Carful Tunnel

Another Thank-Heaven-It's-Done Day
You're getting home late because one day
Your evening commute
Is blocked by this brute.
It's what you'd expect on a Monday.

Donald B. Benson

The Deadly Mantis (Nathan Juran; 1957) snarls traffic in the Manhattan Tunnel.

“Mantis Movie Generates Buzz"

“We’ve done ants,” said some filmic Big Cheese
“Then the spiders, what’s next? Maybe fleas?”
Thus answered his stooge,
"Praying mantis--but huge!"
“That’s it! ‘Deadly Mantis!’ Script, please!"

Paul Truster

And so, The Deadly Mantis (Nathan Juran; 1957) was, um...greenlit.

Gonna Wash That Mantis Out of My Hair

The mantis flies out from his nest
To scare her, yet she’s unimpressed;
After facing the ogles
Of studio moguls
He’s just one more Hollywood pest.

Paul Truster

The Deadly Mantis (Nathan Juran; 1957) peeps through the window at Alix Talton.

The Last Mantis on Earth

 

This great, flying nightmare sees red 
All dates who'd excite him are dead
Extinction is near
It stinks, but it's clear:
No mate lives to bite off his head.

The Deadly Mantis (Nathan Juran; 1957)

Kiss Me Deadly Mantis

The advantage to Mantis, king-size
Unlike ants that gigantic, it flies
And landing, defeats us
Like candy it eats us
Our chances are scant, living-wise.

Alix Talton is dwarfed by The Deadly Mantis (Nathan Juran; 1957)

The Deadly Manners

A blast from the past, out of place,
Is Mantis, the last of his race.
He's starting to pray
Depart while you may
His prayer, rather ghastly, is grace.

Donald B. Benson

A military outpost is attacked by The Deadly Mantis (Nathan Juran; 1957).

Pests in Show

No mercy from ants, things look black!
Disperse, Deadly Mantis attack!
They're creepy and crawly
Eating jeeps makes them jolly
A hearse is Tarantula's snack.

David Cairns

The Southwest is threatened by yet another insect menace. Namely, Tarantula (Jack Arnold; 1955).

Zombie Flesh Easter

It's Easter, give praise, do not mourn
Your deceased savior's raised and reborn
But these dead, now alive
Open heads to survive
And will feast on your brains Sunday morn.

Pasty-faced extras lurch through Night of the Living Dead (1968). Our title is by David Cairns, and is a nod to Zombies 2, aka Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979). We're going to hell in an Easter basket for resurrecting this each year.

Shy Witness

This poor little traumatized daughter
Has endured both her mom and dad's slaughter
Now she's mute and afraid
(They were brutally slayed)
There's no curing fear bomb tests have taught her.

David Cairns

William Schallert and James Whitmore rescue Sandy Descher in THEM! (Gordon Douglas; 1954).

Ant-erior Monologue

Of her fear there’s no one to relieve her,
And few will be apt to believe her;
If she says Dad and Mum
Were by ants overcome
Straight into the nuthouse they’ll heave her.

Paul Truster

Sandy Descher, Waldron Boyle, and James Whitmore in a lobby card from THEM! (Gordon Douglas; 1954).

Entré You

A pronoun from Hell, full of force
This lonely girl yells it till hoarse
While she's weeping and bawling
The creepies come crawling
Over-grown, now they smell their first course.

David Cairns

Sandy Descher screams in THEM! (Gordon Douglas; 1954).

Jeopardy -- In the Form of an Ant, Sir

What more could be found in one word?
Enormous, astounding, absurd!
No mere preposition
Brings fear or perdition
THEM, horrible pronoun, is heard!

Surly Hack and David Cairns

From the trailer for THEM! (Gordon Douglas; 1954). Title by wordy Donald B. Benson.

Them Thar Anthills!

It’s said that a child shall lead them
Indeed, if we’re wise, we will heed them;
When it's "Them!" children bawl
Don't hem, haw, or stall--
We'll run from the ants, or we’ll feed Them!

Paul Truster

Little Sandy Descher, traumatized by THEM! (Gordon Douglas; 1954).

Orphans of the Swarm

She wanders alone on the prairie
Won't respond 'cause she's grown rather wary
Standing stock still she'll pant
(She got shocked by an ant)
Way out yonder, them drones are quite scary.

David Cairns

Sandy Descher makes quite an entrance in THEM! (Gordon Douglas; 1954).

Ant Got Your Toungue?

Them grow, and won't stay on the farm
We know insect spray does no harm
This dwarf, who is cute
Is made orphan, turns mute
And so, can't convey her alarm.

Sandy Descher, the first known survivor of THEM! (Gordon Douglas; 1954). Title by soft-spoken James Finn Garner.

My Dinner With Antre

Huge insects on screens are now crawling
Our skin's their cuisine--it's appalling
Either cease A-bomb testing
Or in peace we'll be resting
All finished, picked clean from their mauling.

Joan Weldon is startled by one of Them! (Gordon Douglas; 1954). Title by Limerwrecker of the outré, David Cairns.

Mean Cuisine

When the scientist pulls off a blooper,
Who fixes the mess? Why, the trooper!
Hoists his weapon and fires it
At THEM what requires it--
So now, who’s for Scrambled Eggs Super?

Paul Truster

James Whitmore, James Arness, and Joan Weldon find the giant ant's nest in THEM! (Gordon Douglas; 1954).

Eggs Over-Eaty

These terrible insects are whopping
Their scary-big infants keep popping
The bastards are hatching
Too fast for dispatching
Prepare, or your innards they're chopping.

James Whitmore, Joan Weldon, and James Arness explore the giant ant nest in Them! (Gordon Douglas; 1954). David Cairns laid the title.

The Plague's the Thing

Don't fall for big cricket or locust
It's all just a trick, hocus pocus
They're ugly, you bet
But bugs are no threat
When crawling through flicks out-of-focus.

Peter Graves defends himself against the lousy special effects in Beginning of the End (Bert I. Gordon; 1957). Title by plague-ridden James Finn Garner.

The Mass Menagerie

Post-war, movies sought a new mission
And formed it from nuclear fission;
They preached, as a warning
Freak creatures a-borning
And swarms of big bugs needin’ squishin’.

Paul Truster


Beginning of the End (Bert I. Gordon; 1957): An agricultural scientist grows gigantic vegetables using radiation, but the crops are eaten by locusts (aka grasshoppers), which quickly grow to a gigantic size and attack Chicago.

Praise the Lord and Pass the Ant-Munitions!

Their queen won't expect a bazooker
If that's not effective, we'll nuke 'er
Atomic..? Wait--no!
The bomb made Them grow!
Yet somehow we'll wreck Them--bet lucre!

Paul Truster and Surly Hack

James Arness helps load a bazooka in THEM! (Gordon Douglas; 1954).

National Ant-Them!

When these gi-ants need fuel, they will forage
Better hide, or they’ll chew you like porridge;
If you're lame and can't run
Better aim a big gun
Or that flamethrower cooling in storage.

Paul Truster

The ants surface in Them! (Gordon Douglas; 1954).

Ants and Raves

This creature defies explanation
How'd it reach such a size? Radiation?
Who cares about sense?
It's scary! We're tense!
A feature-length sci-fi sensation!

A lobby card for Warner Brothers' Amazing New Sensation, Them! (Gordon Douglas; 1954).