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Post by Shonokin on Jan 31, 2005 14:42:56 GMT -8
I could have sworn there was a thread on The Black Scorpion already, but I cain't find it anywhere!
I've never seen this movie (shame on me!) but after seeing the trailer it made it look a lot more interesting than I had imagined it to be.
So I looked up the dvd and noticed it has some amazing special features:
10 minutes of animation from Animal World
Pete Peterson's Las Vegas Monster test footage
Peterson's test footage of the Beetleman, whose armature wound up being used for the beetleman in Flesh Gordon
a short interview with Harryhausen about his friendship with Willis O'Brien.
the Animal World footage alone makes the whole disc worth it.
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Jan 31, 2005 15:12:05 GMT -8
there is one at the old board, i'm sure.
the disc is great, no question, and it has a nice cover (unlike Gwangi). you'll love the features on it as well. and the movie is pretty fun to boot!
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Post by Gwangi on Feb 1, 2005 17:50:20 GMT -8
I wonder why that Gwangi cover is so bad.
As for "The Black Scorpion", what great looking monsters. Bravo to Obie and Pete Peterson. I remember a long time ago watching "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids", and recall that there was a scene with a scorpion in battle with an ant (I think it was either stop or go-motion) that was very reminiscent of the scorpions battling those other insects in the cave in TBS. It just really stuck out. Phil Tippett and David Allen, who did the animation, must have surely drawn from the earlier movie to get some inspiration for their feature.
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Post by grenderer on Feb 1, 2005 20:49:03 GMT -8
That Scorpion/Mexican Army battle in the stadium at the end of the movie is really cool too! Lot's of ahead-of-it's-time shots there, including those incredible zoom-ins on the action, which caught me off guard the first time I saw that. I only wish some O'Brien devotee would "fill-in" those black sillouettes with matching stop-motion (or stop motion-matching cgi) that Obie didn't have time to finish. You guys who've seen the movie know what I'm talking about when mentioning those black sillouettes.....they almost remind me of the cheesy SPFX at the conclusion of TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE. GREAT film in spite of this....I love it! Just wish Obie could have competed more with his protege Ray Harryhausen (with larger SPFX budgets for both gentlemen!), and produced even MORE stop-motion giant monster movies throughout the 30's, 40's and 50's. Just my 2 cents ;0) Todd I wonder why that Gwangi cover is so bad. As for "The Black Scorpion", what great looking monsters. Bravo to Obie and Pete Peterson. I remember a long time ago watching "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids", and recall that there was a scene with a scorpion in battle with an ant (I think it was either stop or go-motion) that was very reminiscent of the scorpions battling those other insects in the cave in TBS. It just really stuck out. Phil Tippett and David Allen, who did the animation, must have surely drawn from the earlier movie to get some inspiration for their feature. |
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Feb 1, 2005 22:02:07 GMT -8
seems like i have read somewhere that those black images were a fault of the camera, and naturally, they didn't have the time to redo them.
not sure about that, though.
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Post by grenderer on Feb 2, 2005 11:43:41 GMT -8
Either way.......wouldn't it be cool to have those sillouettes filled-in by a skilled stop-motionist as a fitting tribute to Obie? Todd seems like i have read somewhere that those black images were a fault of the camera, and naturally, they didn't have the time to redo them. not sure about that, though. |
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Post by Shonokin on Feb 2, 2005 12:07:34 GMT -8
From what I've read they ran out of money and couldn't complete the composites. I'll have to look it up in the old Pettigrew and Archer books.
If true it's possible the original mat positive is still around somewhere. So it's possible that if someone wanted to, and found that footage, they could finish the composite. Though I find it to be doubtful a company would put the time into doing that for a B (or C?) movie.
Hey Todd, good to see you around again!
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Feb 2, 2005 15:34:52 GMT -8
perhaps as a supplement to the original movie, since i'd rather see it how it was shot. that's just me though!
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Post by Lunkhead on Feb 17, 2005 18:24:38 GMT -8
I love BLACK SCORPION. Sounds like another disk for my wish list.
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Post by Zone Fighter on Feb 27, 2005 15:27:15 GMT -8
I just watched the movie (rented DVD). I had never seen it before, I ejoyed it, though I have some minor quibles. I'd remove the words "rebellious" and "evil" from the opening narration. Just because we cannot control nature, does not make it rebellious and volcanoes may be destructive but they are not evil. The police dispatcher should have spoken Spanish not English. And that PA warning should have at least alternated between Spanish and English not been entirely in English.
I didn't mind the black sillouettes though I did wonder why the if the scorpion was as close to the fleeing humans as it appeared why it didn't eat them.
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Feb 27, 2005 17:22:36 GMT -8
i'm sure the screenwriter said that to make things seem tense, like the rest of the movie wouldn't make viewers a little jumpy anyway.
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Post by Madison Carter on Apr 27, 2005 10:16:14 GMT -8
I love this disc, mostly for the special features. That Las Vegas monster had potential.
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Post by Gwangi on Nov 30, 2005 15:16:40 GMT -8
I thought this was a good article to put on this thread, (It is about a giant scorpion after all). In Scotland, they found a scorpion fossil that was 5 feet long and 3 feet wide!  news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051130/ap_on_sc/britain_scorpion_fossilWonder how long it will be before we do eventually find large black scorpion! |
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Dec 4, 2005 0:43:49 GMT -8
as long as it's stone, i don't mind.
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Post by Xenorama ™ on May 29, 2009 15:57:04 GMT -8
what was the aspect ratio for this movie?
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Post by Lunkhead on Jun 5, 2009 14:18:57 GMT -8
I finally got the DVD a while back and like it a lot. I don't know the original aspect ratio though - I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to those.
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