American monster movies of the 1950s have a reputation for being an hour and 20 minutes of cheesy effects and bad acting. One film though kicked off this decade, became a special effects dynamo, and spawned countless imitators. This week’s episode is on the classic dinosaur-like monster of THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS!

This film was the brain child of the Edison of stop-motion film, none other than the late and great Ray Harryhausen. Lauded for its amazing special effects blended in with live action, this is truly the first of the Kaiju era. Without this film it is possible that Godzilla, Rodan and a host of other Japanese monster movies would be very different.

This film has its ups and downs, but its hard to take your eyes off the screen when the star is presented toppling buildings, rampaging through New York City streets, and eating polices officers whole! Dive into the history of this amazing film with us, and see play spot the differences with this and 1954’s Gojira along side hosts Patrick and Myles.