Monday, June 24, 2019

Intermission Impossible



Enough with the giant spiders and bugs. We're taking a break. See you soon.

Friday, June 21, 2019

Roadkiller



“Massive spider runs out of control!”
Someone dial up the Highway Patrol!
The job should be offered
To Broderick Crawford;
We can’t have bugs breaking parole.

Paul Truster




Top: Tarantula (Jack Arnold; 1955) Above: Broderick Crawford starred as Police chief Dan Mathews on the television series Highway Patrol from 1955 to 1959.

Thursday, June 20, 2019

Primitive and Proper



The Doc gets perverted at work
Though no jock, chases skirts, likes to lurk
Is it blood from a fish
Makes him cuddle this dish?
Runs amok, rips his shirt like a jerk.

David Cairns


Madeline Howard (Joanna Moore),is attacked by her fiancee, Dr. Donald Blake (Arthur Franz), when he turns into the Monster on the Campus (Jack Arnold; 1958).

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Caveman on Campus



At the scientist ignorance gnaws
Asking "Why?" he must figure the cause
Can we limit or purge
Our most primitive urge?
Are all guys sexist pigs with big paws?


Dr. Donald Blake (Arthur Franz) injects himself with plasma from a coelacanth, "...a living fossil, immune to the forces of evolution," reverts to a caveman and becomes the...Monster on the Campus (Jack Arnold; 1958). With stunt double Eddie Parker and poor Joanna Moore.

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Schlock Formations



Most of movieland's freakiest dramas
Are improved by these bleak panoramas:
Giant spiders gone ape
And some guy, out of shape
Looking groovy and chic in pajamas.

David Cairns


Scientist Leo G. Carroll (or his stunt double), afflicted by acromegaly, wanders out into the desert in Tarantula (Jack Arnold; 1955).

Monday, June 17, 2019

The Doctor is In...toxicated



One side of his face has been sinking
An eye's out of place and keeps blinking
He's badly depressed
Too sad to get dressed
He hides, in disgrace, and starts drinking.

Scientist Leo G. Carroll, deformed by acromegaly in Tarantula (Jack Arnold; 1955).

Friday, June 14, 2019

The Man From Drunkle



She comforts her pitiful boss
The dummy just sits, at a loss
Though his tests seem to work
A big pest goes berserk
And, glum, he's been hitting the sauce.

Mara Corday assists Scientist Leo G. Carroll, afflicted by acromegaly in Tarantula (Jack Arnold; 1955). Title by punchline drunk Jim Siergey.

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Invitation to the Ants



In the fifties, these creatures prevail
'Cause they're nifty, each big as a whale
Giant hideous ants
Make the kids crap their pants
Although thrifty, B-features have scale.

David Cairns

Giant ants threaten humankind in THEM! (Gordon Douglas; 1954).

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Gore In Store



An attempt to increase farmer’s yields
Proves disastrous without proper shields.
Now the ravenous ‘hoppers
Are clacking their choppers;
Don’t let them attack Marshall Field’s!

Paul Truster

Grasshoppers attack Chicago in Beginning of the End (Bert I. Gordon; 1957). Marshall Field’s was a famous department store in the city.

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Cheapjack Web



In its trap you'll get stuck and...oh my
It'll tap you and suck your bod dry
Once awakened by rock
It'll make with the schlock
It's the crappiest, yucky sci-fi.

Teenagers Eugene Persson and June Kenney are stuck in the web of a giant tarantula in Earth vs. the Spider (a.k.a. The Spider and Earth vs. the Giant Spider; Bert I. Gordon; 1958).

Monday, June 10, 2019

Shock Hop



So this spider crawls out of a hole
And discovers it hates rock and roll
The kids aren’t attracted
To the grumpy arachnid
He can’t help it – he just prefers soul!

Paul Truster



A rock band practicing for a school dance awakens the title tarantula in Earth vs. the Spider (Bert I. Gordon; 1958).

Friday, June 7, 2019

Say No to Bugs



The worst kind of flicks to get bit in:
These cursed drive-in quickies, ill-written
Starring bugs grown audacious
And both ugly, voracious
Blood-thirsty, thick-coated with chitin.

David Cairns


Earth vs. the Spider (a.k.a. The Spider and Earth vs. the Giant Spider; Bert I. Gordon; 1958). Title by naysayer Donald B. Benson. 

Limerick Lexicon: chitin noun; a tough semitransparent horny substance; the principal component of the exoskeletons of arthropods

Thursday, June 6, 2019

Vengeance is Them's



The fashion was critters that kill
They'd smash, grab and skitter at will
These giants bore scars
From highways of cars
That mashed them to bits on the grille.

The Big Bug sci-fi monster craze of the 1950s spawned many films. Insects strike back in movies such as THEM!, Tarantula, Beginning of the End, and Deadly Mantis (pictured).

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Ant Eaters



Their pincers are sharp as they hug me
I wince as they carve up and mug me
They prefer Man to feces
So it's curtains, dear species
These insects are starting to bug me.

THEM! (Gordon Douglas; 1954). Title by David Cairns, who is getting antsy.


Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Delinqu-Ants



Either commies attack, or it's bugs!
Kids read comics, talk back, and take drugs!
We're all going to pot!
It's a galling Red plot!
So moms, give them smacks and not hugs!

Sandy Descher wanders through the irradiated desert in THEM! (Gordon Douglas; 1954). Title by missing delinquent David Cairns.

Monday, June 3, 2019

Do You Dig Graves?



Call for Graves when the danger gets mortal
He will save you from spray that's aortal
When bugs run berserk
This mug goes to work
You'll be saved, though his "range" makes me chortle.

David Cairns

Beginning of the End (Bert I. Gordon, 1957) stars Peter Graves of Mission Impossible fame, here protecting Peggie Castle from the giant grasshoppers that attack Chicago.