An endless array of low-budget atomic beasts, oversized insects and invaders from space assaulted movie houses and drive-in screens during the 1950’s. But it’s hard to imagine any single threat more preposterous that the goofy, winged wonder at the center of The Giant Claw (1957).

Somewhere in the great frozen north (location courtesy of stock footage), Mitch MacAfee (Jeff Morrow) pilots a jet fighter as part of a test run for a new radar tracking station. On the ground, foxy mathematician Sally Caldwell (Mara Corday) and several air force personnel scrutinize his progress. A narrator (director Fred F. Sears) helps set the stage, “An electronics engineer, a radio officer, a mathematician and systems analyst, a radar operator, a couple of plotters. People doing a job, well, efficiently. Serious, having fun. Doing a job. Situation normal… for the moment.” Read complete review…

The most notable thing about the giant killer crocodile movie Primeval is that its ad campaign never mentioned that it was a killer croc movie! Inexplicably, the previews made it seem like a serial killer horror flick (see poster at left). The movie is a decent entry in the “Giant Animals Attack” genre. Primeval so closely follows the plot of Anaconda (a classic camp example of the previously mentioned genre) that it could almost qualify as a remake. In Anaconda, a documentary crew takes a boat up the Amazon. In Primeval, a news crew treks into the wilds of Africa. Brooke Langton stands in for J. Lo. Dominic Purcell (TVs Prison Break) fills the Ice-T hero role. Orlando Jones takes Owen Wilson’s comic relief part, and Jürgen Prochnow fills the memorably ethnic-ish shoes Jon Voight. The action in Primeval is well paced, but the giant croc antics are occasionally overshadowed by a political subplot.