krisfalusyn It always amazes me how so many can be so critical of a SCI FI film from the fifty's that really only meant to offer an hour or two of entertainment and escapism not to throw a world of facts at you and so what the dialog may be long and the effects corny IT'S THE FIFTYS!!! I love the DEADLY MANTIS ,growing up myself in the fifty's this film used to scare me now it's just fills me with fond memories of a simpler time. DON'T try to read too much into this film just enjoy it for what it is, a simple 50's SCI FI film with decent acting and a fun monster. It's no CASABLANCA but it never meant to be. Enjoy and escape back in time to a simpler period!!!ZD

Phil Hubbs Yep so 1957 was most definitely the year of the big bug thriller movie, talk about over kill! After the huge success of 'Them!' in 1954 the genre was alive and kicking followed closely by the excellent 'Tarantula' in 1955. Since that explosion of insectoid goodness, studios at the time were systematically going through every known bug they could to make a horror sci-fi. Any bug that could be transformed into a huge slimy, fanged beastie was slapped up on the screen.This third movie from the era (I think third?), as you can clearly tell, is all about the exploits of a giant Praying Mantis, cos they look scary right! A volcano erupts (as they frequently do in these films) which in turn causes the Polar region to shift and break apart, which in turn releases a giant Mantis that had been trapped in the ice for millions of years. Cue the Mantis running around and eating lots of stereotypical military types until it can be trapped and killed with extreme, yet polite, prejudice.Now, far be it for me to take the p*ss too much, but...holy tentacles this was a fun flick! Yes that's right, you thought I was gonna sh*t all over it didn't you, well hold on. OK so the plot is ridiculous and virtually a carbon copy of every other big bug movie ever made. A natural disaster releases the monster bug or its the result of some kind of experiment, either or. From there on its the simple process of watching a predictable trio of, a good looking bloke, an attractive female and an old intelligent scientist type, discussing tactics to destroy the bug whilst others get eaten. Then eventually they manage to succeed but not before many innocent faceless people have perished, everyone's a winner.The film initially starts out like a documentary for schools or some kind of news reel. It goes on for for at least 5/6 minutes about the military and how they are building this base in northern Canada with all these early warning barriers that cross the entire country. Its all your typical Cold war malarkey, in case the Ruskies attack via the Poles. But this intro goes on and on, I started to wonder if I had the right thing playing. Anyway the big question is of course how the hell did a giant Mantis get trapped in ice (or whatever it was before it was ice), at the Poles (where ever it was before it was the Poles), and manage to survive for millions of years. Although, I guess a bigger question would be, how the hell did a Mantis get to be giant in the first place.The main attraction of this movie is of course the giant Mantis and the way the effects team created it. Overall its a bloody good rubber bug puppet and model combination, it actually looks like a genuinely real Mantis of epic proportions with all the correct details and shape. More importantly it looks quite scary and intimidating, it does actually lend some genuine scary atmosphere to the proceedings when it lurks in the background. A lot of that is down to the correct shape of the insect with its long, thin, pointy, jagged, sharp looking legs, the eerie sound it makes, and those two big silver emotionless eyes. The short sequences of the bug flying are also well realised, the only downside with this, and much like all giant bug movies, the bug roars like a flippin' dinosaur, or Godzilla. The best sequence on show has to be the quick scene where the Mantis climbs up the Washington Monument, that actually looks really good all things considered.The movie takes on a very King Kong-esque approach as the Mantis eventually makes it way to New York, after fighting off some jet fighters along the way (ahem! copyright). To avoid a complete rip- off the big bug ends up crawling into the Manhattan Tunnel to recover, this in fact leads to a sequence where a group of blokes go in after the bug all dressed up in biohazard type suits. This one scene actually reminded me of many modern sci-fi movies. A group of characters all suited up in special outfits, creeping down a dark space with flashlights, all culminating in the heroic final group pose shot when they find the creature. This whole sequence was probably the slickest in the movie and gave it some real gravitas. Alas the ending lets everything down with such a weak clichéd display of male chauvinism as the male lead virtually bullies the female into kissing him...right next to the huge dead bug. Its like they just killed it, and that turned them on (or him), sadistic tendencies.As always plenty of good and bad to be found, the small Eskimo village sequence is probably the daftest and most amusing. And I still can't work out how no one thinks to shoot this thing in the eyes, it has two huge silver eyes, shoot those surely, pretty sure that would stop it straight away. Anyway despite the odd little expected flaws this is still a solid bug flick and easily one of the best in my opinion.7.5/10

Scott LeBrun As far as Universal-Internationals' genre output of the 1950s goes, "The Deadly Mantis" is engaging escapism if not on the level of the classics of the period like "It Came from Outer Space", "The Creature from the Black Lagoon", and "This Island Earth". It's based on a story by producer William Alland, who'd probably been brainstorming on species of insects & arachnids that had yet to be enlarged and unleashed on various unlucky humans.The praying mantis makes for an effective antagonist in this formulaic but still likable and enjoyable movie. It's unleashed from a frozen tomb in the Arctic and goes on the expected rampage, steadily making its way South towards a more tropical climate. Identifying the beast is eminent paleontologist Nedrick Jackson (William Hopper), and hoping to destroy it are Colonel Joe Parkman (Craig Stevens) and General Mark Ford (Donald Randolph).There is an obligatory dose of romantic material here, as Joe strikes up some chemistry with Neds' associate Marge Blaine (Alix Talton), a magazine editor looking for a big story, but it doesn't really ever intrude on the action too much. Just like many other genre films of the period, "The Deadly Mantis" goes for a semi-documentary style, educating the audience on the radar fences spread throughout Canada, and the short lived Ground Observer Corps, a real life group of citizens that had been instructed on how to spot and identify various forms of aircraft.The result is quite a bit of talk, although there is still enough good praying mantis action to make the movie diverting. The special effects are mostly pretty decent, with the rampaging insect coming off as formidable enough, and definitely not easy to take down. The story is also not without a sense of humour, as we see Joes' fellow servicemen going gaga over the attractive Marge seeing as how they encounter members of the opposite sex so infrequently.The efficient direction is by Nathan Juran, a busy filmmaker of the period whose other credits include "20 Million Miles to Earth", "The Brain from Planet Arous", "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman", and "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad".All things considered, "The Deadly Mantis" offers up a fair amount of fun, for fans of this kind of thing.Seven out of 10.

BA_Harrison An over-sized prehistoric preying mantis—trapped for millions of years in ice at the North pole—is released by seismic activity and proceeds to make its way south (to New York, of course), attacking US defence stations and military aircraft along the way. It's up to Col. Joe Parkman (Craig Stevens) to save the day, with a little help from paleontologist Ned Jackson (William Hopper) and his plucky assistant Marge Blaine (Alix Talton).I had the 70s Aurora model kit based on this monster movie when I was a kid; it featured a cityscape diorama in which the mantis stood proudly over several crushed cars; now, 35 years later, I've finally caught up with the movie, and am pleased to say that the model they used for filming was far better than the one I built (try as I might, I would always get in a mess with the cement). But even though the big bug is well realised—a nicely detailed marionette with glowing eyes—the film itself leaves much to be desired: it takes an absolute age to get going, there's an over-reliance on stock footage to pad out the action, and the script is extremely talky.Worse still, despite its terrifying appearance, the mantis proves to be a huge embarrassment to the atomic-era big bug fellowship, a lightweight in the chomping department, failing to chalk up the requisite number of human victims during its long journey south, and equally crap in the stomping department: having flown all the way to New York (suspended on clearly visible wires), the big bug neglects to go on a rampage in the streets like any self-respecting B-movie monster, instead opting to hide in the Manhattan Tunnel where a few well-aimed cans of pesticide soon put paid to his antics. Rather pathetic, eh?