The 1950s saw the golden age of Universal Monsters coming to an end. The last franchise to start under that umbrella was The Creature from the Black Lagoon, a classic which led to two slightly above average sequels, Revenge of the Creature and The Creature Walks Among Us. But it wasn’t just the Gill-man who thrived in the ’50s, as this was also the decade that gave birth to the kaiju film via Japan’s Gojira. On top of Black Lagoon and Gojira, the decade also housed excellent work from Ray Harryhausen in 20 Million Miles to Earth, the cult classic Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, the classic The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, and The Blob, starring Steve McQueen.
But they weren’t all winners. In fact, quite a few ’50s monster movies were extremely rough around the edges. But, of those lesser films, some of them continue to hold a compulsively watchable charm. What follows are three examples of that type of film, the kind of so bad they’re good movies you can enjoy with your friends, even if they aren’t being intended the way the filmmakers intended.
3) The Giant Gila Monster
To be fair to The Giant Gila Monster, its budget was only $138,000 (or about $1.5 million in 2025 dollars). But, even with such a tiny price tag, they could actually have the oh-so-terrifying lizard monster actually be played by a Gila monster?
Apparently not, because what we get are a bunch of shots of a Mexican beaded lizard just kind of walking up a hill or under a toy bridge (with hilariously loud stomps to try and convey just how massive this totally normal-sized lizard is). All of that is just part of the hilarity of this notoriously shoddy movie, which admittedly kind of works as a narrative, considering the characters are actually fairly fleshed-out, including its James Dean-esque lead.
2) The Deadly Mantis
While the title monster of The Deadly Mantis isn’t entirely convincing, it’s the only one that isn’t a total laughingstock. It’s actually a pretty neat creation, as they built a 40-foot-tall papier mâché model with a hydraulic system inside it. Nothing beats practical effects.
However, while the other two movies benefit from relatively interesting human characters, this one’s fall with a thud. But, for monster movie fans, who could pass up the opportunity to see a massive praying mantis climb the Washington Monument?
1) The Giant Claw
Like the other two entries, The Giant Claw features a monster that is supposed to be scary but is instead entirely laughable. Seriously, the giant bird in this movie looks so silly they even omitted its face from the drawing on the theatrical poster (however, all due credit to its designers providing it the ability to have its nares pucker).
We follow B-movie legend Jeff Morrow (This Island Earth, The Creature Walks Among Us, Octaman) as civil aeronautical engineer Mitch MacAfee, who keeps swearing he saw a UFO at the North Pole. While his superiors initially disbelieve him, they come around once the jet pilots they send to check out the local vocalize similar reports before being brought down. After a few more big bird vs. plane sequences, we get the bug-eyed, long-eyed beast attacking Manhattan.
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What is your favorite objectively poor monster movie? Let us know in the comments.
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