MotW- Giant Octopus

Here's a monster that's not really a monster, since they actually exist.  The Giant Pacific Octopus has been measured at 20' tip to tip, though there are reports of larger ones out there.  This of course has never stopped the movies from imagining gigantic octopi from menacing various heroes.  Before CGI was over-prevalant, it took a lot of skill and cunning to make these monsters come to life on the silver screen.  In 1962's KING KONG VS GODZILLA Tsuburaya and co used three different methods for their portrayal of the beast- a real octopus (four, actually) a dead one and some stop-motion tentacles.  I'll have a sequel to this page sometime in the future featuring the octopi from Japan.

They do make good monsters, since they look so alien.  They are also really smart.

This particular monster is from Warlords of Atlantis (1978) and it;s a full sized prop and a smaller model.  It is very effectively used in a great destruction scene toward the end of the movie.  It's prominently featured on the poster, so when I saw the film in the theater I knew I'd be getting at least one cool monster.  The rest of the movie is also a lot of fun.

The movie was released on DVD in the UK but not here in the US.  It's OOP now, and people want ridiculous prices for it.  Perhaps with At the Earth's Core (1976) getting a Blu-Ray release, this won't be far behind.