Luke Owen counts down to Pacific Rim by looking at some of his favourite giant monsters…
Kaiju: The Japanese word for “strange beast”. However, the word Kaiju has been universally translated and defined into English as “monster” or “giant monster”.
What did the little girl see that has scared her to the point of not talking or even blinking? THEM!
Before the 1950s, giant monsters was almost used as myths or wonders of the world. There was nothing inherently special about King Kong, he was just a giant ape that man had not discovered yet. But after World War II and the rise of nuclear testing gave birth to new breed of monster – the nuclear monster.
Starting with The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms in 1953, science fiction movies jumped on to the nuclear bandwagon as a reason for their monsters existing. Most famously of course was the 1954 Ishiro Honda directed Gojira, but released the same year was the giant monster movie about radiated ants, Them!.
The reason why Them! works so well as a science fiction horror movie because they chose one of the most insignificant insects this planet has to offer. In the words of Samuel L. Jackson in The Avengers, “Ant, boot”. But what happens when they become radioactive and grow very large in size? Well, the boot goes on the other foot…
Furthermore, the ants are kept off screen until almost half an hour into the movie. Director Gordon Douglas presents the movie as a simple suspense story before hitting us with the giant monster action. This builds up the suspense of the monsters which makes them all the more effective. Giant rubber puppets they may be, but these ants are not to be messed with.
There were a plethora of movies based on giant versions of insects throughout the 50s and 60s but none have stood the test of time better than Them!. And I believe it’s because the monsters themselves are so effective. In the words of The Simpsons, “I for one welcome our new insect overlords”.
Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of the Month in Review show for Flickering Myth’s Podcast Network. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published July 3, 2013. Updated November 7, 2019.
