"The Giant Claw" is an adorably horrible monster movie featuring a silly plot, inept script, pedestrian acting, and the most endearingly ridiculous monster ever to threaten mankind. Stories abound about disappearing budgets, Mexican puppet makers, Jeff Morrow slinking out of the theatre when he first saw his feathered antagonist, etc., all of which elevate the movie to the rarified status of one of the "Worst Movies Ever". This is, of course, nonsense, as most people would not bother to finish the "Worst Movie Ever"; whereas, people watch "The Giant Claw" (and its ilk) over and over again. I'd bet in 50 years people will still be snickering over the anti-matter space buzzard when, for example, "Star Trek: Beyond" doesn't even make it into trivia contests. How do you rate a movie that is awful by any measure but yet makes the world a better, or at least a more whimsical, place simply by existing? Metaphorically, HAL would give it a 0, Dave would give it a 10, so I'll split the difference and give it a 5.

As far as totally inept monster movies go, this has to be one of the best - or, indeed, worst, depending on your taste. Packed with wooden actors, actresses who have little to do apart from scream, and more false science than you can shake a stick at, THE GIANT CLAW will go down in history as one of the best "bad" movies ever made. And it's all down to one thing - the monster itself.

To get an idea of how rubbish the monster in this film is, you have to realise that even audiences IN THE '50S laughed it off screen when it appeared. It's supposed to be a giant bird, complete with nasty-looking teeth (?), but in fact it's a gigantic, stiff-moving PUPPET, held up with obvious strings. The bird has a ridiculously rubbery long neck which bobbles about all over the place and makes laughable squawks when it tries to be threatening. Beady eyes roll back and forth in the creature's eye sockets as it jerks through the sky and some wise guy also gave it a tuft of hair to make it look even more stupid.

When the big bird isn't going after plastic model aeroplanes in the sky, it's wrecking cities, achieved with copious usage of stock footage. Think that music sounds familiar? It is. Luckily for us, slick hero Jeff Morrow is on the case and thankfully thinks up a solution to destroy the indestructible menace - bombard the creature with atomic rays which will destroy its anti-matter force field and thus allow the army to shoot it from the sky! Pretty Mara Corday is the female assistant who doesn't really do much but it gives the sleazy Morrow somebody to romance. Also popping up are some stuffy military generals (like you couldn't have guessed), some obnoxious teenagers who taunt our hero with cries of "daddy-o!" (!) and even a comedy Frenchman.

Thankfully, clocking in at 72 minutes, it's only a short film, any longer and I don't think I'd have been able to cope. Want to see a giant turkey - far worse than any of those Japanese rubber creations - destroy a few model cars/trains/planes? Want to see a boring climax which is all build-up and about two minutes of action? Want to see something just so BAD that somehow it becomes good, in a way? Then see THE GIANT CLAW!

This is a truly terrible sci-fi/horror film from 1957. In fact, despite Ed Wood, Jr.and his dreadful films getting a lot of publicity, this turkey is every bit as bad as the worst of Wood. Now the acting is a bit better than you'd find in the Wood epics (such as PLAN 9 and BRIDE OF THE MONSTER), but the special effects managed to be significantly worse than Wood's! However, bad movie aficionados will be happy to hear that it's so bad that it's still excellent viewing. Like a Wood film, it's great to watch this crap-fest and laugh along with your friends.

The film begins with a scientist flying about doing some testing in his jet. However, out of nowhere, a UFO streaks by and his report of this over the radio triggers a panic by the Air Force. However, later, they realized that the UFO didn't appear on the radio and they think the scientist is a nut! But, when soon after this planes start disappearing all over, they realize there must be something to his sighting.

So far, the film isn't great but it's watchable. However, by the time the horrible flying monster appears, you know you're watching a turkey. First, through horrid use of stock film and crappy models, airplanes keep changing mid-flight. Some may not be bothered by this, but with airplane lovers like me, seeing an F-80 turning into an F-86 to an F-102 fighter plane made me crazy--especially since the planes look nothing like each other. Second, through "clever" cinematography, all you really see of the monster is a ball of fuzz for half the film! This is frustrating and you hope that when you finally do see it clearly, it will be worth the wait. Well, no such luck!! The "monster" looks less realistic or scary than the duck from Groucho's "You Bet Your Life" TV show!! In fact, it's significantly less realistic than any of the Japanese giant monsters!! In fact, Big Bird from "Sesame Street" is even a bit scarier and realistic!!! It's just god-awful in every way and might just be the dumbest movie monster in history--about as bad (or worse) as the monsters in ROBOT MONSTER or TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE!!! The bottom line is that this is an absolutely dreadful film that sane people won't like. Bad film fans like me (who are a crazy bunch) will probably love it! All others...be afraid,....be VERY afraid!!

FYI--You might notice that some clips in this film are from other sci-fi movies!! I am positive the crashing Washington Monument scene was stolen from EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS but I also saw a couple other scenes that I swear are from other films. What a hack job!