2hotFeature one of my absolute favorites!

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

gavin6942 Audrey Ames (Peggie Castle), an enterprising journalist, tries to get the scoop on giant grasshoppers accidentally created at the Illinois State experimental farm. She endeavors to save Chicago, despite a military cover-up.Whether or not you will enjoy this film comes down to whether or not you are ready for good, cheap fun. Yes, the effects are not that amazing and in some cases are incredibly fake. The acting is nothing special, and there are some scenes that are most likely stock footage. But this is a fun, popcorn-eating film! Director Bert Gordon (a Wisconsin native) had his special niche, and he deserves more credit than he usually gets. Maybe some day we will see a nice box set of his work...

MARIO GAUCI This was much better than Leonard Maltin's *1/2 rating would suggest: in fact, the unflattering comments in his book (where it is described as "awful"!) pretty much kept me from acquiring the now-OOP Image DVD (complete with Audio Commentary track). Also, watching this hot on the heels of Gordon's other giant insect flick EARTH VS THE SPIDER (1958), I realize he was not always aiming squarely at the exploitation market – for this is as intelligent, indeed persuasive, as they come (knowing the devastation left in the wake of locust plagues, imagine just what would happen if it were to be magnified). Pity, then, that the evident low-budget cramped the overall effort: this is especially true during the climax, where it is obvious the grasshoppers are only normal size and the tall buildings either models or, worse, no more than blown-up photographs! Likewise, the monsters' come-uppance is somewhat rushed: hell, even my mother who came in halfway through and stayed to watch (often commenting aloud on the action as is her amiably irritating habit!) expected the film to end on a shot of the river covered with dead insects so as to stress their annihilation…but there was none!! The small cast is led by likable Peter Graves and lovely Peggie Castle (overcoming the annoying connotations of the obligatory intrepid female reporter part); the most notable supporting characters, then, are Graves' assistant – rendered a deaf-mute by radiation and who naturally is soon made to expire at the hands of the grasshoppers – and the elderly General who, in a desperate attempt to stall the insects' march, is even willing to throw an A-bomb over Chicago!

Tom van der Esch Beginning of the end tells the story of a swarm of giant locusts terrorizing the USA. Your basic man vs monster movie. The acting is okay; it's nothing really special. The music is your typical supply of black-and-white sometimes over-dramatic music. If you've seen a lot of these kind of movies, you know what I am talking about. The effects are... dated. It must have been impressive at the time, but it's two films glued together really. The same footage is used again and again on numerous occasions. And at one point you can clearly see some locusts climb not an actual building, but a drawing! It's quite silly... The story develops in a nice, steady pace. But once the locusts come into view, it kinda ruins the rest of the movie. I liked it better when I DIDN'T know what was going on. Just one opinion of course. Oh yeah, there are a lot of high-pitch annoying sounds in this movie, so you might either bring earmuffs or set your volume low. Not to bash this aspect of the film, but the sounds really get annoying after awhile. It's in one of the last scenes of the movie. Go watch it and see if you agree with me there.Beginning of the End (odd title by the way) is a fine movie in it's genre, but not a masterpiece. Watchable, but only once.6 out of 10 stars.

Seth Nelson Okay, my vacation from reviewing has officially come to an end here because a "Mystery Science Theater 3000" cheesy sci-fi flick has finally entered the Bottom 100!!!!! Yay!!!!! And it's called "The Beginning of the End!!!!!" YEAH!!!!!It's a movie about giant mutant grasshoppers that came about from an experiment gone wrong (?) and they crawl up buildings (or in this case, small grasshoppers crawling up postcards of skyscrapers and stuff like that!) LOL look for the words "NEW YORK" or something - Anyway, now I want to talk Richard Dreyfuss style and "pretend" to see what he "thinks" of this movie:"Arrgh.....Two-hundred-grasshoppers-entarr-the-movie-set; only-twelve-yes-count-em-t-w- e-l-v-e-grasshoppers-remain-after-shootin!!!!!" LOL I like "Master of Disguise!"While Rhino pulled the MST3K DVD due to some sort of copyright mishap, "The Beginning of the End," like the DVD cover suggested, is nothing but cheese from start - to finish!!!!!1/10