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That's NordVPN.com slash evolution of horror. On July 16th, 1945, at 5.29 a.m. in White Sands, New Mexico, the United States Army conducted the first ever detonation of a nuclear bomb.

This became known as the Trinity Test.

Less than a month later, on August 6th, America bombed Hiroshima

and the world witnessed just how much devastation one man-made creation could wreak.

The world had something new to fear, the existential threat of the atomic bomb.

As such, by the 1950s, the horror genre shifted away from Gothic monsters towards atomic monsters.

Films about radiation creating unspeakable creatures and monsters.

I tell you, gentlemen, science has agreed that unless something is done and done quickly,

man as the dominant species of life on Earth will be extinct within a year.

Meanwhile, television, another man-made creation popularized in the 1950s, meant that cinema

had to up its game to compete.

So the atomic monster films relied on giant creatures and large-scale spectacle.

Gone were the days of creatures lurking in the shadows.

Now the horror was big, brash, and bold.

Colorful posters, titles with exclamation marks,

and giant monsters coming to destroy us all.

For born in that swirling inferno of radioactive dust

were things so horrible, so terrifying, so hideous, there is no word to describe them.

Join me as we continue exploring the evolution of man-made monsters, and we discuss a giant bug double bill, them and tarantula.

Welcome back to the evolution of horror. My name is Mike Munter, as ever I am your host. In this

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