STACK's Ultimate Monster Guide

Size Does Matter

FOOD OF THE GODS (1976) SPECIES: Wasps, rats, worms, and a dinosaur-sized rooster. MUTATED BY: A milky substance bubbling up from the depths of the Earth. Nature’s ultimate revenge on mankind? IN DANGER: A dumb gridiron player, an expectant mum, and the legendary Ida Lupino. SOLUTION: Electrocution? Homemade bombs? Ratsak? A shotgun? Something’s gotta work...

THE GIANT SPIDER INVASION (1975) SPECIES: Inter-dimensional arachnids. MUTATED BY: Emerging from a mini-black hole, maybe gravitic stress had something to do with it? Who the hell knows. IN DANGER: Wisconsin and Gilligan’s Island ’s Alan Hale Jr. SOLUTION: Blow up that black hole.

MOTHRA (1961) SPECIES: Initially a giant egg and caterpillar, until metamorphosis. MUTATED BY: An atomic test site had something to do with it. IN DANGER: Largely benevolent, Mothra isn’t beyond trashing Tokyo in her attempt to rescue a pair of twin fairy sisters. SOLUTION: In the absence of jumbo-sized mothballs, try an atomic heat ray, call in Godzilla, or simply surrender the fairies.

KING KONG (1931) How could any self- respecting ‘big’ movie feature not mention the mammoth monkey who went on to terrorise the Big Apple and scale the Empire State – all in the name of love.

ATTACK OF THE 50FTWOMAN (1958) A wealthy heiress is abducted by aliens and inflated to the titular dimensions. An audacious premise, rubbery FX and lots of good intentions can’t hide the fact this works better as a poster than a film.

NIGHT OF THE LEPUS (1972) Gigantic bunnies go on the rampage in this rarely seen but legendary schlocker. The FX veer between regular rabbits mangling miniatures and a

DOCTOR DOLITTLE (1967) If we could talk to the animals... But really, what the hell would you say to a giant pink snail anyway? Rex Harrison requested the mollusc take his friends back to Puddleby on the Marsh.

guy in a suit for those convincing close-ups.