The gold standard against which all films were judged when I was growing up. I watched this countless Saturday afternoons on the static-y black and white TVs of my kidhood. Scared the f*uck out of me every time. Especially this scene. I have a very vivid memory of taking out the garbage one night and being scared sh*tless those skeletons were gonna come rattling around the corner and stab me with their big scary swords. Ran back inside as fast as I could.
The scariest bit is when they're all marching, slowly, step by step, then suddenly scream and begin running, swords held high, ready to chop up little kids like me.
All that gorgeous stop-motion animation is by Ray Harryhausen.
7 comments:
Dood, you gotta stop dragging me back to these old classics. I looooved this flick as a kid, and love it now for all it's faults and for how hard it tried. Ditto all the Sinbad movies (the sailor, not the comedian.)
My grandest geek moment? Seeing The Boys fight the stop-action Talos statue on the island of the gods and suddenly making the connection to the "Triple Iron Golem" in the Monster Manual.
There, I've Geek Outed myself but good now.
And I thought the modern world was scary. Its seems that you were more tormented by television as a child than I ever was. Well, maybe not. I was scared of different things. Television shows may have scared you, but you know what scared me? Stoker- Dracula. Or even worse- Poe. I could have sworn ever small snapping of a twig in the dark was a vampire or a madman out to get me. But I’ve obviously gotten over that by this time else I wouldn’t be able to write poetic phraseology’s about the moon.
I wonder about that. Was there ever a kid that didn't think Dracula himself wanted to come suck his blood? We weren't just chicken, we were vain. And I'm stumbled into another pun.
Harryhausen was a GENIUS! (Even Monsters Inc. thought so....)
Did you catch the butt-kick to the skeleton? Awesome!
(Mona you took my Monsters Inc comment)
Oh yeah. Stop-action kicks digital's butt. I LOVED this.
Irr, that animated Talos statue is pretty cool (and on youtube as well). But you've out-geeked me with the Triple Iron Golem reference. No idea. D&D?
Vic, the modern world is much more scary than skeletons born of Hydra's teeth. Poe scared me as a kid too. Stoker I've still never read. And HP Lovecarft - he can still put a scare into me. That Cthulhu stuff is freaky.
E, you mean the world doesn't revolve around me? I thought you were all here merely for my benefit.
Mona, Ray rocks. His monsters have personality. They lurch, and lunge, and hesitate. Feel pain and register triumph. A true artist.
Maggie, I did. Didja notice the skeleton that dies when he gets stabbed? Even though there's nothing to stab - goes right through his ribs. Bothered me as a kid, bothers me now.
Nance, I look at bullshit artless CGI like "Transformers" and long for the Good Old Days. Then see something well done like "Lord of the Rings" and realize it's not about the tools, it's bout the artist.
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