Friday, June 16, 2017

Was The Spider From 1990's "IT," Borrowed From 1958's "Queen Of Outer Space?????????????!"



                           Despite what you may think of her, girls, the monster in
Queen Of Outer Space" was NOT Zsa Zsa Gabor!  May she rest in peace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                            With a new version--though why--of Stephen King's massive Tolstoyan (though not of equal quality!) tome, "IT," on the horizon, it is time to examine spiders on film.

                              I can recall slogging through "IT," when it first came out.  I still think the book did not need to be that long, though Pennywise, both on the printed page, and, thanks to Tim Curry's brilliant performance, became an iconic character.

                               I am not sure how Pennywise will fare in the new version, but I can tell you, from the moment I discovered, first reading the book, that IT was a giant spider, I was not impressed.  Slogging through one thousand plus pages for THIS???????????  I expected something original from Stephen King.  So, in my mind, I pictured the most terrifying looking giant spiders I could remember, like the one from Universal's "Tarantula!," or the one in AIP's "Earth Vs, The Spider!"  I mean, that one was shown going for an innocent baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Nasty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                When I saw the spider in 1990's  "IT," I laughed aloud!  What a pathetic excuse for a monster; you could knock over this paper mache thing with one swipe!  So, I had to wonder if the spider from "Queen Of Outer Space" had been, or is, brought back for the King vehicle?

                                  True, the 1990 one has longer legs, but, really, they look ready to snap off, for a crab meat platter!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Maybe the 1958 spider grew in 32 years!  Or maybe they just attached longer legs to its body frame!

                                   In either case, both creatures are pathetic!  So, how will this be handled in 2017?  Will digitization make for a more terrifying spider, or will these pathetic creatures be recycled????????????

                                    Because, if they are, why don't other, neglected monsters get their due?
Why isn't cute Cuccumbo brought back??????????  Now, HE had star quality!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      If the payoff in this upcoming "IT" turns out to be as poor as I suspect, I can only offer one suggestion---

                                      Stop trying to redo this story, unless it is to be done right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2 comments:

  1. No honey, but the spider from QUEEN was borrowed from the same director's 1956 opus WORLD WITHOUT END. Spider monsters had to be in at least two films per monster

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  2. Interesting comment. I vaguely
    recall seeing "World Without End,"
    and it bored me for its lack of
    monsters. Perhaps the spider
    appears toward the end, and
    I snoozed off.

    Anyway, as Joan on "Mad Men" would say,
    "Thank you for clearing that up!"

    ReplyDelete