The Giant Gila Monster
Product Description
Only Hell could breed such an enormous beast. Only God could destroy it!
Don Sullivan … Chase Winstead
Fred Graham … Sheriff Jeff
Lisa Simone … Lisa
Shug Fisher … Old Man Harris
Bob Thompson … Mr. Wheeler
Janice Stone … Missy Winstead
Ken Knox … Horatio Alger ‘Steamroller’ Smith
Gay McLendon … Mom Winstead
Don Flournoy … Gordy
Cecil Hunt … Mr. Compton
Stormy Meadows … Agatha Humphries
Howard Ware … Ed Humphries
Pat Reeves … Rick
Jan McLendon … Jennie
Jerry Cortwright … Bob
This is a picture of life before CGI. The contrived dialog is part of the mystique. You get to see hotrods and a large lizard. The blob it is not; but it is a necessary addition to any 50′ collection.
Don’t look to close or you will notice a few things. This film was shot on a ranch in Texas to save a few bucks. There are no Gila Monsters in Texas. Oops this is not even a Gila monster; it is a Mexican lizard. Waite there is more the structure of the lizard would make it impossible to move at that particular size without breaking its legs.
Want more Gila Monsters spend all their time underground where it is cooler and only come out about three weeks a year. Too bad the writers did not take advantage of the fact that this critter is poisonous.
Story line, a teenage boy and a teenage girl disappears together; the law is getting suspicious yet thinks they just ran off. After a few disasters with trains and cars, the other teens are getting suspicious.
I want to ask the monster if teenagers taste like chicken.
Rating: 3 / 5
Much to the consternation of Sherriff Jeff(Fred Graham), people are dissapearing in the small town he patrols, leaving behind car wrecks, briefcases and blood stains. Where are the bodies though? His job is made more difficult by the fact he’s having to keep the peace between local big wig Wheeler, whose son is missing and the local youths, who Wheeler blames for leading his son astray. However, it soon becomes apparent that something far more dangerous than juvenile deliquency is responsible for the missing populus, and the Sherriff joins forces with teenage wannabee pop star/car mechanic and all round good egg Chase Winstead(Don Sullivan) to solve the mystery
This is another low budget gem from the man responsible for the mighty ‘Killer Shrews’ Ray Kellogg. Its an utterly charming film, with some great dialogue and strange plot developments(not least that our Hero Chase is prone to burst into song at any moment), compensating for the poor creature effects i.e none. As I have already stated in my review for ‘The Killer Shrews’ though, surely if a director has no budget, better to use a real animal than a shoddy effect. This time round its an ordinary Gila Monster with toy trains and trucks. There are a couple of great performances, the standout being Fred Graham who is superb as world weary, forward thinking Sherriff Jeff, who shows great respect for the local teenagers, and tolerance towards habitual drunk driver Old Man Harris(Shug Fisher), telling him off for rambling at one point by saying “I ask you the time, and you tell me how to build a clock!”. Talking of the teenagers Jeff defends, well the town seems almost entirely populated by them, not much older flesh on display here.
A great, scattershot 1950’s creature feature, with enough little touches and eccentricities to make it pretty unique and memorable. The only downside is poor picture and muffled sound quality, but it is very watchable despite that. 5 out of 5 for the film anyway
Rating: 5 / 5