Bloodtype Online

    Commander Pete Mathews is the captain of the US navy’s newest nuclear sub and is putting it thru the final stages of a shakedown cruise when the sub encounters a strange creature in the Pacific Ocean.  While the sub survives it’s encounter the creature does leave a bit of itself behind, which leads to the navy to recruit a couple of scientists to study the tissue left behind.  Of course one of the scientists is a beautiful woman that Pete is smitten with almost immediately.  After weeks of exhaustive study the scientists let the big wigs know that they believe a giant octopus is hunting the waters of the Pacific.  As big wigs in 50s sci-fi movies are apt to do they dismiss the results and send the scientists on their way.  Right about this time the creature shows up and sinks a ship, this time leaving survivors to tell the tale.  What really concerns the Navy is that the creature is headed for the West coast of the United States.  This of course sets up the famous sequence of the octopus attacking San Francisco and it’s landmarks.  It is up to Pete and the scientists to stop the creature before it is too late for the city.  But can they? 

    This is one of the most memorable movies from my childhood, with the attack on the Golden Gate Bridge forever burned into my memory.  Though the effects may seem dated by today’s standards there is nothing like stop motion animation.  The amount of time and skill needed to make the effects work required a sort of artistic genius, which is exactly what Ray Harryhausen is.  The effects that Harryhausen was able to pull off are unlike anything that anyone else was doing and is why many, including myself, consider the man to be a genius.  But this film has much more than just great effects going for it.  The story takes it’s time to develop the main characters so that when they are put in danger later on you really care.  I remember being really nervous when I first saw the movie that the characters on the bridge were going to die.  I watch a lot of these sci-fi movies from the 50s and very few of them have this much character development.  Speaking of characters the actors do a great job in their roles.  I have always been very fond of Faith Domergue who portrays Professor Joyce (Commander Matthews’ love interest).  Not only does she appear in a couple of other films like This Island Earth (1955) and The House of Seven Corpses (1974) that I really enjoy, but her character in this film is a very strong female.  This is a very unique character for the 50s and stands out.   

    The DVD set that I’m reviewing here is the new one that has been recently released.  It is full of special features and I want to mention a few of my favorites.  First of all the movie looks better than I’ve ever seen it.  The transfer is sharp looking and the sound is awesome.  There is also a feature that allows you to watch the movie in color.  This was achieved by using some fancy new digital process.  Please if you choose to watch the movie in color let me know so I can come to your house and kick you in the jimmy!  I grew up watching this movie in the glorious black and white it was meant to be seen in and so should you.  The second disc in the set contains a 20 minute long documentary that specifically goes into what Ray Harryhausen went thru in creating the effects for the movie.  The amount of work and artistry that went into stop motion animation is just mind-boggling.  I didn’t think that I could be a bigger Harryhausen fan than I already was, but after watching this I may be.  The other extra that I wanted to mention is a really cool interview with Ray Harryhausen.  It is conducted by filmmaker and fan Tim Burton.  Burton is clearly a big fan boy when it comes to Harryhausen and talks a bit too much, but it is worth watching.  Harryhausen seems like he is a pretty cool old guy and this interview is basically he and Burton just shooting the breeze about stop motion animation.   

    Since I’ve started to review movies for the site I’ve seen a lot of stuff that I really liked and quite a bit that I hated.  This is one of the movies that made me a fan of the genre and has always been one of my favorites.  Still I don’t think that I’m out of line when I say that this one is truly a classic of the genre and belongs in anyone’s collection.  And when you add all of the special features you have a must buy.  I highly recommend that everyone go out right now and add this one to their collection. 

Damn it stop reading and go buy the movie!

Rating - **** 

-John "El Juan" Shatzer