
“A new kind of terror to numb the nerves!”
Giants Mollusks are released from the earth by an earthquake and start killing people.
Release Date: 6/14/1957
Runtime: 84 minutes
Languages: English
Director: Arnold Laven
Budget: $0.2M
0Companies: Gramercy Pictures, Inc., United Artists
Countries: United States of America
John Chard
Instant TERROR......just add water! An earthquake out in the Salton Sea awakens the creeping dread, gigantic vampire water snails are on the loose and they are hungry for human fluid! Just about the right side of good, The Monster Who Challenge The World holds up well because of the well constructed creatures and a bit of care and attention to the boffin discussions. Far too many 50s creature features just used a basic premise of creatures obliterating mankind because they were in an odd mood, but much like The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, this picture at least takes time to give us a bit of a nature heartbeat to help us understand the methods of a mollusc, and that alone should be applauded, so we learn while we have fun so to speak. The cast ooze B-movie standards, and that is in no way a bad thing here, whilst the Catalina Island locale sequences are pretty nifty to help salt the beef as it were! Good honest fun that isn't short on creepiness, and top marks to the makers for introducing a very ingenious creature to a truly wonderful genre. 6/10

Tim Holt
Lt. Cmdr. John 'Twill' Twillinger

Audrey Dalton
Gail MacKenzie

Hans Conried
Dr. Jess Rogers

Barbara Darrow
Jody Simms

Max Showalter
Dr. Tad Johns
Harlan Warde
Lt. Robert 'Clem' Clemens

Gordon Jones
Sheriff Josh Peters

Mimi Gibson
Sandy MacKenzie

Marjorie Stapp
Connie Blake

Jody McCrea
Seaman Fred Johnson

Wallace Earl
Sally
Dennis McCarthy
George Blake (lab assistant)
2002