The Incredible Shrinking Man [DVD]

An absolute classic! Always used to be shown on late night TV when I was a kid in the 1970s (usually a Friday or a Saturday when I was allowed to stay up late) As far as I'm aware it hasn't been shown on TV for years so bought it for my husband and I to reminisce. Still love the scenes of the scale of everyday items next to him when he shrinks. Great to watch again after all these years. I will put it away and watch it again in another twenty years!!!

Classic saw this in the early to mid seventies when bbc 1 used put on scifi films on a tuesday night along with The day the earth stood still and The day the earth caught fire,Them.No cgi does not out stay its welcome and some reasonable special effects for when it was made and brings back fond memories.Basically a husband and wife out in a boat she goes inside to get a couple of beers whilst on deck a suggested radioactive passes over him and then things start to happen.He starts to shrink.reasonable picture quality no extras mono sound track 1.85.1 picture.Made at a time when every scifi film had spiders ants octopusses were infected by radiation and grew and tried to destroy the human race.This is different as it focuses on Grant Williams trying to come to terms with his condition and eventually his fight for survival,Although unintentionly funny as a three inch man he gets arsey with his wife.

Classic 1950s science fiction gem here.The story tells of Scott Carey played convincingly by Grant Williams, who while holidaying on his boat encounters a strange mist. Six months later he notices that his clothes are getting too big and after a visit to his doctor discovers he's shrinking. Despite all efforts to stop this Scott still shrinks. We see him struggle to be accepted by society, and labeled a freak like some circus midget as Scott world becomes larger by the week. Unable to leave the home because of the media Scott views the world through child's eyes. To tell more would ruin your viewing pleasure. But Scott must battle, hunger, spiders, cats, and the elements. This is a serious film and contains no humour. You start to feel for this guy who really struggles with even the basic human needs food. The special effects are worth noting here as clearly the budget for this film wasn't great, but you do feel as though your in Scott's world. Highly recommended.

I live in the US, but I'm I'm lucky enough to have a region-free player,and so own this region 2 version, which is sorely lacking in specialfeatures, but at least features a good looking-print in the correct aspectratio. (Bizarrely it's not even available in the US as a stand aloneDVD!)"Incredible Shrinking Man" reminds me of a great episode of "TheTwilight Zone". It's thoughtful, well-written, and ultimately prettydaring in its conclusions. Richard Matheson, who wrote many of thebest Twilight Zones, wrote the script.Hokey at moments, with a few special efx that are pretty badly dated,it's still tense, inventive and emotional, with good twists and turns,It's also ultimately very thought-provoking, and raises some interesting(and vaguely Buddhist) ideas about the meaninglessness of size in thevastness of the universe.This film could be the poster child for what's now called by Hollywooda 'smart genre film' i.e. it can be advertised as a genre movie (horror,action, sci-fi, etc.) but transcends the limitations usually associated withthat genre to become a special, well-made film that can speak to agrown-up audience beyond those simply looking for a cheap thrill.('Rosemary's Baby' is another great example).Even though a few of the technical elements are dated, the ideasthemes and emotions certainly aren't. This is well worth yourtime.

For me this film continues to be a source of enormous pleasure regardless of age and pre CGI pedigree. As with most science fiction the viewer must abandon reason and accept the tenet that, in this case, a mysterious radioactive cloud can deposit glitter on an unfortunate victim causing irreversible shrinkage at an atomic level. Similarly that the shrinking man (Scott Carey) can retrospectively narrate his story but from where? The infinite and infinitesimal yonder? For centuries people have been fascinated by human miniaturisation, such as Swift's Gulliver, Carroll's Alice, the 1960s TV series "Land of the Giants" or the recent "Honey I Shrunk The Kids" movie franchise. As a variation on a theme the film's entertainment centres on the increasingly threatening nature of living in a typical domestic dwelling dominated by oversize everyday objects and oversize everyday animals. The action sequences are nail bitingly tense (pet cat, mouse trap, paint stick, flood and house spider) and the unwavering loyalty of Carey's wife adds an intimate emotional depth. Like a modern day Odysseus, Carey' heroic attempts to escape his incarceration in the cellar of his home leads to a metaphysical conclusion where "to God there is no zero". This DVD edition offers a crisp transfer and decent soundtrack.

A classic, follows the book closely and leaves the viewer emotionally charged, Special effects were cutting edge at the time and are still believable, probably because the story is so strong and keeps the viewer interested. The only character that was a tad unbelievable was the spider, but, as I said, CG was not invented then. An ordinary house spider was the adversary, I believe, or a widow, can't actually remember, but not a tarantula. The ending of the film was good, just like the book, leaving the viewer to cling to his or her own beliefs.