Crazed and disfigured giant Colonel Glenn Manning (brawny behemoth Dean Parkin sporting pretty grotesque make-up) terrorizes as a small town. Manning gets captured by the army, but manages to escape and embark on a rampage in Los Angeles. Director Bert I. Gordon, working from a compact script by George Worthing Yates, relates the engrossing story at a brisk pace, creates and sustains a pleasingly spooky and mysterious atmosphere for the opening third of the picture, maintains a serious tone throughout, and gives the movie an earnest quality that's both appealing and enjoyable in equal measure. The solid acting from a capable cast helps a lot, with especially stand-out contributions by Sally Fraser as Manning's concerned sister Joyce, Roger Page as the stalwart Major Mark Baird, Russ Bender as the dedicated Dr. Carmichael, and George Becwar as the hot-tempered John Swanson. The special effects ain't so hot, but they do nonetheless possess a certain endearingly hokey charm. The scenes with Manning running amok and wreaking havoc are quite lively and exciting. Moreover, the tormented Manning makes for a genuinely pitiable monster; the unavoidable sad and tragic ending is truly poignant and memorable. A fun flick.

War of the Colossal Beast is a sequel to Gordon's earlier The Amazing Colossal Man (1957),and it picks up where that one left off. However, the film features a different cast. It was distributed theatrically by American International Pictures as the top half of a double feature with Attack of the Puppet People.

This sequel has competent acting performances, fair direction and ordinary special effects. It is also an obvious attempt at milking dry an already successful formula.

Unlike the first film, the character of Manning virtually has no dialogue which makes it far more difficult to feel empathy for the character.

The special effects are pretty ordinary by any standards with great reliance made on double exposure shots. However, quite a good job was made with Manning's facial make-up and the audio of his character's grunts and groans which effectively contribute to the "horror" aspect of the film.

The film is short enough as it is but unfortunately much of it consists of flashback footage from the first film which merely serves to pad the movie.

Despite the film's title, the Colossal Beast does not really engage in much of a "war" with anyone. For much of the time we see Manning being captured, him lying on his back and some military vehicles being maneuvered into position.

The War of the Colossal Beast does serve to highlight one theme that threads itself through many aspects of life in any era. Namely, how we choose to deal with big and seemingly intractable problems which are often of our own making.

I love 1950s sci-fi and horror films. Sure, many of them are quite cheesy but they are also quite fun. And this is the biggest reason NOT to see this film--it simply isn't any fun.

Although you would think that the enormous man died at the end of "The Amazing Colossal Man", somehow Colonel Manning somehow ends up in Mexico. This, despite two bazooka blasts and a 700 foot fall at the end of the last movie. The only think I liked about this angle was the great makeup job--with the Colonel's partially exposed skull. The other problem with the man now is that he's obviously brain damaged and just growled and grunted throughout the film! Not surprisingly, when the Air Force brings him back to America, bad things ensue.

In addition to a rather unnecessary plot, the film also suffers from 'flashback-itis'. In other words, much of the film consists of film footage from the first film in a cynical attempt to pad the movie--which is sad because even with this recycled footage it's only a little over an hour long.

So here's the negative: the script is dull, filled with rehashed material and the leading man growls and grunts throughout the entire movie. On the positive side: cool skull makeup. All in all, the skull makeup pales in comparison to the rest of the movie! My advice is only see this is you are very, very bored...and not particularly choosy.