# It Came From Hollywood **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [September 15, 2024, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-came-from-hollywood/1007304 "2024-09-15T16:23:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-came-from-hollywood/1007304/1 "2024-09-15T16:23:49Z")
A friend of mine mentioned the movie The Giant Claw and I said that I only know that movie from the clips in In Came From Hollywood. I hadn’t thought about ICFH in a long time but I realize just how influential it was on me. Little kid me loved nothing more than Genre movies (and books and TV) and comedy and this movie was filled with both. It was on HBO all the time in the early eighties and I watched it every time. It put me down a rabbit hole that let to cheesy sci fi and horror movies, SNL, MST3K and a bunch of other stuff. Anyone else have memories of this one? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-came-from-hollywood/1007304/2 "2024-09-15T17:20:09Z")
I remember seeing [It Came from Hollywood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Came_from_Hollywood) around the time it came out. it brought up memories of seeing most of the featured movies earlier in life. TV was expanding rapidly in the early 80s so soon those and many other B-movies were being aired more often, sometimes satirically as the local horror movie shows would do and later with MST3K. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-came-from-hollywood/1007304/3 "2024-09-15T17:46:14Z")
I saw it in theaters and Chong’s garbage can sized pop corn was almost meta. I suspect you won’t see it aired on TV or cable these days because an unsuspecting channel surfer could land in the middle of the mind-bogglingly racist dance number from the 1934 musical, _Wonder Bar_. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-came-from-hollywood/1007304/4 "2024-09-15T23:40:03Z")
I was seven when The Giant Claw came out. I loved 'Monster Movies" and my Dad would take me to see any of them I asked for. I clearly remember that even as an idiot seven year old I thought the monster was hilariously stupid. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-came-from-hollywood/1007304/5 "2024-09-16T15:59:00Z")
**The Giant Claw** is one of the most wonderfully awful giant monster movies of the 1950s. The very premise is pretty stupid, but it didn’t help that they ran out of money for the special effects and came up with the most embarrassing monster to appear in a monster film. The cast was appalled when they saw the final result. (Something similar happened with the 1979 John Frankenheimer movie **Prophecy** ) I’ve shown the film at an impromptu “Bad Film Festival” once, and it went over well. I love **It Came from Hollywood** , despite its flaws (some of the “comedy” bits go on for too lomng, and they actually make fun of a few halfway decent films). It’s a great “gateway drug” to get people interested in parties where you make fun of awful movies. Another one is a straight-to-DVD creation called **Zacherley’s Horrible Horror** , which I highly recommend, if you can find a copy. It actually has _outtakes_ of grade-Z movies like _Killers from Space_. I was having Bad Film Festivals long before MST3K came around. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-came-from-hollywood/1007304/6 "2024-09-16T16:12:20Z")
Heheh, I loved ICFW, and I too watched it on cable a lot. It did shape me some. If nothing else, it was where I first heard the “Martian Hop”. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7h7fcdN6bWY/hqdefault.jpg "1963 HITS ARCHIVE: Martian Hop - Ran-Dells") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h7fcdN6bWY) ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-came-from-hollywood/1007304/7 "2024-09-16T16:14:04Z")
Err, can’t edit. That should have been ICFH.