The Monster That Challenged the World

Slightly-better-than-average '50s monster movie.

An imaginative monster, some good shocks, and clever writing elevate this above the norm for the genre.

The monster itself wasn't all that thrilling, and that part of the proceedings moved rather slowly. However, the human aspect of it was affecting, with some pretty good characters and touches of humor throughout. Tim Holt lost his hardassed edge quickly (maybe even too quickly), and Dalton and Hans Conried gave a bit more verity to things than might have been expected. Also the little girl and the "14A" guy were entertaining (even if she did nearly doom the human race with her naivety).

More phallic imagery than you can shake a (sic) at.

Yet another dumbass '50s monster movie

Overlong shocker for kids.

Really typical 50s monster movie. It's pretty much like they spun the big wheel of monster ideas and landed on "mollusks." Plenty of stock footage accompanied by sciencey-talk to explain the monster to the navy men. The monster isn't all that mollusk-like though, with pincers and no eye stalks, and it doesn't do a whole lot to challenge the world... Again, this is pretty generic, without any really fascinating gimmicks to set it apart from the masses of 50s monster movies.

One of the silliest things ever, oh the cheesiness, lol.