Directed by:
Joe DanteScreenplay:
Charles S. HaasCinematography:
John HoraComposer:
Jerry GoldsmithCast:
John Goodman, Cathy Moriarty, Omri Katz, Kellie Martin, Lucinda Jenney, Robert Picardo, Dick Miller, John Sayles, Jesse Lee Soffer, Naomi Watts, Luke Halpin (more)Plots(1)
Half Man... Half Ant... All Terror! So says the advertising campaign for Mant!, the latest low-budget schlock-horror classic from cigar-chomping producer Lawrence Woolsey (John Goodman), who more than makes up for his films' lack of production values by festooning them with gimmicks that would turn even William Castle green with envy. But the most potent gimmick of all is accidental: Woolsey schedules a sneak preview of Mant! in Key West, Florida, in October 1962, unaware that the Cuban missile crisis is about to flare up. Will the threat of genuine nuclear war distract the locals from the movie, or will they find it doubly terrifying? Directed by the legendary Joe Dante, this delightful film isn't just an affectionate love-letter to the sci-fi and horror films that he grew up with in the 1950s and 60s, it's also a witty and intelligent exploration of the way that the most successful genre films worked by preying on the very real fears of their audiences about everything from Soviet satellite launches to atomic mutation. (Arrow Films)
(more)Cast
John Goodman
USA
Best movies:
Monsters, Inc. (2001)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Cars (2006)
Cathy Moriarty
USA
Best movies:
Raging Bull (1980)
Forget Paris (1995)
Digging to China (1998)
Omri Katz
USA
Best movies:
Matinee (1993)
Hocus Pocus (1993)
Adventures in Dinosaur City (1992)
Kellie Martin
USA
Best movies:
Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas (2004)
Hidden in Silence (1996) (TV movie)
Secret Witness (1988) (TV movie)
Lucinda Jenney
USA
Best movies:
Rain Man (1988)
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Robert Picardo
USA
Best movies:
Star Trek VIII: First Contact (1996)
Total Recall (1990)
The Cover Girl and the Cop (1989) (TV movie)
Dick Miller
USA
Best movies:
The Terminator (1984)
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
V: The Final Battle (1984) (series)
John Sayles
USA
Best movies:
Matewan (1987)
Passion Fish (1992)
Gridlock'd (1997)
Jesse Lee Soffer
USA
Best movies:
In Time (2011)
Matinee (1993)
The Brady Bunch Movie (1995)
Naomi Watts
UK
Best movies:
Mulholland Dr. (1999) (TV movie)
21 Grams (2003)
Mother and Child (2009)
Luke Halpin
USA
Best movies:
If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969)
Trinity: Good Guys and Bad Guys (1985)
Flipper's New Adventure (1964)
Robert Cornthwaite
USA
Best movies:
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Kevin McCarthy
USA
Best movies:
'Weird Al' Yankovic: The Videos (1996) (video compilation)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Columbo (1971) (series)
Joey Fatone
USA
Best movies:
Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration (2001) (concert)
My Big Fat Greek Summer (2002)
The Cooler (2003)
Brett Rice
Best movies:
Forrest Gump (1994)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
The Bear (1984)
Lisa Jakub
Canada
Best movies:
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
Eleni (1985)
Independence Day (1996)
Jacob Witkin
South Africa
Best movies:
Ally McBeal (1997) (series)
The Seven Dials Mystery (1982) (TV movie)
Matinee (1993)
David Clennon
USA
Best movies:
The Thing (1982)
Gone Girl (2014)
Being There (1979)
Belinda Balaski
USA
Best movies:
How the West Was Won (1976) (series)
Black Eye (1974)
Gremlins (1984)
William Schallert
USA
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)