THE GIANT CLAW aka LA CARCAGNE - 1957

Dans la catégorie : apparence ridicule mais à cause de sa grandeur on ne rit pas devant lui ! 1957's "The Giant Claw" is considered to be one of the worst films ever made, mainly because of its ridiculous title monster, and respective special effects. But these views usually came from extremely bias 1980's movie critics and historians, while cinema has differently offered far worse monster movie offenders well since then.

But yeah, as far as fifties-era monsters are concerned, "The Giant Claw" still remains quite infamous, and spectacularly so, with her outrageously hideous design, reminiscent of a cartoon vulture. And the added fact that she's portrayed through a very clumsy marionette, hindered further by the aforementioned design.

The Giant Claw, also given the name of La Carcagne (see below), is a gigantic bird that is believed to have been prehistoric in origins (17,000,000 BC), but becomes extraterrestrial after leaving ancient Earth for the safety of deep space.

There, in some kind of 'antimatter galaxy', the ancient monster gains herself an invisible 'antimatter shield' which makes The Giant Claw virtually invincible to all outside forms of attack. She arrives / returns to modern day Earth to build a nest and lay a brood of eggs, while ambushing jets and planes, devouring their unlucky passengers to satisfy her motherly hunger.

The Giant Claw's attacks later escalates to moving vehicles and people in general. And even whole cities around the world, most notably a climactic rampage on New York's skyline.

Surviving test pilot Mitch MacAfee (Jeff Marrow), mathematician girlfriend Sally Caldwell (Mara Corday), and their military and scientist allies, work feverishly to combat the monstrous space bird. First by locating, then destroying The Claw's nest, and later to develop an isotope-based energy device that negates the antimatter shield.

The device proves successful, allowing missiles to finally kill The Giant Claw, as her namesake is the last thing we see of the fallen monster, as she sinks beneath the ocean's waves.

The Giant Claw's alias of La Carcagne actually comes from a character of French-Canadian folklore. The original La Carcagne is herself a supernatural harbinger of death, however instead of being avian in appearance, she is a human giantess with the head of a wolf, and black bat-like wings.

 Quite different from The Giant Claw, but not too much of a stretch, seeing how both are flying female horrors with a Banshee-style cry.

images gracieuseté de Deadmonton et Jojo, merci ! New pics and text by Raf Gonzalez www.enshohmacorner.blogspot.com, thanks !