War of the Colossal Beast

"War of the Colossal Beast," the sequel to the cult-classic "The Amazing Colossal Man," isn't as bad as some critics would have you believe. It's loaded with unintentional laughs ("Get the picture?"), lots of cultural stereotypes, and a make-up design that is superior to most of its sci-fi contemporaries. The Colossal Beast's first appearance in the film can still shock the unsuspecting viewer, and the end sequence at Griffith Park -- along with the reinserted color pay-off -- make this film a must for any '50s B-movie enthusiast.

The sequel to The Amazing Colossal Man continues with the further adventures of the unfortunate Colonel Glen Manning now having lost an eye and most of the flesh around the right side of his jaw. He finds his way to Mexico after obviously surviving his plunge off Hoover Dam and raids trucks for food. It's along the same level as the original and even though it's cheesy it's still fun to watch.

I first saw the War of the Colossal Beast when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I enjoyed it so much that my father purchased me a 3 minute movie of it that had to be played on a movie projector. Today I own both The Amazing Colossal Man, & War of the Colossal Beast. I liked the sequel better than the first one. The special effects were better I believe. The harsh roars he made always scared me as a little kid. The movie has no real great plot. It did have quite a few errors, but I over looked them, such as Glenn Manning having no relation, then all of a sudden he has a sister. Overall I would recommend watching both movies. I am happy to own both of them, due to the fact that they are rare & not so easy movies to find today.

This is the sad case of the Colossal man, Glen Manning, who through no fault of his own was doomed to suffer a horrible fate. In the first movie, he appeared to die as he fell off Hoover Dam. Now, he has resurfaced, with huge facial deformities and damage to his brain. The problem this time is that he doesn't seem to have the ability to communicate with others. His sister goes to bat for him when the military wants nothing more that to destroy him. It's interesting where he fits on the definition of humanness. That's why the sister is working so hard to get him some help, but he doesn't seem to be able to interpret his world. He does show his compassion one more time at the close of this film. The big guy never had a chance.

The sequel to The Amazing Colossal Man, which has never been on DVD due to rights issues. I saw that one on TNT's Monster Vision years ago. I think I may have seen this one, too. If not on TNT, I may have seen it on MST3K. I may have also seen Earth vs. the Spider and Village of the Giants on MST3K, too - they loved Bert I. Gordon. It's funny that all three of these films have such low ratings (none are above 3.0), because, while they aren't good films, they are nowhere near that bad. They're pretty typical B movies. War of the Colossal Beast actually has a pretty emotional core, and the film's final moments are quite touching. It also has a fantastic opening sequence (Gordon really seems to know how to open his movies - all three of these start off beautifully). We don't see the Colossal Beast, just a truck driver driving full speed, frequently looking behind him and screaming. Dean Parkin is quite good as the title character, who has become a near-mindless monster, half his face torn off, after being nearly killed and falling off Hoover Damn in the first film. Like most B movies, the plot is pretty lean, and there are long stretches when nothing's really happening. There's also a nearly ten minute stretch which I think is just footage from the previous film.