guys empty their cartridges at the unstoppable insects." Another modern reviewer found the screenplay effective, especially the beginning: "As in Deadly Mantis, the complete disappearance of the victims is especially chilling, as is the notion of 150 men, women and children being devoured overnight while in their beds. This aspect is like something out of Lovecraft, although it is not exploited as well as it could have been." Producer-director Bert I. Gordon said he did not care whether reviews were bad; what mattered was whether people went to see the film: "The movie audience these days consists almost entirely of teenagers. Either they're naïve and go to get scared, or they're sophisticated and enjoy scoffing at the pictures. There isn't much a teenager can scoff at these days, you know." Lead actor Peter Graves also felt the film worked on a certain level. "I think they played OK. ... All of that was ludicrous, but there were a certain amount of people who 'bought' it and loved it." Beginning of the End has become somewhat infamous because of its notoriously poor production values and unrealistic plot. The movie was parodied in the 11th season of the hit animated television program The Simpsons in the episode "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)." In that episode, Homer Simpson grows giant vegetables using radioactive materials, and automatically assumes that any animal eating the food will become monstrous. Homer even attempts to recall Beginning of the End as evidence of his claim, although he misremembers the title as Grasshopperus and the star as Chad Everett (another blond, all-American actor similar to Peter Graves). Home video releases Beginning of the End was released on DVD in March 2003 by Image Entertainment. However, this print was considered "smeary" and not a very high quality issue. In popular culture The film was the basis of an episode of the satirical cable television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) during its fifth season. This episode of MST3K was released on DVD in 2001. References Notes Bibliography Cornea, Christine. Science Fiction Cinema: Between Fantasy and Reality. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2007. Dangcil, Tommy. Hollywood Studios. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia, 2007. Derry, Charles. Dark Dreams: A Psychological History of the Modern Horror Film. South Brunswick, N.J.: A.S. Barnes, 1977. Dixon, Wheeler W. Lost in the Fifties: Recovering Phantom Hollywood. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 2005. Erb, Cynthia Marie. Tracking King Kong: A