Suman Roberson
It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.
Arianna Moses
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
Zandra
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
poe-48833
THE BLACK SCORPION offers Fright Film Fans a look at the last work of the legendary Willis O'Brien of KING KONG fame and so deserves at least a modicum of Respect. That said, it's only the stop-motion animation featuring the scorpions themselves that warrants mention: the story is about as by-the-numbers as anything you're ever likely to see, although the always durable Richard Denning turns in another solid performance despite the reworked writing. On the DVD that I saw, there was an Extras feature: an animated short featuring a VERY cool monster with ape-like long arms and short legs and tentacles for tusks. It's all-too BRIEF, but was VERY impressive: it would've made an interesting prehistoric Flashback sequence. Come to think of it, it'd STILL make an interesting prehistoric Flashback sequence- even in Black and White (as I'm fairly certain prehistoric cameras were all B&W...)...
Leofwine_draca
A textbook, cut-and-paste example of a '50s monster movie, with all the typical ingredients including strange isolated deaths, a rampage through a city. Really, you could swap the scorpions in this film for a group of giant ants, or a scaly lizard, and it would still make sense.However what these kind of films all have in their favour are the special effects. For THE BLACK SCORPION, Willis O'Brien, the creator of the original King Kong, is on hand near the end of his career, and he creates some superb scenes with the scorpions. Highlights include a battle between a scorpion and a giant worm (in these stop-motion fests, two monster always end up fighting each other. It's an unwritten rule) and a scene where the scorpions smash apart a model train. And then of course there's the rampage through a city, something which I'll never get tired of.The actors all do their bit but it's the stop motion effects which we are really watching for, and they don't disappoint at all. The scene where the scorpion smashes the helicopters is exciting, but unfortunately there is no pathos to be spared for insects, and this element is missing. However you do have to feel a bit sorry for something that has just been killed by a man wearing a tank top! THE BLACK SCORPION is a generic film with some excellent special effects to keep things moving along. It's an average example of a monster movie in every respect, but it'll keep you entertained if you're a fan of these things.
unbrokenmetal
Scott (Richard Denning) and Ramos (Carlos Rivas) are geologists taking a closer look at an area in Mexico after a recent volcanic eruption. Near the village of San Lorenzo, they find an abandoned patrol car, a baby without parents and later a dead officer. There is some superstition around, a tale of a demon bull who may be responsible for killed and missing people, but the 2 scientists soon find there are gigantic black scorpions on the loose instead, released by the volcano from their underground hiding place. Scott descends into the cave where the came from, and there are so many scorpions down there in tunnels that stretch for miles that it seems impossible to kill all of the monsters...This is one of the great 50s monster movies that deserves to be listed shortly after 'Tarantula', 'Them!' and the like. First, there are great animated sequences from special effects master Willis O'Brien ('King Kong'). Scenes like the fight between scorpions and a worm in the cave or the train attack are great examples of his stop motion technique. Second, the movie was filmed near an active volcano with real smoke in the background, an impressive, rugged landscape. Third, the music contributes a lot to the tension, too. The whole atmosphere works. Unfortunately, the actors remain pale and deliver their lines like in a typical B movie rush, but otherwise it's a great movie for its time and genre.
Hitchcoc
We usually get giant scorpions in old Greek mythology movies (did the Greeks have scorpions?). In this one, the scorpions are pretty cool, but it takes a long time to get to see them. Like so many giant monster movies, we need to wade through the evidence to get down to brass tacks. Farmers go missing, cattle get killed, puddles of venom or some substance is found, or a set of tracks too huge for any land beast. In fairness to the people that can't figure this stuff out, why would one look for a spider, a scorpion, or a praying mantis as big as a barn? The down side of this film is that the dialog is stilted and it is slow moving (we never had a movie called "The Attack of the Killer Snails). When we get around to the arachnid, it is great fun and the efforts to do him in are quite creative. Seeing this movie thirty years or more after the first viewing was quite disappointing. But I still love the stop motion special effects and the post nuclear genre.
