MovieChat Forums > Them! (1954) Discussion > Top 10 best Bug movies

Top 10 best Bug movies


To all who love this movie,let's put a top 10 of the best old BUG movie's.
By the way, anyone an idea where to find 'THE DEADLY MANTIS' (exept ebay) Amazon doesn't have on dvd (no vhs) Thanks!

reply

Top Ten Giant Bug Movies. Here's my list
1. Them!
2. The Black Scorpion
3. Tarantula
4. The Deadly Mantis
5. Earth Vs. The Giant Spider
6. Mothra
7. Empire of the Ants
8. Beginning of the End
9. Monster From Green Hell
10. Attack of the Crab Monsters ( I know it's technically not a bug, but it's close)

reply

I agree with sawyertom entirely, but is Attack of the Crab Monsters on DVD?

reply

Good list. You obviously know and love your bug movies.

reply

What about Mysterious Island. Ray Harryhausen's giant bees are some of the best giant bug moments in film history.


I've come here to kick a$$ & chew bubble gum . . . and I'm all out of bubble gum!

reply

So, this is actually a bee movie . . . .

reply

It's not a "good" movie, but it's bad enough to be "good" - "Mosquito".


Hey! This food is getting cold! And I want some more gravy!

reply

[deleted]

Them is my favorite bug movie. Second place goes to Phase IV (1974)http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070531

reply

This isn't a movie, so it won't be on any Top Ten list, but as far as creepy bugs are concerned, the original Outer Limits episode, "The Zanti Misfits", is about as horrific as they come, as those "bugs" were intelligent criminals. I was eleven when that first aired, and it really gave me the willies; it still does, more than most other oOL episodes do.

reply

[deleted]

The Zanti Misfits is my fav Outer Limits episode.

reply

I like Mimic

and Starship Troopers.

reply

I can't believe no one has listed Giant Spider Invasion (if you haven't seen it, it's on TCM later this week: 3:15 a.m. to 4:45 a.m. Saturday morning Nov.22). If Empire of the Ants can even be mentioned here then GSI should have a lock on 9 or 10!! The Giant spiders are VW Beetles in costume and the ingenue heroine (not B. Hale) is topless in the spider attack on the house. I think it was her only film - but haven't checked. Cute anyway!!

reply

Nobody's mentioned "The Hephaestus Plague", about a bunch of - literally - "fire bugs" that swarm up from inside the earth and burn everything up.

And there's "The Swarm", a 70s epic as well as another made-for-TV movie (name? ends up in the New Orleans Superdome?) - both of which use African Killer bees (not so fictional?).

There are worm movies too - "Tremors" and that other one that takes places in the South at an old mansion ("Squirm"?).

There's also "The Strange World of Planet X". This I have not seen it since it was on TV in the early 60s. It's an English-made film about cosmic rays causing giant insects on the ground. I remember a shot where are stuck in a school and you can see on the windows the moving shadows of the big beetles outside. They used real insects for those shadows and enlarged them. Scary!

"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"

reply

Ok, so it's not a "bug" movie, but as far as scary "critters", my guilty pleasure is "Day of the Triffids" with Howard Keel. Probably the low point of his career, but it's fun. Bought it for my mom for Christmas and now my kids are hooked on it, too.

reply

Here is my list of Top 10 Sci-Fi Big Bug Movies & Bugs only. I saw alot of u picked like The Killer Shrews & Attack Of The Giant Leeches which aren't bugs. Spiders & Scorpions aren't really bugs either they Arachnids but I guess they fit in that gategory here. I stuck with Big Bugs only. I had to do Top 15 there being so many good giant spider movies, sorry no Eight Legged Freaks I saw that movie in the theater & hated it was a spoof making fun of the types of ones listed below. So I didn't include that.

1. The Black Scorpion (1957)(Giant Scorpions)
2. Tarantula (1955) (Giant Tarantula)
3. Beginning Of The End (1957) (Giant Grasshopper/Locusts)
4. Them! (1954)(Giant Ants)
5. The Cosmic Monsters (1958) (Giant Bugs & Spiders)
6. Monster From Green Hell (1958) (Giant Wasps)
7. The Deadly Mantis (1957)(Giant Prehistoric Praying Mantis)
8. The Giant Spider Invasion (1975) (Giant Alien Spiders)
9. Empire Of The Ants (1977)(Giant Ants)
10. Spiders (2000) (Giant Spiders)
11. Starship Troopers (1997)(Giant Space Bugs)
12. Earth vs. The Spider (1958) (Giant Tarantula)
13. Arachnid(2001) (Giant Alien Arachnids)
14. Spiders 2: Breeding Ground (2001) (Giant Tarantulas)
15. Arachnia (2003) (Giant Spiders)

reply

Howabout The Fly and Naked Lunch, two Cronenberg offerings that aren't so much monster bugs as psychological bugs..

reply

Glad someone mentioned "Tremors" I have all four on DVD.
"Godzilla vs Megalon", Megalon was a giant bug.

While I'm at it who remembers an SNL skit about giant scorpions invading NYC and the SNL studio.

\\//_

reply

"While I'm at it who remembers an SNL skit about giant scorpions invading NYC and the SNL studio. "

Whaaa?? Giant Scorpions on SNL? What season was THAT? You got a YouTube linky?

NM

reply

I'm sorry I don't even know the year, they were late night repeats on one of the local channels.
I can tell you Gilda, Jane, Dan, and most of the original Not ready for prime time players were in it.
Sorry I can't give you more, but I do remember the scorpions climbing the buildings and breaking in to the studio.

\\//_

reply

I'm not sure if "The Monster That Challenged the World" (1957) qualifies, but perhaps prehistoric mollusks can get honorable mention, particularly because they show footage about snails, just as we see a film about ants in "Them!".

Then, there's the short-lived giant dragonfly in "Monster on the Campus" (1958).

*** The trouble with reality is there's no background music. ***

reply

No one's mentioned "Food of the Gods" by the king of giant creature movies, Bert I. Gordon (B.I.G), starring Marjoe Gortner. Probably with good reason, as it does not belong on any Best of list.
I like Reptilicus!
Also, not a bug movie, but since there seem to be some old Sci Fi knowledge here - anyone know the name of a movie set on an Island and featuring creatures that were like mounds of earth that moved slow and smoked and maybe burned people?

reply

I'm watching one of the all-time great bug movies: "Them!" on TCM. Yea! I know I've long ago passed the "century mark" of seeing this one since I was a child in the Fifties.

Your movie, shawn 381, sounds like this:
Island of Terror (1966)
IMDb review:
In the Pitkeys Island, located northeast of England close to Ireland, while Dr. Lawrence Phillips (Peter Forbes-Robertson) is researching a cure for the cancer in his laboratory, he accidentally creates a "silicate" creature that sucks human and animal bones. The local police officer finds the "boneless" body of a local and Dr. Reginald Landers (Eddie Byrne) calls Dr. Brian Stanley (Peter Cushing), a specialist in bones, who also invites Dr. David West (Edward Judd) to travel to the island to investigate the event. The girlfriend of Dr. West, Toni Merrill (Carole Gray), borrows his father's helicopter to bring the team to the island, and imposes the condition of staying with them. Together, they try to find a way of destroying the weird monsters with the support of the locals.

EDIT: "Tremors" received a mention, but I'm not sure these did:
The Hive (2008)
The Bone Snatcher
Godzilla vs. Megaguirus ~ giant prehistoric bugs!
Night Gallery episode "A Fear of Spiders" (honorable mention)
!!!Squirm ~ based on real, vicious, nasty, little worms ***shiver***!!!
Creepshow, "They're Creeping Up on You" ~ multitudinous cockroaches ICK!
Damnation Alley ~ flesh-eating cockroaches AND giant scorpions (so-so film with freakishly chirpy ending)
The Outer Limits episode "ZZZZZ" ~ sort of... Bees do create plan to take over the world, starting with a queen-turned-very exotic human. (another honorable mention)

Of course, not all are near the "best" category.

*** The trouble with reality is there's no background music. ***

reply

Thanks Myst, that is indeed it - I found it shortly after posting, I appreciate the support!
I guess they sucked bones rather than burned folks, however I saw it when I was 11, and I'm...older than that now.
I watched THEM! today on TCM as well, hence the visit.
Both TMC and IFC have been playing cultish Sci Fi movies on Sat afternons lately. Awesome.

reply

I tuned in, too! Then, I stayed for "The Thing from Another World" and now "The Time Machine", which my family saw in the theater long ago.

As for "IOT", most people remember the Silicates as turtles with very long necks that suck bones out of people. So, your description was different enough that I wasn't positive I had the right one. Good to know that you found it.

Yes, isn't TCM a gem?! Recently, I watched "Equinox" for the nth time, and I've seen some very obscure films. Yet, all are treated with honor, unlike some of those horror host shows. I just hate when they make fun of older films! I want to give them a hard slap upside the head for doing it! There are so many that I'd love to see come to TCM, including "The Asphyx" and "Caltiki~The Immortal Monster".

It's too bad that IFC had to sell out and go commercial though. It used to be among my favorite channels. Even Fox Movie Channel went the commercial route, and they stopped showing many of the oldies they used to. This afternoon, it's '27 Dresses"?! Shame on you, FMC! Since AMC did the same years ago, TCM most definitely retains its title of being THE movie channel.

*** The trouble with reality is there's no background music. ***

reply

"The Fly"

reply

Recently released 'Big Ass Spider' is quite a good movie, in a similar style to this and Tarantula.

-human

reply