It’s Creepy Crawlers month here at Horror Press, and while there may be something creepier, there’s certainly nothing crawlier than one of my favorite subgenres of the 1950s: the giant nuclear bug movie. Name a creepy crawler. An insect, an arachnid, four legs, six legs, eight legs, a hundred… If it exists, somewhere in 1950s cinema it has been irradiated, grown to terrifying size, and crushed puny little humans beneath its mighty, composited feet. On this month’s Horror 101, we’re here to give you a quick and dirty breakdown of the who, what, and why behind this towering titan of science fiction tropes.

Why Were 1950s Sci-Fi Movies Obsessed with Radiation?

Wouldn’t you be obsessed with radiation if you were living in the years after the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan at the end of World War II? Sure, in America, plenty of people at the time were pretty pleased with themselves about said atrocity. But those concerns were nevertheless ever-present. Did the testing we performed to put the bomb together already plant the seed of our own destruction in our soil, water, and DNA? Will other countries pick up on what we did and, in return, split the atom on our smug asses? These fears have carried on into the modern era, of course, but the ongoing Cold War stoked those tensions to a fever pitch in the 1950s.

It might seem unlikely that people flocked to see movies about scientists tampering in God’s domain and having their nuclear testing go wrong and bite them in the ass. Or the torso. Or the head. However, like many a good horror movie, those giant nuclear bug titles provoked a reaction by playing into those fears, only to have the intrepid heroes solve them, neutralize the threat, and probably mack on a sexy lady scientist at some point in the process. Or, more likely, mack on a sexy lady who’s the daughter of a scientist – the 1950s weren’t exactly a haven of progressive virtue. 

Whatever the case, those movies poke at the wound a little bit, only to bandage it up and tie a little bow around it by the end. They offered the same cathartic experiences as horror stories throughout time, allowing audiences a glimpse into their deepest fears just long enough for them to begin to cope with them.

What Are Some Key Giant Nuclear Bug Movies?

Them! (1954, dir. Gordon Douglas) – Them!, which follows giant ants rampaging around New Mexico, isn’t fucking around. It literally ends with a character more or less staring into the camera and wondering what other horrors the Trinity test and ongoing nuclear testing may have unleashed that we are as yet unaware of.

Tarantula (1955, dir. Jack Arnold) – Arnold didn’t direct too much else under the giant nuclear bug territory, but he did helm It Came from Outer Space, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and The Incredible Shrinking Man, so when he talks, you listen. The titular tarantula that took to the hills has been embiggened thanks to tests attempting to use a radioactive element to create an artificial super-nutrient, showcasing how even the best intentions can lead to destruction and chaos. Oppenheimer who?

Beginning of the End (1957, dir. Bert I. Gordon) – This schlocky but entertaining venture follows USDA testing of radioactive fertilizer causing a cloud of giant locusts to tear their way through Illinois. Keep an eye on this Bert I. Gordon fellow. The notorious B.I.G. made plenty of giant movies, nuclear movies, and bug movies, though not always at the same time, including King Dinosaur (1955), The Cyclops (1957), The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), War of the Colossal Beast (1958), The Spider (1958), Village of the Giants (1965), The Food of the Gods (1976), and Empire of the Ants (1977).

Monster from Green Hell (1957, dir. Kenneth G. Crane) – The giant wasps here are exposed to cosmic radiation. I’ve decided that this premise does count for the list, because even though our scientific hubris didn’t come from exposing the wasps to radiation on purpose, we still sent wasps up to space in the first place, which seems like a silly idea if you ask me.

Mothra (1961, dir. Honda Ishirô) – OK, the Japanese monster movie Mothra is a little outside the scope of its study for multiple reasons, not the least of all being its year of release. However, it does involve a giant nuclear moth who defends her remote island home against further nuclear testing. The combination of gentleness and power at the center of both the story and the titular figure in Mothra is a beautiful button on a decade of tension and dismay, offering a way forward beyond mere catharsis.

For more giant bug fun without the “nuclear” part, see The Black Scorpion (1957), The Deadly Mantis (1957), and The Spider (1958). For a giant nuclear octopus, see It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955). For a non-giant nuclear teenage werewolf, see I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957). For the granddaddy of giant nuclear monsters, see Honda’s previous monster movie Godzilla (1954), which of course was already a riff on the giant nuclear dinosaur movie The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953).

Looking to expand your horror knowledge even more? Check out our other HORROR 101 articles here!

I’m an insect who dreamt he was a writer and loved it, but now that dream is over… the survey answers are in! 

After two weeks of waiting, we’ve finally compiled answers from Horror Press readers all over, telling us what they thought the nastiest, most traumatizing, and by extension, best horror movie bugs are. So without further ado, let’s get into those answers and see who made it to the top five!

THE RESULTS OF THE BUG SURVEY ARE IN!

Honorable Mentions: MOTHRA (GODZILLA FRANCHISE) and DEBBIE (NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4)

I know most of you picked her because it sounded funny, but, votes are votes and you voted Mothra! It might be hard to believe, but The Guardian of Earth was adapted from a novel titled “The Luminous Fairies and Mothra” before she ever hit the big screen. From humble origins, the verifiable queen of the monsters has come a long way, so it’s only fitting to pay homage. 

There is one cheat answer I felt I had to acknowledge since Reader Andrew B. reminded me of it: one of the gnarliest deaths in all of the Nightmare on Elm Street series, the roach motel demise of Debbie Stevens. She’s not quite a bug, but the method of Freddy’s attack involves turning her into one and giving her a gooey, gross ending. It’s quite possibly the most meanspirited of any Freddy Krueger kill, and the fact that it involves the opening stages of a Kafka-esque bug body transformation just makes it so much worse.

Speaking of roaches…

5. THE COCKROACHES (CREEPSHOW, 1982)

“They’re Creeping Up On You!” is the final segment of Creepshow for good reason: the bugs are a show-stealing and skin-crawling experience you have to see to believe. The visual of cockroaches crawling their way out of someone’s mouth will make even the most hardened exterminators shudder, and to think it was all done with real cockroaches is mind-blowing.

You would think getting ahold of the little crunchy buggers would be easy. But Romero’s work on the Creepshow segment was a horrifying comedy of errors that involved sourcing and wrangling an astounding 20,000 roaches, with entomologists working on the film having to travel to Trinidad to crawl through a waist-high pit of them and bring back thousands through customs. If that’s not reason enough to qualify as some of the most traumatizing, I don’t know what is.

Many of you submitted roach-relevant stories that paired nicely, but none were as bad as what reader Nicole R. left in a simple one-sentence horror story: a giant cockroach landed on my face in the shower once. And here I thought I was unreasonable for hating closing my eyes while washing up.

4. THE GRAY WIDOWER SPIDERS (THE MIST)

Beyond The Mist’s notorious ending which we’ve discussed here before, if there’s one thing Stephen King fans remember from the Frank Darabont feature, is its monsters. From the ravenous barbed tentacles of the loading dock to the larger-than-life and impossibly tall Behemoth, there are few we’d actually want to meet. But the insects from Todash space that have infested the town of Bridgton, Maine are the worst of the worst, And none are as bad as the gray widower spiders.

While the scorpion-fly’s venom is like mainlining acid, that seems preferable to the various methods of destruction the gray widower can wreak havoc on your body with. Their webs can slice through organic material like butter, and if you’re unfortunate enough to end up trapped by them, you’ll meet a fate that makes a xenomorph chest-burster seem like a walk in the park: being filled with thousands of rapidly growing eggs. Rest in peace to that MP in the pharmacy. Nobody deserves that.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, on average, they’re the size of a German shepherd when fully grown. Good luck stomping one of those!

(RIP Julian Sands)

3. “THE GENERAL” AND HIS SPIDERS (ARACHNOPHOBIA)

Of course, it’s always the more realistic movie threats that sit with us. The gray widowers are bad, but I can reason away dog-sized spiders as being purely fiction. The leading spider of the movie Arachnophobia and his little eight-legged cohorts, however, are just plausible enough to keep me (and plenty of you who took the survey) awake at night—37.3% of us, to be exact.

We’ve even got a firsthand account from reader Jillian K., who relayed to us a lovely and truly horrifying story regarding her personal experience with spiders and the lessons that Arachnophobia has taught her: 

“Not many people know that I lived off-grid in an unfinished barn in the hills of Tennessee for two years with my now husband. During this time, we experienced a brown recluse infestation IN OUR BEDROOM. The General’s spiders remind me of how you need to approach life in the south – shake out all shoes; shake out all towels; definitely check your sheets; and while sweeping, be prepared to unexpectedly oust a massive recluse.”

Thank you, Jillian, for giving me a lifelong aversion to the state of Tennessee! Send all my love to the people of Nashville, because my enjoyment of the music will NEVER be enough to make me go there now. 

 2. GRABOIDS (TREMORS SERIES)

We can spend all day and night debating Graboid taxonomy if you want, but the facts are the facts: they’re big, dusty brown, and underground. They’re worms. And these worms won an impressive 38.8% of the votes!

And what’s not to love about the Graboids? These kaiju of great 90s American horror are sandworms from prehistory brought to the present day, and unlike most of the insects we deal with daily, a can of Raid simply won’t be enough. It takes high firepower and a lot of ingenuity to outsmart these creatures (or, at the very least, standing on a stable rock). On a visual effects level, Amalgamated Dynamics knocked it out of the park with their craft, using a mix of cable puppets, hand puppets, and quality animatronics to bring them to life.

While nobody mentioned it in their response, I must say that Doctor Jim’s death in the first Tremors movie always got to me the worst. It’s like combining all the elements of dying by quicksand with all the elements of dying by being eaten alive, and your loved one gets to watch! How’s that for “two for the price of one”?

 1. BRUNDLEFLY (THE FLY, 1986)

In some of his last lucid moments before succumbing to the final stages of his teleporter mutations, Seth Brundle expressed that he’d like to become the first insect politician. And if this were an election, we’d be having a half-man/half-fly for president!

Coming in with a whopping and landslide 59.7% of the votes, Brundlefly was the clear winner. The tale of Seth Brundle’s ambition and hubris is a tragic one, and his slow and painful downfall from the top of the world’s most important scientific development is an unforgettable tale—with an even more unforgettable monster as he slowly mutates into a horrific and melty insectoid creature. 

While the film is up for debate as being David Cronenberg’s finest work, the design of the Brundlefly and its execution on screen is undoubtedly special effects artists Chris Walas’ and Stephan Dupuis’ magnum opus. 

The design of the Brundlefly captures a distinct and depressing feeling of both primal fear and pity for Brundle’s predicament and the monster he becomes. It’s no wonder the effects here netted the film an Academy Award for Best Makeup. It’s a legendary creature, and rightfully earns its spot as the most traumatizing bug in all of horror.

Make sure to keep your eyes peeled for the next Horror Press survey to make your voice heard. And for the latest in all news horror movies, television, and more, stay tuned to Horror Press and The Horror Press Podcast! Happy reading, horror fans!