John Goodman stars as a low budget horror film maker, Lawrence Woolsey, who is planning the release of his latest horror film in the town of Key West, Florida during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Two monster obsessed kids are looking forward to the movie matinee on Saturday, but are also worried about their father who is deployed on a ship near Cuba during the crisis.
Director Joe Dante has perfectly captured the period and the feelings we had as kids who loved monster movies. Goodman's Woolsey is patterned after William Castle and even the filmed trailers for his movies are copied from Castle's style.
The movie that Woolsey is promoting is a science fiction thriller entitled MANT...HALF MAN...HALF ANT...ALL TERROR!!!! And that film within the film is also top notch. Dante got great actors like Robert Cornthwaite, William Schallert and Kevin McCarthy to appear in the Mant part of the film, and for people like me this is really heaven.
Sadly, this film tanked at the box office and that is because Universal didn't know how to sell the film! It has acquired a following over the years since it's release, and I have to admit I never saw it until it came to VHS many years ago.
I love this film and was happy as hell to see Shout bring this to Blu-ray along with tons of extras including the entire MANT segment!! The film is spot on about the time it takes place, and boy can I relate to that. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RELEASE!!
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