Copyright by Gary L. Pullman
In Godzilla
(1954), a radioactive,
fire-breathing, dragon-like monster attacks Tokyo. After being
transported to New York City, King Kong attacks The Big Apple. Other
creatures, gigantic and otherwise, have likewise run amok in other
big cities. In The Lost World:
Jurassic Park (1997), an
escaped Tyrannosaurus rex
attacks San Diego. To be a resident of any such metropolis at
the time of an attack by such monsters would, indeed, be terrifying.
Big cities
aren't usually isolated from the assistance that police, medical
personnel, firefighters, and other emergency services provide, and
they are often homes to a variety of experts upon whose knowledge and
experience endangered citizens can rely. In fact, since, typically,
big cities are served by airports, railroads, interstate highways,
and, sometimes, ports, the deployment of military troops is often
quick and easy. Such cities as Tokyo, New York, and San Diego may
suffer some loss of life and damage, but, in the end, it's likely
that the likes of Godzilla, King Kong, and T-rex are going down and
staying down.
Villages, which
lack the size, population, infrastructure, technological assets,
expertise, and protective firepower of large cities and are often
isolated in difficult-to-reach terrain are a different story
altogether. If a gigantic monster—or a monster of any
size—were to attack, I'd rather take my chances in a big city than
a village, any day.
Beginning
of the End (1957, clearly shows how a small town, Ludlow,
Illinois, fares—or fared—against the attack of gigantic
monsters—in this case, radioactive mutant grasshoppers. Apparently
before it could sound an alarm, Ludlow was annihilated. Its entire
population of 150 residents, who are nowhere to be found, are
presumed to be dead. The only clue to what happened to Ludlow's
townspeople is the barrenness of the surrounding farmlands, which
look as though their crops were devoured by a swarm of locusts.
The
monstrous grasshoppers do not fare well when their swarm attacks
Chicago. Botanist Dr. Ed Wainwright has gathered intelligence
concerning the attackers. He knows locusts have eaten radioactive
grain stored in a nearby silo, and he has heard of mysterious
incidents in nearby communities. When he discovers the gigantic
grasshoppers, he realizes that they have devoured the region's crops
and are now seeking human prey. He provides the expertise that the
United States military forces need to exterminate the grasshoppers.
An electronic mating call is devised from test-tone oscillators, and
the warm-blooded predators are lured to Lake Michigan, where the cold
water incapacitates them, and they drown.
Unlike
Ludlow, Chicago survives, because it is a large city that can provide
the scientific and military resources needed to eliminate the threat
posed by the gigantic, predatory grasshoppers.
The
Black Scorpion (1957) is
similar to Beginning of
the End in its contrast of a
helpless village the residents of which are attacked and injured or
killed by gigantic insects—the scorpions to which the film's title
alludes—while a big city is saved from the predators' threat of
mass destruction. Troops under the command of Major Cosio arrive in
the Mexican town, San Lorenzo, to provide disaster relief in the
aftermath of a nearby volcano's eruption. However, their soldiers'
weapons prove ineffective against the gigantic scorpions, and the
villagers remain unprotected. Military might, this movie suggests, is
not enough; it must be applied in a fashion made possible only by
scientists or other experts.
Fortunately
for the humans whose lives are at stake, the largest of the gigantic
scorpions kills the others. Now, it is up to Dr. Velasco, an
etymologist, to determine an effective way to destroy the remaining
scorpion. It is only after he provides the information necessary to
destroy the insects, as the scorpions approach Mexico City, that the
military can stop them. Using meat as bait, Velasco and his team lure
the insect into a stadium, and the army attacks it with larger, more
lethal weapons, such as tanks and helicopters, than those that were
used by Major Cosio's men. Nevertheless, the tactic fails, and it is
only when geologist Dr. Hank Scott fires a spear attached to an
electric cable into the scorpion's throat—its only vulnerable
spot—and electrocutes the gigantic insect that the predator is
killed and Mexico City is saved.
Unlike
the village of San Lorenzo, Mexico City provided such assets as a
stadium, military aircraft and tanks, and the combined expertise of
an etymologist and a pair of geologists, Scott and Dr. Arturo Ramos.
Scientific knowledge combined with military might and the
architecture of the big city were enough, combined, to defeat the
scorpion.
Some
other horror movies in which monsters attack villages include The
Birds (1963), The
Blob (1958), Carnosaur
(1993), Earth
vs. the Spider (1958), Iron
Invader (2011),
Manticore (2005),
The Mist
(2007), Monster from
Green Hell (1957), Tremors
(1990), and Wyvern
(2009).
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