something strange be happen in remote area of the arctic . an air force weather station be find wrecked and it occupant miss . an eskimo village be destroy . a fishing vessel disappears . curious spoor be find in the snow . a four foot piece of a living organism be find near a destroyed airplane . the piece look like half of the claw of a giant alaskan crab . the military ( craig stevens a an air force officer ) and it expert be baffle . a distinguished scientist ( william hopper ) and his pretty assistant ( alix taltan ) be call in from new york . hopper deduces from this flimsy evidence that they be deal with a monstrous praying mantis . he right . the pretty assistant happen to look out the window of the office and see the hideous face with it bulge eyeball star in at her . she drop what she carry and clap her hand to her cheek and and scream in horror . the mantis begin fly south along the gulf stream and pausing now and again to attack major population center like washington and new york to overturn bus and eat people . military weapon do not affect it much but finally stevens crash into it in his jet fighter and mortally damage the beast and which come to earth and occupy the manhattan tunnel link new york and new jersey . stevens and have survive the collision and lead his team into the tunnel and kill the big bug with 3rg mine despite it fierce appearance and threaten behavior and and earth shatter roar . stevens and taltan kiss in front of the body while hopper chuckle and take their picture . ho hum . like the deadly mantis itself and the formula by this time be pant and gasp for air and flop around and seek a it prey not human being but anything at all in the way of a fresh or original idea . a it be and they overlook one cliché . hopper should have hurriedly have to invent a super duper ddt that and alone and could defeat the insect . that what the 3rg mine should have be fill with and rather than ordinary explosive . the model work be pretty good and consider what the budget must have be . not much money could have be spend on anything else because everything else be pretty routine . craig stevens be bland and a face and style make for a tv series . william hopper look right tall and silver haired but his instrument have only one note . the pretty assistant be rather plain and consider her role . the part call for joan weldon or laurie nelson . they couldn not act either but carry with them slight but distinct intimation of molestibility . anything would have help this fag out movie . i wish the deadly mantis hadn not roar so loudly and so often because you can not roar you can not even whisper if you do not have lung . i do not mind and though and when the monster meet it demise in the tunnel . a pray mantis be a graceful insect in it own spindly way and it great to have them in the garden because they eat caterpillar and whatnot . but when you get right down to it and they aren not really very appeal . the male mantis be small and weak than the female and a in human and and when the couple be just about through copulating and the female bite the head off the male and also a in human . but at least human male know when to stop . the male mantis keep on copulate for several minute even though he be now without a head . we human do not have mindless male copulate with goal drive female . do we .