Villain(s)  Prehistoric Rhedosaurus

Actor(s):  Paul Christian, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway, Kenneth Tobey

Brief Description  Released on June 13, 1953, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is a classic monster film directed by Eugène Lourié and featuring stop-motion animation by Ray Harryhausen. Loosely based on Ray Bradbury’s short story "The Fog Horn," it tells the story of an atomic test in the Arctic that awakens a giant prehistoric creature called the Rhedosaurus.

Plot:
In the Arctic Circle, a secret nuclear test code-named "Operation Experiment" is conducted. The atomic blast inadvertently thaws a 100-million-year-old hibernating dinosaur known as a Rhedosaurus. Physicist Tom Nesbitt is injured during the event and catches a glimpse of the beast. Military and medical officials dismiss his claims as radiation-induced hallucinations. The prehistoric creature begins traveling south down the Atlantic coast, following its ancient migratory instincts. Along the way, it destroys a fishing ketch, attacks a bathysphere, and smashes a lonely lighthouse.

Nesbitt meets paleontologist Thurgood Elson and his assistant, Lee Hunter. Elson confirms the creature is a Rhedosaurus after identifying sketch matches. Elson later dies when the monster attacks his diving bell. The Beast rises out of the Hudson River and invades New York City, trampling crowds and destroying infrastructure. Military forces shoot the monster, but its spilled blood releases a deadly, prehistoric germ that infects the populace, ruling out conventional explosive weaponry. Nesbitt concocts a plan to shoot a radioactive isotope into the beast's open wound using a grenade launcher. Military sniper Corporal Stone climbs the Coney Island roller coaster, fires the projectile, and kills the creature as the wooden coaster goes up in flames.

Design: A massive, quadrapedal carnivorous dinosaur featuring a crocodilian head, a row of spikes down its back, and a heavily armored tail. Biological Hazard: Aside from its devastating physical power, its blood contains a prehistoric pathogen that quickly poisons human beings upon contact, making it a walking biological hazard. Special Effects: This marked Ray Harryhausen's first solo feature film managing special effects. He pioneered a technique called "Dynamation" (split-screen matting) to realistically interlace his stop-motion models into live-action footage.