dead, 1500 injured, damage estimates $300 million". Meanwhile, military troops led by Colonel Jack Evans attempt to stop the Rhedosaurus with an electrified barricade, then blast a hole with a bazooka in the beast's throat, which drives it back into the sea. Unfortunately, it bleeds all over the streets of New York, unleashing a horrible, virulent prehistoric contagion, which begins to infect the populace, causing even more fatalities. The infection precludes blowing up the Rhedosaurus or even setting it ablaze, lest the contagion spread further. It is decided to shoot a radioactive isotope into the beast's neck wound with hopes of burning it from the inside, while at the same time neutralizing the contagion. When the Rhedosaurus comes ashore and reaches the Coney Island amusement park, military sharpshooter Corporal Stone takes a rifle grenade loaded with a potent radioactive isotope and along with Dr. Nesbitt climbs on board the Coney Island Cyclone roller coaster. Riding the coaster to the top of the tracks, so he can get to eye-level with the beast, he fires the isotope into its open neck wound. It thrashes about in reaction, causing the roller coaster to spark when falling to the ground, setting the amusement park ablaze. With the fire spreading rapidly, Nesbitt and Stone climb down as the park becomes engulfed in flames. The Rhedosaurus collapses and eventually dies from the isotope's radiation poisoning. Cast Paul Christian as Professor Tom Nesbitt Paula Raymond as Lee Hunter Cecil Kellaway as Dr. Thurgood Elson Kenneth Tobey as Colonel Jack Evans Donald Woods as Captain Phil Jackson Ross Elliott as George Ritchie Steve Brodie as Sgt. Loomis Jack Pennick as Jacob Bowman Michael Fox as ER doctor Lee Van Cleef as Corporal Jason Stone Frank Ferguson as Dr. Morton King Donovan as Dr. Ingersoll James Best as Charlie, radar operator Production The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms had a production budget of $200,000. The film was announced in the trades as The Monster from Beneath the Sea. During preproduction in 1951, Ray Harryhausen brought to Dietz and Chester's attention that Ray Bradbury had just published a short story in The Saturday Evening Post titled "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" (it was later anthologized under the title "The Fog Horn"). This story was about a marine-based prehistoric dinosaur that destroys a lighthouse. A similar sequence appeared in the draft script of The Monster from Beneath the Sea. The producers,