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BEST “GENRE” FILMS OF ALL TIME (PT 2)


7. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS: I was going to put the Thing in this spot, but after thinking about it – I just couldn’t bring myself to leave this thrice-made masterpiece of paranoia sci-fi off the list. Especially since its themes and devices made Carpenter’s film possible in the first place. With source material so strong it’s been produced to great effect each time it’s been attempted. Creepy as all hell.

6. SUPERMAN – THE MOVIE: Not the most influential film on this list, which isn’t to say that there would be a comic-book film boom to be had at the moment if actors didn’t think they could potentially wind up in something as good as this was by doing one, but it’s definitely the best cast, obviously a grand and appropriately mythic piece of work. About as much fun as films get.

5. THEM: This is one of those cinematic rarities that genre-dom, not just genre-filmdom, simply couldn’t have done without. Subtract it, and not only wouldn’t we have Godzilla but we’d have to kiss all those other children of an out of control atomic age (Read: The X-Men!) goodbye as well. It’s not only a truly terrific and almost completely original piece of entertainment, (How can you not love all that Dracula style mood lighting – even Alien copied it) it established so many of genre’s archetypes (the brave but not so bright soldier, the aging scientist with the beautiful apprentice daughter) that there should be a statue named after it at the Saturn Awards.

Posted by Peter Collinson on Saturday, September 02, 2006 at 3:19 PM |

As far as remakes go, sometimes a good movie can be sunk by an overgenerous budget. An interesting proof of the idea that you can't put a price on creativity.

Posted by Anonymous Anonymous | 7:05 PM  

Not just a great SF film, but one of the best American films of the 1950s. The first of the “big-bug” sub-genre is constructed like a murder mystery/police procedural in its first half; like a rousing war film in the second. Ted Sherdeman and Russell Hughes’s script is distinguished by impeccable construction, smart dialogue, and sympathetic, believable characterizations. Unusually skilled cast includes James Whitmore, Jim Arness, Edmund Gwenn, Onslow Stevens, little Sandy Descher, and Joan Weldon (who spent most of her brief career in Westerns). Exceptionally well directed by Gordon Douglas; gorgeous monochrome photography by WB vet Sid Hickox on locations ranging from the New Mexico desert to the claustrophobic storm drains beneath Los Angeles. (Thankfully, an initial decision to shoot the film in color was abandoned for budgetary reasons.) Many moments have the visual power and unease of the greatest films noir. Fabulous full-size ants by mechanical effects expert Dick Smith (not the noted makeup artist of the same name). Tense, masculine score by Bronislau Kaper. This was WB’s top-grossing picture of 1954.

Posted by Anonymous Anonymous | 8:41 AM  

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