Plot:
Rock and Roll is playing as a couple make out. Something makes the Chick scream and cowers in fear. The credits ensue…
Police car drives down a dark road finding the demolished car. One of the police stays at the wreck while the other drives to the address on the
registration. Other police arrive and start investigating: discover blood in the car. The police car that was sent to check the address of the registration finds the town
of Ludlow completely destroyed.
The military take over at this point. They have set up a roadblock to prevent anyone from going to Ludlow. Audrey Ames, reporter and hero’s soon-to-be love
interest, is stopped and sent on the detour. They won’t tell her what’s going on. She introduces she’s an old war correspondent. Still won’t be taken to Ludlow and
not told what happened. Audrey drives along as ordered.
She stops to take some pictures. We never see what she took pictures of, though. The military guy takes her camera and will let her have back at the military
headquarters. Audrey goes to the base. It turns out every military officer in America has heard of her and respects her work. You can tell that makes this movie
set in the 50s. No military officer respected a journalist after the early 60s.
The military won’t let any news of Ludlow be reported until they know what happened. Off the record, she’s told the town was demolished and the residents all
disappeared. She wants to hang around and is allowed to provided she doesn’t write any stories until given the OK. A man is interviewed; he heard some strange
noise late last night. The phone operator was interviewed, too.
Later, Audrey uses her car phone to call her boss. She wants to him to find out about a nearby flight and if there are any nuclear facilities, nearby…Plot
Point… She heads back to the roadblock to retrieve her camera. Her boss calls her back. The only radiation nearby is at a Department of Agriculture facility.
Well, that seems the best bet to check so; she heads to the Agriculture facility. We see plants with giant fruits. She tries talking to some guy in a lab coat who
doesn’t respond to her. Ed (Peter Graves) Wainwright introduces himself. We learn that Frank, the lab assistant, is a deaf mute. Audrey talks with Ed about
the disappearance in Ludlow. Her idea is radiation is somehow involved. Ed tells her that it can’t be. He shows her the giant plants. Radiation is used to irradiate the
plants to make them grow larger. She leaves to go back to the military headquarters.
Finally, she’s given permission to go to Ludlow with Captain. She won’t be able to print the pictures yet. We get the destroyed town photo montage. The town was
torn apart. They leave Ludlow. Audrey talks about how she has photographed war…Captain mentions that a nearby warehouse was destroyed 2 months ago.
Ed and Frank are paid another visit by Audrey. She talks Ed into going with her to the warehouse site. Frank wants to tag along, too. We get the why are you a
scientist and reporter scene. They arrive at the warehouse. It looks like the walls were torn apart from the inside. Frank flags them down, the ground is completely
barren. We learn Ed is an entomologist, guy who studies bugs. There are no insects in the area. Frank keeps wandering around. Ed and Audrey head back to the
car. A strange noise is heard. A giant superimposed grasshopper appears and eats Frank. Audrey keeps Ed from even trying to save Frank. They drive away,
posthaste.
Screw Computer Generated Graphics, I'm real!!!!
At the military headquarters, Ed tells the Colonel that the problem is giant locusts: 8 to 10 foot tall locusts. Colonel doubts Ed’s claims. Ed realizes it is his
fault. The locusts ate his irradiated plants. After they finished the grain in the warehouse, they needed more food.
Colonel, Ed, and some troops are going to look around the warehouse. Frank’s body is gone. The search area is expanded and, they start looking in the nearby
woods. Several troops make some wisecracks about giant locusts. They hear the strange grasshopper noise. The giant grasshoppers attack the soldiers. As the
troops retreat, some are eaten by the hungry insects. The surviving troops, Ed, and the Colonel make it to the truck and drive away from the giant locust chasing
them.
Well, the Colonel is a believer in the giant locusts. He is going to order the artillery, etc… Well, our rational expert, Ed, thinks this is a bad idea and wants to use
the US Army. The Colonel thinks the National Guard can handle things. Ed and Audrey head to Washington, D.C. A very short stock footage of Washington
ensues. Ed narrates a film about the typical locust to the military high-ups. They think the National Guard can handle things. They ignore Ed’s warning. One phone
call later reveals the grasshoppers broke out of the forest. Te town of Paxton must be held or the locusts will head straight for Chicago. On the return trip, we learn
the grasshoppers have overrun Paxton.
Obligatory Newspaper Article Detailing Disaster For Dummies...
In the Chicago military HQ, the General gives various orders.
Ed is in the lab searching for a solution. Insecticides won’t stop the grasshoppers. Audrey is staying in Chicago, this is a big story.
Stock footage assails us. Tanks head into action. Troops are marching. We see various artillery pieces being fired. The locusts have yet to be spotted.
A television newscaster is reporting about the locusts. In the military base and lab in Chicago, the grasshoppers are heard. Crowds panic throughout the city.
Troops are on the line and more stock footage of tanks. The grasshoppers attack again. We get stock footage with superimposed grasshoppers
ensuing. Helicopters land and more men rush into the fight or that what we’re supposed to think of at least. The troops keep up the fight. The base is briefed when
the troops' line is finally broken.
Another newscast, the grasshoppers are in Chicago. The crowd panics again. It looked exactly like the previous panicking crowd. People are evacuating the
city. Grasshoppers chase picnic-goers, etc… Grasshoppers are climbing buildings in Chicago if buildings are actually photographs of buildings.
I'm really a nice Locust once you get to know me...
Grasshoppers climb a building and break through a window scaring a woman like in King Kong.
Ed and Audrey report to the General. The grasshoppers have stopped moving for the night. Ed tells him they won’t move when the temperature is below 68
degrees unless provoked. The General has the authority to use an A-bomb and will order it dropped at dawn. Audrey asks if there is any way to drive the locusts into
the lake. The little light-bulb moment occurs for Ed. He might be able to attract the grasshoppers to the lake. He lists off various devices he needs. Ed has to capture
a live giant grasshopper, too, to know if his machine works.
Ed, the Major, and troops are on the streets on Chicago looking for giant grasshoppers. Ed and the Major head down a dark alley. After a couple of cheap
scares, they find and gas the locust. The troops rush to help them...
In the lab, the grasshopper is encaged. Ed is setting up the finishing touches on his contraption. The right frequency will attract the grasshopper. A polygraph will
tell when they find the right frequency. Ed starts trying to find the correct frequency. He hasn’t found it yet when the General arrives and is going to call for the
A-bomb. Ed asks for the A-bomb to be stalled until the temperature reaches 68 degrees which is 90 minutes from now. The General acquiesces.
The General wants the lab moved. Ed will stay and keep working. Audrey is staying to help Ed, too.
As time grows shorter, Ed has yet to find the right frequency. The dial twisting continues until he finds the right tone. The cage is finally torn apart by the
grasshopper that kills one of the troops in the lab before Ed properly machine guns it.
Ed calls the General who halts the A-bomb. Ed is now in charge. The broadcasting equipment is put in a boat. The plan is to lure the grasshoppers to the building
where the lab is before the boat broadcasts the signal to draw them to the lake. We get some of the great special effects this movie is known for. Yes, grasshoppers
crawling on postcards to simulate giant monsters rampaging through Chicago.
Do you feel ridiculous, too?
Ed checks with the various observers throughout the city. General wants to wait until everything is ready on the boat before starting. Ed starts drawing the
grasshoppers to the building. They flock to the building and climb it.
General checks with the various observers again. He wants to be sure to get all the locusts. Ed opens fire on the grasshoppers climbing the building when they cut
their signal. The boat starts transmitting which draws the locusts. They rush into the lake and drown. The horror is over. Ed and Audrey embrace. We see the
General’s boat head back to the city.
