As in his classic The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, director Eugene Lourie plunges us into a thrilling stomping ground, unleashing another Thunder Lizard to stomp on everything in sight. Alarming levels of radiation have infused the water, plants, and skies, and a radiated paleosaurus rises from the ocean depths. In its path: London. In its arsenal: a strength to topple buildings (King Kong’s Willis O’Brien contributes rampaging stop-motion effects), a stride that flattens cars, a flesh-searing radioactive ray and a ticked-off attitude. Left in ruins on land, humankind takes the fight to the beast’s undersea realm, where a two-man submarine crew must ensure the torpedo they fire is dead-on. The first chance is all anyone gets with The Giant Behemoth.
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Video Quality
Warner Archive brought The Giant Behemoth to Blu-Ray with 1080p transfer back in 2019 sourced from what is presumably a 2K scan of the best preservation elements. This genre feature is not designed to look like a million bucks simply due to the plethora of optical effects woven into the feature, but if you are going to have a team preserving this one to look its best, you want it to be the Warner Archive. This transfer is quite fetching with print damage nearly eradicated thanks to the careful preservation process. The frame has a firm handle on depth in the shadows where there is no intrusion of any black crush. This black-and-white feature retains the natural film grain throughout which provides a nice amount of detail to the image. Warner Archive delivered a worthy effort for a film that may have not seemed like an obvious contender for such care.
Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray release comes with a remastered DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that translates this material well given the limitations of the source materials. This is not the most formidable soundscape, but it holds up without many complaints. Dialogue is effortlessly distinguished even in the more action-forward moments. None of the sound effects or the music ever steal focus from exchanges on this release. There does not appear to be much in the way of damage or age-related wear and tear to the track. This is a consistently good audio presentation that fans should appreciate. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are provided.
Special Features
- Audio Commentary: SFX veterans Phil Tippett and Dennis Muren provide a decent commentary track in which they discuss the work of Eugene Lourie, coming into possession of “The Beast”, the visual effects work, the legacy of the film, and more.
- Theatrical Trailer: The two-minute trailer is provided here.
Final Thoughts
The Giant Behemoth is another fairly entertaining entry in the B-movie monster subgenre. The special effects work is charmingly dated at this point, but it holds up better than when we watch a more recent movie with dated CGI. The plot is nothing to write home about, but this mostly delivers on the promise of its premise. You know what you are getting when you seek out a movie such as this, and most will not be left disappointed. Warner Archive has released a Blu-Ray featuring a great A/V presentation and a commentary track from some legends. If this sounds appealing to you, it will likely hit the spot. Recommended
The Giant Behemoth can be purchased directly through MovieZyng or various other online retailers.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Warner Archive has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
