Creature Double Feature Club

Join us as we explore the golden age of B-movie schlock with a mix of deep-dive trivia, humorous commentary, and pure nostalgic appreciation for practical effects:

• The Spider (1958): Discover what happens when a massive tarantula is accidentally awakened by teenagers, inadvertently gets knocked out by DDT, and is subsequently revived in a high school gymnasium by the power of rock 'n' roll!
• The Giant Gila Monster (1959): Follow along as a heroic teenager and his hot-rod gang battle a massive mutated lizard terrorizing a rural Texas town.
• The Killer Shrews (1959): Hold onto your seats in a remote, storm-battered island house while a stranded ship captain and a group of scientists fight for survival against voracious, oversized shrews.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Dad Bot of Horror. I'm your host, Butch Barr, and this week I actually have a guest, not a co-host, but a guest. So my guest today, I think, is the best first guest that I have on here. Um, it is the person that started my road uh through the horror movie industry, through the movies and whatnot. It is my mother, Cheryl. Say hi, mom.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Hello.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

So, all right, so we will get back to her again. She did say hello to us, which was very nice. So I'm going to start with my normal house housekeeping here. So I have seen four horror movies. I'm sorry, five horror movies since the last time I had an episode. The first one is called The Yeti from 2026. It's like a horror movie that is like a 50s adventure film. Um, and I'll give it a six out of ten. It was pretty good. I liked it. Um, Do Not Enter, also from 2026. Um, it's basically a haunted house movie. People go to a house they place they shouldn't be, hence, do not enter. Um, and again, I like this one too. I give it a six out of ten. Beast of War. This is from 2025, and this is a World War II shark movie. So I like World War II movies and I like shark movies. Um, and I like this movie, I'll give it a six out of ten. They will kill you, which is basically ready or not, but it has Zazzy beats instead of Samara Weaving, and I give it a six out of ten. I like this one too. And the last movie is called Dummy, it's from 2025. It's a movie that I did support on uh Indiegogo. It is a not great movie. Um, I give it uh I'll go with three out of ten. So uh the three movies that we're gonna discuss, I can tell you if you don't want to just sit through a movie um that may be not so great. All three films are also located on Mystery Science Theater 3000, if you'd rather watch them there. So, movie number one is Earth versus the Spider from 1958. You can find it on Prime, AMC Plus, Shout Factory, Fossum, Plex, Pluto TV, and Tooby Toobie. A production company is Santa Rose Productions. The director is Bert I. Gordon, Ryder, Laszlo Gorog, I have no idea how to pronounce that name, George Worthing Yates, and Bert I. Gordon. Uh, for those of you who don't know, Bert I. Gordon is known for making terrible movies. Um, starring Ed Kemmer, June Kenny, Eugene Person, uh, the plot, teenagers from a Euro community, rural community, sorry, and their high school science teacher joined forces to battle a giant mutant spider. Um, why this movie? Um basically, uh, it was picked because of my guest, um, a movie from kind of her time, her generation, and ones that she could also see on the streaming services that she has. How did I see it for the first time? I'm pretty sure I saw it for the first time with her on a Saturday afternoon uh during Creature Double Feature. And there's no favorite kill, none of these will have them, probably because this was a 50s. They really didn't get into the whole killing thing, they didn't really show a lot of that stuff. So, mom, what did you think of the movie?

SPEAKER_00 3:41

I sort of remember it when we saw it before on that Saturday afternoon, but I had to be reminder because it's been so long ago. Uh, but it it was alright. I I've six out of ten.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Really? Okay. So I am actually a fan of this movie, and it it might be more because of remembering watching it with you than the actual film itself, because it is it isn't, I mean, it's it just kind of plods along. It's sure it's got a giant spider in it, but a lot of the other stuff going on is just weird. Um, so the special effects, I had asked dad one time, I forget what movie dad and I were watching, and it was it was one of these old hard movies he happened to have it on. Uh it was on, and I said to him, It's like, so when you saw this, did you did you ever see it like back before, like in the did you ever see it like in the 50s and the 60s when you were younger? Did you see this before? Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

No, I was never allowed.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Okay. All right, we'll get back to that. Um, so just an interesting fact, it was originally filmed as The Spider. Um, the title was changed uh to Earth versus the Spider before completion, and that's how it appears on the film itself. But then when the movie The Fly came out, um, it became such a huge hit that American International Pictures switched the advertising back to the simpler The Spider to cash in on the insect themed success. But the screen, when you watch the movie, the on title, the the on-screen title is still um um The Earth The Earth versus the Spider. Thank you. Um, some interesting other things. Some of the cave interiors used were just blown-up photos from Cowsbrad Caverns National Park in New Mexico. And I don't know if you notice this when you watch this, um, you almost have to know. So Bird Eye Gordon made a lot of these movies back in the 50s. And for this particular one, there's a kid in the movie that's work, works at a uh his dad owns a movie theater. And the movie that is playing at the time, I think that's coming down, is The Amazing Colossal Man that was also produced by Bird Eye Gordon. And the new movie that's coming into the theater was called Um, he just said it was about puppet people, and the movie he's referring to as Attack of the Puppet uh people. Say that a few times, Tass, Attack of the Puppet People. Uh that's another Bird Eye Gordon film. So he was really cashing in on his own films and that. So you had said before your parents didn't let you see that kind of movie.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

No.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

So how did you get into horror movies then?

SPEAKER_00 6:26

I don't know. I have no idea. I might have just turned on the TV and it was on and I liked it, and I like horror movies. What can I say?

SPEAKER_01 6:38

So Mama Papa. No, not not into that at all. No, see, I always assumed it was because of their age, like as they got older, they got less into them. I thought it was more their age versus them themselves.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

No, we watched uh Lawrence.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

I watched Lawrence Welk with them too. So dad never took you to horror movies to see him in the theater, just to put his arm around you and keep you safe?

SPEAKER_00 7:03

No, we we really couldn't afford to go.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Oh interesting, okay. We couldn't so you do you even remember the first one you saw?

SPEAKER_00 7:15

No.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

No, but you mentioned the fly. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Yeah, I didn't I didn't do that one yet. Oh, no, no, no. This is the one with Vincent Price. Oh the original fly from Jeff Goldblum. Now that was in that was uh that was in the 80s. No, this was from 1958, the fly with Vincent Price. That's excellent.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

I saw that one.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

You had to have. If not, you'll be able to find it somewhere. It's good. Yeah, it's good. It's, I mean, it's in comparison to Jeff Goldblum's version. I mean, it was a 50s, so it was a slow burn. It's uh it's very storytelly. And like by the time the shock of the concept of the flight comes along, the movie's almost over. So it's just what it's it was the time period. Yeah, you know, back in the 50s, you weren't gonna see blood shooting all over the place and stuff like that. It was very much about the stories and the characters, and a lot of these movies, the next two I'm gonna get into, they were made to go into drive-in theaters. Because, like, you know, the 50s that starts to be the drive-in theater time, you know.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Not allowed to go to a drive-in.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Well, you shouldn't have been. That's a makeout place. Graduate high school.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

That night we went to a drive-in movie.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

What'd you see?

SPEAKER_00 8:31

Oh, I don't know. That was so long ago.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Okay, you know, don't worry about it. It's okay. All right, so I'm gonna go to movie number two, which is the giant gila monster. And again, I don't think I did say it before because I was so excited to have a guest. This is season one, episode 21. So again, movie number two is the giant gila monster from 1959. You can find it on Prime, Fandor, MGM Plus, Fossum, Flex, Pluto TV, Roku, and Tube. You can find it anywhere, apparently. Um, production company Hollywood Pictures Corporation. Do not get that confused with Hollywood Pictures from like the 80s and 90s and 2000s. That that's that's not the same thing. The director, Ray Kellogg. The writers, Ray Kellogg and Jay Sims. Um, it stars Don Sullivan, Fred Graham, and Lisa Simone. So the plot: a giant lizard terrorizes a rural Texas community, and a heroic teenager attempts to destroy the creature. That is the simplest version of this plot that could have ever been. That that that's that's I mean, it covers it. But uh, yeah. So, why this movie again? Um, this is a movie from you know the 50s. Um, and uh she could find it on her streaming services, which was nice. And again, there is a great version of this on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Like, I probably have seen the version on there 10 times because it's hilarious. They they really, they really, and and from that show, it's actually it's funny, from that particular program. Sometimes you learn about movie making by mistake. You know, like a lot of these movies, they pad things, and it's just they put in stuff to try to get it to make a decent time. Now, this movie's probably like an hour and 10 minutes. Um, and again, it was this was definitely made for a drive-in. But something you learn about this is what they call, I think it's called blocking. So you have characters on in the in the scene, and you're you're putting them on the screen together, and the director's looking, and and if they're just standing there, just straight up and down, it looks boring. The scene looks boring, it doesn't look natural. So, this particular director, his big thing was they put their leg up on something, and it's hilarious. If you think when you watch movies, like some of these older bad movies, and you watch a person, the only move they do is they put their leg up on something, like they they put their foot up on a stool, they put their foot up on this. It's hilarious, but it's it's it's what the director told them to do to make it look more natural, but in most cases it looks much more unnatural. Anyway, um, so how did I see it for the first time? Again, I'm pretty sure I watched it with you. I know for a fact I saw this with you. I know. I remembered laying on the floor when the giant gila monster goes through the bar, goes through the barn. I remember it. Um it's so cheesy when I see it now. Yeah, but I just remember it like it was just so awesome to me at the time. Like it was just such a great part of the movie. Again, there's no favorite kills in this. It's not, it was in the 50s. You see, like there's one part, you know, guy's driving in his car, and the thing destroys a car. You just see, you know, he screams and put his hands up over his face, and that's it. It's not, it's there's nothing to it. So, what'd you think of the movie? Mom.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

Well, to when you compare to this in the 50s and the ones of today, these are so mild. I mean, they're not scary to me anymore when they were when we were watching them. But yeah, as as per today, these are not very slow-moving movies.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Yeah, and that's and that's okay. You I mean, they're still enjoyable. You can still watch these. I I can tell you quite honestly, that movie Dummy that I brought up earlier that was made last year. And it moves slower than than the I I could watch the giant gill of monster a hundred times more, a hundred times before I'd watch Dummy again. Yeah, no, before I'd watch Dummy again, because even though it's newer, they just I don't I don't understand because quite frankly, I know they spent more on the movie Dummy than was spent on this giant gheela monster movie. They had to have. And but it's just there, there's something about it. And and again, I I do love this movie. I think it's a lot of fun, I think it's very simple, and I think there's a pleasure in that watching that. Um, to me, this movie has seemed to be about the giant gheela monster as a side note, because I don't, I mean, you did just see the movie. It had a lot to do with the cars they were driving. Those were sweet rides.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Those were I mean, for the 50s, yeah, those were neat uh rides.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Yeah, I mean, those were awesome. Hot rods, hot rods. They were they were hot rods. If you if you like looking at hot rods from the 50s, you should watch this movie because they're all over the place. Yeah, it's really neat. And singing. The lead actor in this movie sings a lot. He's there's like at least three different songs that he sings in the movie. You don't remember that? No, yeah, he's he's singing when he's working, and and then he and then he sings that song to the little girl.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

He's he's like a mechanic or something.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Yes, yeah. Yeah, the mechanic, yeah. And then he sings this the same song at the uh towards the end in the barn. Yeah, I guess maybe they thought he would have a singing career, but he didn't really have a career of anything, really. Yeah, they did do an independent movie remake of it called Gila with a cap with an exclamation point at the end. It was like five years ago, maybe they yeah, and it still has all like these, like they obviously, whoever made the movie had some connection to a classic car group. Because it's all these 50s hot rods in it. Um, because I think the idea was it was it was basically just a remake, but they were keeping in in the 50s, so all these people are riding around hot rods and they're dressing act like they're 50s and and they're not very good at it. Um but the same guy, the the mechanic guy, the guy that sings, is in the movie too, but he I think he plays a cop in it. It's hilarious. I mean, and then they sing his the song that he does in the movie a lot. Uh um, I forget, I forget, I forget what it is now, but it is it's a catchy tune. And he does they do it at the end of this movie, then this Gila movie, which again it's not great. Yeah, you probably can find it somewhere. It's it's not great. Um, but yeah, it is what it is. Um, so again, I think I said before, I was talking about before, that this movie was absolutely made uh for drive-ins in the 50s. Um, the giant gila monster in the movie was actually a Mexican beaded lizard. So it wasn't even a gila monster. And it was a regular size one that they put, you know, onto uh like Godzilla movies where they put the regular Gilla movie months, put their this uh beaded, beaded, not bearded, beaded lizard on a regular, you know, small set with you know cars that I swear were matchbox cars. I swear when the one tipped over, I was I thought I thought I read matchbox on it. Um that that's how poorly done it was. It wasn't done as well, like Godzilla movies, Japan, even for the same time period, knew how to do miniatures. They did them great, they still do them great. Um, we didn't have it down pat yet at that point. Um, and it was made at the same time as the movie The Killer Shrews. And the point was that they could play these as a double feature. So now you didn't answer, I think you answered this question already. So you didn't see a lot of movies in theaters?

SPEAKER_00 16:46

No.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

All right, and they didn't take you either? I mean, come on, momum and pop-up are loaded.

unknown 16:53

No.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Really?

SPEAKER_00 16:54

No, they were not.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Come on. They were well worked. And daddy worked, yeah, but this was the 50s. You had two income parents.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

I was a teenager, I didn't know my favorite thing well to do. I didn't look for anything, I was a wonderful child.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Sure. Let's go with that. They're not here to dispute it. I am surprised you weren't hit by a lightning bolt. Yeah. But uh okay, we'll go with that. And these other questions I had here, you already answered. So all right, good job. So we will get to the third movie again for season one, episode 21. This movie is The Killer Shrews and made in 1959. You can find it on Fandor, MGM Plus, Fossum, Plex, Pluto TV, and Tubi. Production company again was Hollywood Pictures Corporation. Director, Bird Eye Gordon. Uh, the writer was James Sims, stars James Best, Ingrid Gould, and Ken Curtis. The plot. On an isolated island, a small group of people is terrorized by a giant voracious by giant voracious shrews during a hurricane. Um, why this movie? The same as the other ones. Um, this was from you know the late 50s, and she could find it on her streaming services. Um, how did I see it? Again, I am sure I watched this on a double feature. Like it's another one of these that I remember Saturday afternoon sitting and watching this. Because even at the time, something I'll get to later, even at the time, I could tell horrible like the special makeup was. It was just terrible. Um favorite kills again. I think basically the way people got killed in this movie was the the shrews had like poison, and if they bit someone, the person almost died instantly because of this poison. It's just kind of weird, but I mean, I guess it was the best that that writer could come up with to kill these people without it being real graphic. Because when you're talking about things bitey bitey, I mean you'd think you'd be graphic, but I think that was probably the idea. Let's let's have them get killed and like have it not be too graphic. So, mom, what'd you think?

SPEAKER_00 19:24

I didn't like it. I just they were uh made up dogs. Well no, you know, and you know, if they were uh trying to get at you biting, you could tell those were fake. Whatever it was, it was fake.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

I'm I'm sitting there oh those those were yeah, those were those were hand puppets, yes, they were hand puppets.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

Oh, okay. Is that what yeah yeah, but uh I I know you liked that this one out of all three, but I did not.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

See, this is the one I like the least.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

You said you like that the most.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

No, no, I thought that's what you told me, but no, no.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

No, I didn't like it.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

No, the one I like the most is uh is Giant Lequela Monster. That's my favorite out of the three. This one, and and it comes to it. I mean, it's a fun movie, it really is.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

A fun movie?

SPEAKER_01 20:18

I think it's fun. Just the ridiculousness of it is what's fun for me. Well, sometimes, sometimes that's all these movies have, is how ridiculous they are. Um, so again, some things with it. The director Ray Kellogg Kellogg, shoo, he was actually known for special effects. It's kind of how he became a director. Like he was really good at special effects. We got into directing. I know you didn't wouldn't think that we go together, but sometimes if you're really good at one thing in the industry, you can actually try to branch it out. But he was good at special effects, but these shrews, like you said, were so terrible. I mean, it was very obvious, like you said, they were dogs with stuff glued on them. And that might be why I don't like them, because I love dogs so much. I just felt bad that these poor dogs had crap glued onto them. Yeah, and like, yeah, and it just that must have been a lot of it. And you're right, the hand puppets looked, it was so obvious and so terrible. They didn't go together, like the dogs made up didn't look like the hand puppets at all. Like it wasn't even close. Um again, I said I said before, uh, this was shot back to back with the giant gila monster. Um, the stars in the movies. So Ken Curtis in this movie, um he played kind of the jerk. He played the one that was, I guess, engaged to the girl and just didn't like the the lead actor because she kind of looked like she was sweet on him. But he used to be, he was best known for being in Gunsmoke. He was one of the characters in Gunsmoke. You probably watched Gunsmoke a lot.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

No.

SPEAKER_01 21:59

Really?

SPEAKER_00 22:00

No. I didn't like gunsmoke. Nope.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

Why didn't you like gun smoke?

SPEAKER_00 22:04

I don't know. I didn't watch that. I didn't watch the The Big Valley. Hardly at all. Dad doesn't like Barbara Stanwick, so we didn't watch that.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Dad don't like a lot, does he?

SPEAKER_00 22:16

No. Didn't watch horror movies because he doesn't like it.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

You don't like horror movies? Yeah, you don't like horror movies. Ingrid Goo, Goo, Gould, Good, I don't know, G-U, G-O-U-D-E, however you pronounce that, is Swedish, so I probably should have looked it up. She was Miss Sweden in 1956, so probably two years before they started shooting this movie. But she really hasn't done anything else. But one of my favorite people was in it, James Bess. Six decades worth of acting, mostly as a character actor, but very noticeable role as Roscoe P. Coltrane and the Dukes of Hazards. Like Roscoe P. Coltrane was one of the best, I think, like not lead characters in a TV show, like a like a supporting role. Like you had the Duke brothers, they were obviously the lead, and probably Boss Hog is in another league. And then you have Roscoe, who was the bumbling sheriff that probably since then every bumbling sheriff has been been, you know, uh uh been based on. Um he was awesome. He had uh an incredible laugh in the show that he probably made up on his own. Um, but he was amazing. And you know, I could see because he's a he was a tall guy and you know, uh a tall, good-looking guy, so I could see how you know they put him in as a lead role in this. Um, but you know, he just he just it's one of these guys where you know I watch them, I watch them in these movies, and they're character actors, and I wonder to myself, like, how did they never become like a star? Like, he kind of became a little bit of a star because of the Dukes of Hazard. But I mean, that was later in life for him. That was I mean, this movie was made in in 59, and Dukes of Hazzard's what early 80s. So, you know, he was in his well, my age, probably in his 50s. You know, that's that's not a real good time to start your career in acting. But I mean, I guess others have done it, so I don't know. So, mom. What so what do you think about my interest in horror?

SPEAKER_00 24:35

Love it. You do, yeah, I do. So you have something in common because your two sisters they don't like horror movies, and I do, and you do, so that makes us both like horror movies.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

So I don't know if you I don't know if you remember when we would go to um Ocean City, New Jersey. There was a bookstore there on the boardwalk that sold kind of books kind of cheaper. There's probably a used bookstore. I don't know. There's a bookstore.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

I thought it was just down the road in the same block as our condo.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

It was on No, that was no, that was different. This is when I was much younger. Oh this is when I was much younger, and we would go down with the Hilbert. Oh, the Outrigger.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

So anyway, there's a bookstore there, and you guys, maybe you don't remember this. You always let me buy books as long as I read them. That was your deal. Do you want to remember that? Wow, remember I remember that because I always did the same thing with Mitch. Yeah, I used to I did the same thing with Mitch. I didn't mind buying him any books as long as he read them. And you guys used to get me horror movie books all the time. I had a ton of them. So, did you and dad ever discuss my interest being so interested in horror at an early age? Like, no, never worried you that it would warp me as a human being?

SPEAKER_00 25:52

As long as we didn't make him watch, we'd be fine.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

Dad's so selfish. Um, do you think getting a horror movie so young has warped me as an adult?

unknown 26:04

No.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

You sure?

SPEAKER_00 26:05

No, I think others would dispute it.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

Oh, that's that's not the reason. You're not saying I'm not warped. Yeah, you're not saying I'm not warped, you're just saying that's not the reason. Okay, well, then that is everything we have. Mom, thank you for joining me in this episode.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

I'll come on, I'll come on again.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Oh, wow. All right, we'll have to set that up for some time. And uh thank you to all the listeners out there. Um, I don't know what I'm gonna be doing for the next episode, so you'll just have to find out when I find out. Well, probably six hours at least afterwards. I gotta watch the movie and everything. So uh, other than that, have fun.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

Bye.