Volcanic activity frees giant scorpions from the earth who wreak havoc in the rural countryside and eventually threaten Mexico City.The man responsible for this film, Edward Irving Ludwig (1899–1982), was a Russian-born American film director and writer. He directed nearly 100 films between 1921 and 1963 (some under the names Edward I. Luddy and Charles Fuhr). And yet, despite this prolific output, you probably never heard of him because they were all these cheap films.What makes this film memorable at all is that Willis O'Brien, creator of the stop-motion effects for the original "King Kong", was the special effects supervisor, albeit on a smaller budget. Pete Peterson, who worked with O'Brien on "Mighty Joe Young", did most of the actual hands-on animation. O'Brien borrowed heavily from other previous movies he worked on for the special effects in this film. The models used for the trapdoor spider and the giant tentacled worm have been reported to be the same ones that were used in the famous "Lost Spider Pit Sequence" from the original "King Kong". So they were not wasted after all!

Prehistoric giant scorpions are terrorizing the Mexican countryside. It's up to scientist Richard Denning to put a stop to them. An enjoyable 'giant bug' movie from a decade that specialized in them. It's not one of my favorites of this particular horror subgenre but it is fun. The highlights of the film are the stop-motion special effects created by Willis O'Brien and sexy Mara Corday as the rancher Richard Denning immediately falls for (who can blame him?). For his part, Denning does fine in another of those cardboard hero roles that were common in 1950s sci-fi and horror films. The supporting cast of mostly Mexican actors adds some flavor to things. The amazing stop-motion effects are what most people will love about this one. It's definitely worth a look if you're a fan of 1950s sci-fi and horror. A little slow-going early on but never dull.

If you can forgive that "The Black Scorpion" has a low budget (which means not only is it in black and white, but there's stock footage used and limited use of Willis O'Brien's special effects), it's an enjoyable B-Movie. It's a monster movie made very much in the style of the decade about a giant scorpion that terrorizes unsuspecting humans. There are some scenes of genuine tension and horror, which is always a bonus, but odds are you're coming to this movie because the monster right? How do the Willis O'Brien effects look? As you might have suspected, the star of the film is easily the stop-motion effects, so if you're a fan of the medium it's an enjoyable flick and the special features on the DVD are excellent.On the things I really enjoy about the film is that once you've seen it, you notice clips and screen caps of it everywhere. If you've ever seen "Teeth", that movie about the girl with razor-sharp fangs in her vagina, there's a point in the film where the lead girl happens upon a clip of "The Black Scorpion". The scene she watches, a close-up of the film's monster with its wide mouth full of teeth and its pincers gnashing gives makes her eyes go wide and in a very clever way gives you a pretty good mental image of what her mutation probably looks like.There is a nice variety in the monsters and a good battle scene towards the end where the titular creature attacks a train and then faces off against the army. Basically, the movie is fun whenever there are giant creatures on the screen, but when it comes to the story, it's pretty generic. The film is just average monster mayhem with uneven quality in story and pacing and I give it a mild recommendation, higher if you're a fan of Willis O'Brien or his most famous pupil, Ray Harryhausen. (Dvd, May 17th, 2012)

I saw this once many years ago as a child and remembered it as a scary movie almost as good as the classic 50s bug film THEM . It's not a film that's shown on television often . One late night showing on ITV circa 1978 indicates that it's not a film that can be called a cult classic . Likewise THE BLACK SCORPION has a very mediocre average rating on this site . Does this mean that it's a mediocre film ?The answer is a resounding yes . Everything about the movie seems wrong . Take for example the number of times people confuse a volcano and an earthquake . I'm no geologist but even I know there's a difference between the two . Don't ask how volcanic lava causes creatures to mutate in to the size of buildings either . It makes a nice change to mutations caused by radiation but that's hardly praise The film continually suffers from internal logic and internal continuity problems . Take for example the amount of times the eponymous creature can walk at the same pace as a human then can run about as a scorpion version of Usain Bolt . Nothing about the scorpion convinces and it's not helped by the amount of times the director goes for a close up of the salivating scorpion face This clumsy continuity also extends to the portrayal of the Mexicans . Having seen THE BLACK SCORPION as a child my memory of it was that it takes place in America since everyone speaks accentless perfect English . This clashes with the rather racist stereotypes seen in the film . Mexicans are portrayed as wearing sombreros and are exceedingly dumb especially at the soccer stadium climax where a Mexican army officer accidentally grabs hold of a live 600,000 volt electrical probe " Don't worry gringo I won't miss next time " ZAP . It also features a little kid called Juanito who is one of the most irritating worst acted children seen in any film This is rather dreadful stuff . Some people may claim it's so bad that it's good but it's not even bad enough to receive that dubious clichéd praise . The early sequences of the protagonist coming across a demolished building and police car are relatively effective until you stop to realise that the entire early script structure is ripped off from THEM which is an infinitely better film than this one