grasshopper flick I know of.

 

[Geoffrey_A]

Can't go wrong with the Hellstrom Chronicles

 

[Jack Briggs]

And Phase IV--a vastly underrated, tragically overlooked, and genuine SF film made with wit and panache. Excellent little film. The ants remained their normal size, but their intelligence overgrew their human scientist victims'.

 

[Thomas Newton]

I just bet the movie they pillories and parodied would have to be The Beginning of the End, starring Peter Graves.

That's the one. The ad copy on the DVD box is merciless ("Quick! Get a really big applesauce jar with holes poked in the lid!"), so I may just pick it up.

 

[Andy Olivera]

I've always loved the cockroach infested film The Nest. It has some genuinely suspensful moments and very respectable special effects in the latter half. It's available on DVD as part of the Roger Corman Collection. You can probably find it for around $10 online...

 

[Justin_S]

Some REALLY fun killer insect films that I love are:
MOSQUITO- a huge favorite!
TICKS
MIMIC
THE NEST
Also, the animals in these films aren't insects, but they are "creepy crawlies", and the films are great fun, so:
SLUGS
SQUIRM

 

[Robert Crawford]

One of my favorites is "The Naked Jungle" starring Charlton Heston and Elenor Parker. The film takes place in the jungles of Brazil.




Crawdaddy

 

[John Watson]

Has anyone here seen TWILIGHT OF THE ROACHES? Not so much a fear factor film, as a tragedy. I saw it in a double bill, paired with WATERSHIP DOWN...

 

[Stefan A]

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I know it's not a "bug" film, but there are plenty of scenes with various creatures.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

--And here's the rest (also includes other members of the arthropod family):

(SHERLOCK HOLMES AND) THE SPIDER WOMAN (1944)
THE BLACK SCORPION (1957)
THE DEADLY MANTIS (1957)
RODAN (1957-Japanese, first third of film involves scary giant bugs killing miners)
THE COSMIC MONSTERS (1958-British, enlarged insects invade from another dimension)
EARTH VS. THE SPIDER (1958)
MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL (1957, giant mutant wasps)
THE FLY (1958)
RETURN OF THE FLY (1959)
THE FLY (1986)
THE FLY II (1989)
ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES (1959)
ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS (1957)
HORRORS OF SPIDER ISLAND (1959-German)
THE WASP WOMAN (1960)
THE OUTER LIMITS: ZZZZZ (1964 TV series episode, super-intelligent bees plot to take over)
THE OUTER LIMITS: THE ZANTI MISFITS (1964 TV episode, alien ant-men on the loose!)
THIS NIGHT, I'LL POSSESS YOUR CORPSE (1966-Brazillian, the spider sequence)
SON OF GODZILLA (1967-Japanese, co-starring giant mantises and a huge spider)
GREAT INSECT WAR (1968-Japanese)
THE BLOOD BEAST TERROR (1968-British, woman turns into giant blood-sucking moth!)
THE HELLSTROM CHRONICLE (1971, insect documentary with a creepy host who goes on and on about how they will soon rise up and defeat all mankind)
ROD SERLING'S NIGHT GALLERY: A FEAR OF SPIDERS (1971 TV series episode)
ROD SERLING'S NIGHT GALLERY: THE CATERPILLAR (1971 TV series episode)
INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS (1973)
THE DEADLY BEES (1967-British)
ALONG CAME A SPIDER (1969 made-for-TV)
THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES (1971-British, the locust sequence)
DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN (1972-British, the scorpion sequence)
THE SAVAGE BEES (1976 made-for-TV)
TERROR OUT OF THE SKY (1978 made-for-TV sequel to "THE SAVAGE BEES")
THE BEES (1978)
ANTS! (1977 made-for-TV, a.k.a. "IT HAPPENED AT LAKEWOOD MANOR")
TARANTULAS: THE DEADLY CARGO (1977 made-for-TV)
BUG (1975, flame-farting giant roaches!)
FOOD OF THE GODS (1976, giant wasps and worms)
GIANT SPIDER INVASION (1976)
DAMNATION ALLEY (1977, giant scorpions and man-eating roaches)
CURSE OF THE BLACK WIDOW (1977 made-for-TV)
KISS OF THE TARANTULA (1977)
KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS (1977)
ISLAND CLAWS (1980, EMPIRE OF THE ANTS...except with crabs this time)
BLOOD BEACH (1981, giant man-eating worms beneath the sand)
THE BEAST WITHIN (1982, troubled teen becomes giant cicada!)
CREEPERS (1984-Italian, Jennifer "yum" Connelly has psychic control over insects)
BLUE MONKEY (1987, giant bug loose in prison!)
CENTIPEDE HORROR (1988-Hong Kong)
SKEETER (1994)
MEN IN BLACK (1997)
[list compiled without the help of IMDB ]

 

[Thomas Newton]

I've always loved the cockroach infested film The Nest.

That reminds me of another film: Joe's Apartment, which I think is only available in Pan-and-Scan (). The roaches in that one aren't homicidial all of the time, just some of it.

 

[Thomas Newton]

In a way Starship Troopers could be considered a bug film.

As could "Alien"/"Aliens" ...

 

[JeremySt]

Also spoofed in MST3K episode KTMA #9 !


So were these:
THE BLACK SCORPION
THE DEADLY MANTIS
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
GIANT SPIDER INVASION
EARTH VS THE SPIDER
SQUIRM

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Ants (TV)
Arachnid
Arachnophobia
Attack of the Giant Leeches
Beaks: The Movie
Bees, The
Beginning of the End
Black Scorpion, The
Bug
Crawlers
Creepers
Creepshow
Deadly Bees, The
Deadly Invasion: The Killer Bee Invasion (TV)
Deadly Mantis, The
Eight Legged Freaks
Empire of the Ants
Giant Spider Invasion, The
Killer Bees, The (TV)
Kingdom of the Spiders
Legion of Fire: Killer Ants! (TV)
Mimic
Mosquito
Nest, The
Phase IV
Revenge of the Savage Bees (TV)
Savage Bees, The (TV)
Skeeter
Slugs
Spiders
Spiders 2
Squirm
Swarm, The
Tarantula
Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo (TV)
Them!
They Nest (TV)
Ticks

 

[Mark Palermo]

Since nobody else has pointed it out, MANT isn't a real movie. The pieces of it you've seen were created for Joe Dante's MATINEE.

Mark

 

[Thomas Newton]

That's why I said it was only seen in the form of bits and pieces. The rest of the movie exists only in the Twilight Zone.

What we need is someone to come forward and make the whole film ... the other parts whose rough plot you can probably guess from the references to The Fly, King Kong, etc.

 

[BarryS]

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Especially the part where Indy, Shorty and Kate Capshaw are in the room with all the bugs.