Product Description

Radioactive waste dumped in the Atlantic Ocean awakens a prehistoric monster than can project electric shocks and radioactive beams. After the beast terrorizes the English coast, officials decide against attacking the creature with conventional weaponry because such a strategy would spread a dangerous amount radioactive contamination over the entire country. Meanwhile, the monster approaches London...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16180 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2007-06-26
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 80 minutes

Features

• Radioactive waste dumped in the Atlantic Ocean awakens a prehistoric monster than can project electric shocks and radioactive beams. After the beast terrorizes the English coast, officials decide against attacking the creature with conventional weaponry because such a strategy would spread a dangerous amount radioactive contamination over the entire country. Meanwhile, the monster approaches Londo

Customer Reviews

MORE THAN JUST ANOTHER BIG BAD DINOSAUR YARN
Basically the story goes like this; a Cornish fisherman is found by his daughter covered with radiation burns. His last "word" to her on the surf is, "behemoth," a citation from the bible which we understand means some kind of monster did this to him. Eventually, England is besieged by this dinosaur which as the film unfolds is evidently the tragic by-product of careless atomic fallout in the Pacific. Ultimately, only a special torpedo fired from a two man sub in London harbor can save London and ultimately the world.

Yes, the story line is rather cliché, but there is more, much more.
Around 1960 I saw "THE GIANT BEHEMOTH" many times and each time I was genuinely enchanted and terrified by it. The premise of a dinosaur suddenly appearing and destroying a major city, London in this case, had been done before and perhaps somewhat better in "THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS. However, this was a new setting, England and ultimately London and this monster spewed radiation at anyone and anything within its sight, a take off on the germ carrying "Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" naturally, but still something new. Also, the Behemoth was invisible to radar so its movements were impossible to track as it traveled mostly underwater. This virtual invisibility caused more than a few fatalities including the venerable Doctor Sampson [Jack MacGowran] who was in a helicopter over the Thames trying to get a closer look at what no one who saw lived to tell about. Of course we had to wait an hour into this 79 minute flick to actually see the monster, but this type of invisible sneaky monster becomes visible in these old creature features incrementally which adds to both the campiness and suspense. Somehow after several failed attempts and desperate situations the monster is vanquished!

BUT .. BUT .. BUT .. As the film ends we hear on the car radio that dead fish are covering the shores of New England just as they had in England just prior to this whole thing beginning! The two scientists having just barely survived this ordeal looked at each other rather ominously, and without uttering a word we knew that they knew, that it was all about to happen again! Maybe we would not be so lucky again!?

For a long time I debated as to whether this film or the "BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS" was superior. I have recently concluded that the stories are about equal though very similar as is the acting, but the superior stop action animation by Ray Harryhausen in "The Beast" gives it a clear edge. Although Eugène Lourié Directed both films [plus Gorgo] and Willis O'Brien did some of the Special Effects for the "Giant Behemoth" there are some major visual weaknesses and much less visual air time in the "Giant Behemoth" for the featured monster. Also as I recall one pretty gritty scene where the Behemoth trashes a ferry and does leave some people dead in the water has not made it to video, having been edited out in the transfer probably because it was deleted from the TV version that played in the 1960's. Too much gore?

Well, whichever film is better is now for you to judge.

If this genre [50's style atomic creature/features] is appealing to you, this film is among the best of its kind. The film transfer is very good for a 46 year old film, and very well worth viewing. Nevertheless a DVD, preferably remastered with the lost ferry scene restored would be greatly appreciated and make a more equitable rival for "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms".

Another Radioactive Critter on steroids runs amok. . .
In fairness, the Giant Behemoth suffers badly from some rather ambitious filmmaking that simply didn't have the technology needed to bring off the special effects. The plot line is average for this genre, although very predictable. In many ways, this is a low budget clone of "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms." Still, the film manages to hold one's attention, and benefits from a nasty if not terribly original ending. The Giant Behemoth is nothing to write home about, but you won't be reaching for the remote control, either.

ANOTHER GIANT, RADIOACTIVE MONSTER
Giant Behemoth, and isn't that just a bit redundant, was directed by Eugene Lourie who was no stranger when it came to films in this genre having directed the 1953 classic Beast From 20,000 Fathoms and 1958's Colossus of New York and would go on to direct Gorgo in 1961. Clearly the man liked giant monsters. Behemoth is in the latter in terms of quality behind both Gorgo and Beast from 20,000 fathoms. This creature threatens the shores of England not only with his size but also being able to emit radiation to burn people. The stop-motion animation was done by Willis O' Brien who did King Kong and was Ray harryhausen's mentor. The animation itself looks very good as you might expect but the the monster up close looks a little cheap and cheesy. At any rate the best rampages through London, even destroying London Bridge. The movie was on a very low budget and it shows but it's more laughable rather than being a detriment to the film. The performances in the film are adequate, in fact better than you might expect for a movie with such a small budget, so kudos to the mostly British cast. Not as good as many other giant, radiation-created monsters of the 1950's but still worth a view.