Beginning of the End (1957)

Directed by

Bert Ira Gordon

Genre

science fiction film, monster film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 16m

Rated

NR

Rating

4.0 of 10 from 41 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A scientist grows giant vegetables with radiation. Giant locusts eat the vegetables and then attack Chicago. The movie has famously bad special effects.

campylighthearteddatedsillyslowcheesybizarrelow-budget

What happens

Beginning of the End is a 1957 American science fiction film produced and directed by Bert I. Gordon. It stars Peter Graves, Peggie Castle, and Morris Ankrum. Dr. Ed Wainwright, an agricultural scientist, played by Graves, successfully grows gigantic vegetables using radiation. Unfortunately, the vegetables are eaten by locusts (the swarming phase of short-horned grasshoppers), which quickly grow to a gigantic size and attack the nearby city of Chicago. Beginning of the End is generally known for its "atrocious" special effects, "and yet," writes reviewer Bill Warren, "there is something almost compellingly watchable about this goofy little movie". Beginning of the End is the most popular film at the Insect Fear Film Festival at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, according to the National Wildlife Federation's magazine in 1995. The film was released on June 16, 1957, and played on a double feature with The Unearthly (1957). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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