MovieChat Forums > The Beast with a Million Eyes (1955) Discussion > So bad its good

So bad its good

posted 18 years ago by dan121973-1
21 replies | jump to latest

I found myself suffering with the usual case of insomnia when I stumbled upon this gem of film making. I couldn't turn it off it was so bad. All I can say is I made it through about 15 minutes of "Citizen Kane" and maybe a half hour of "The Manchurian Candidate" before falling asleep due to the boredom. (how good can those movies really be?) Yet "The Beast with a Million Eyes" had me riveted as if watching a train wreck unfolding before my eyes. Yes, this is truly a case in which the movie is so bad its good!

[–] Gregoire-2 18 years ago

This is one of the worst movies ever filmed! What the *beep* was up with that mom? "Sometimes I think I hate my daughter!" Why doesnt she get the hell out of the kitchen? Maybe she'll feel better.

WHY would anybody with a young teenage daughter have that mute freak show of a handyman staying with them in their garage? He even has scary magazine cutouts of women on the walls.

Half the movie is some dog aimlessly wandering up and down a hill!

[–] dmh7-1 18 years ago

There is no accounting for taste after all it seems. I am soprry you fell asleep during "citizen Kane" because it is simply one of the most visually interesting films ever made in the United States. I like "cheesy" sci-fi films of the 50s, but "The Beast With A Million Eyes" is easily one of the dullest examples of that genre I've ever seen. When one discovers that those "million eyes" are just the few eyes it sees through, and that the alien is formless (thus saving money on special effects), the rest of the journey is just bad acting and lousey plot. It's not "so bad it's good" it's just awful...

[–] McQualude 18 years ago

Nah, it's just bad.

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[–] nankerphelge1964 17 years ago

This movie actually makes the Wasp Woman watchable.

[–] Woodyanders 17 years ago

I'm definitely in the minority here. I found this film to be quite spooky and enjoyable.

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[–] prp456 16 years ago

I love it too, Woodyanders! To describe it as "low budget" would be a real understatement, but it really is very spooky, creepy, and atmospheric. The first time I saw it I was expecting much less than it turned out to be, and what a wonderful surprise!

I also enjoyed Paul Birch's performance, and seeing the very young Dick Sargent, always a favorite of mine.

[–] OhmsLaw 13 years ago

I didn't think it was THAT bad. It kept my interest. It actually reminded me a little of "The Tommyknockers"(maybe S. King liked this movie) and the book "A Wrinkle in Time", where the concept of "love" is what saves the day at the end. The score was interesting, like someone tried hard to make it sound good for a cheap, grade Z movie.

I thought the creature at the end was pretty weird looking, until it fell over and looked like a monkey doll.

[–] blcmitchell 12 years ago

This whole "it's so bad it's good" thing is relative. What works for some doesn't necessarily work for others. Some people actually like the Transformers series of movies. For me, this one falls right in there with The Beast of Yucca Flats, Plan 9 and the like. I've watched it multiple times on Netflix and get a real kick out of it.

And yes, something falls from the sky at the 40-41 minute mark and lands right beside the husband. Neither Birch, nor Thayer bat an eye. Such professionals!

"Touch a button. Things happen."

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Xcalat3 16 years ago

I know, this is hilariously bad!

When there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...

[–] preppy-3 16 years ago

I agree with the people who say it's too boring to be good/bad...just BAD! I must admit I DID laugh out loud when we saw the "monster" at the end. It looked like a hand puppet!!!!!

[–] floyd_dylan 15 years ago

When the dad goes out with the shotgun, what falls from the sky that the actors totally ignore. It's before he says his shotgun is loaded.

[–] PostmortemG 15 years ago

"I must admit I DID laugh out loud when we saw the "monster" at the end. It looked like a hand puppet!!!!!"

That beast at the end was a gross little thing, obscured just enough to make it menacing and creepy. It´s vehicle also weirded me out - it´s the seemingly harmless, cheesy things in B-movies like this one that give the absurd area of my brain the chills. I wasn´t so thrilled with the other movie on the flipside of the DVD, though...

"Cain and Abel will go to Heaven... if they can make it through Hell!"
-Los Hijos Del Topo

[–] Alienator 14 years ago

I agree. Sometimes "low grade" films, such as The Beast with a Million Eyes (1955), touch on something primal in their natural bleakness. That is to say, perhaps the audience is expected to entertain some fragment of imagination (wow) whilst watching a cheap drive-in horror picture from the mid-fifties?

Hell, I enjoyed it. I suppose one could look at this as a failed Corman-esque (involved, for the record) b-movie, but to really understand a film of this nature one must also revel in that notion. The few seconds of screen time that the alien enjoys during the last minutes of this film will live far healthier in my own memory than any recent multimillion dollar special effects opus.

"Pull the string, pull the string!" -Bela Lugosi

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] EyeAskance 11 years ago

The parts and parcels of this film are of the usual B-movie standard...it's efficient enough, just not very interesting.

Butt out of this or I’ll strip the hide off your cherry picker!

[–] [email protected] 11 years ago

There's a lot of contributing factors that make this film so bad..budget and unions being the most obvious. Corman originally was only producing but because it was being made without 'Union' members the Union threatened to close it down and Corman took over directing. The SFX (such as they are) were done by Paul Blaisall (who played the mutant in The day the World Ended). The alien 'spaceship' was a coffee perculator and the 'alien energy' it gave off were simply scratches put on the negative. The 'eclipse' was hastily written into the script when the lighting technician walked out following pressure again from the unions. Like most of Corman's films it was made in about 10 days.

[–] jjk50 9 years ago

Not surprising the unions have made America the third rate joke it is today. We all enjoy paying 10 times more than something is worth so the poor union worker can enjoy his lavish lifestyle at our expense.

[–] Skoivu16 9 years ago

You're not smart.