The Giant Gila Monster

Rating:
Summary: This one's 50's from the kids to the soda jerk
Review: A giant gila monster is the least of your worries when you have to deal with an annoying, drunk radio DJ. And that's just what the main character does...although radio DJ's haven't been known to break through barn dances and cause havoc.

This gila monster, still undiscovered, just wanders out of the wilderness, starts pushing cars, and eats teens that are into heavy petting....There's also this amusing drunk character, who whimsically drives drunk away from an officer. Ah, the fifties...when the penalty driving drunk was a stiff lecture and a pat on the shoulder.
The monster, of course, gets what's comin to it and is destroyed by things-that-don't-like-to-explode's worst enemy: nitroglycerine. The boy also sacrifices his cool, old hot rod in this explosion. But, everyone's safe and there's no sequel...

...or is there?..

Oh, and buy this, too. It's a great creature flick.

Rating:
Summary: Good Hokey 1950 Giant Monster Classic
Review: allthough the peeps below my review have their smart ellic remarks on this film i seem to like it.
i actually liked all the giant monster films in the 50's even tho im a 16 year old and wasnt ever around in those days i enjoy the movies today and if u want to pick the reviews of the idiots under me then its ur choice
i got my opinions and they got theirs

Rating:
Summary: Review for The Giant Gila Monster
Review: alright so the screne shot effects arent perfect.... i still like the movie im 16 and i think its 1 of my fav 1950 b-raters of all time
its very interesting and very nice set . and who said there was bad acting point it out cuz i cant see it =D

Rating:
Summary: average B-flick
Review: An average B-flick, THE GIANT GILA MONSTER is an entertaining, if slow moving piece of schlock.

Ray Kellogg conceived of this piece of trailer-trash, which stars teen idol Don Sullivan.

Set in Texas, the film tells of a gila lizard who grows to huge proportions because of a thyroid condition coupled with a steady diet of human flesh.

Sullivan plays a car mechanic with aspirations to be a rock star, and spends his spare time strumming on a tiny toy ukelele, and singing some of the worst songs ever written.

With Lisa Simone as his annoying French girlfriend, Sullivan sets out to destroy the lizard.

Fine, if a little too outlandish B-movie madness.

Rating:
Summary: So BAD it's...just bad!!!
Review: As we all know, some bad movies (PLAN NINE being the example always trotted out) are so bad that they are actually fun. Their crudity, or cluelessness or sheer incompetence make them worthwhile. THE GIANT GILA MONSTER almost makes it to this status, but alas, falls short due to some indefinable quality that takes it from camp to just plain boring.

Perhaps the main problem is that we just don't see enough of the monster. In this small Texas town, the kids seem to have more interest in listenin' to that good ole rock 'n' roll! And the rock songs are simply wretched...and too many. More monster...less music!! That's what this movie needs.

The special effects, such as they are, are below average for this time period, but not far enough below (a la ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN) to make them a laugh riot. They're just obvious. And I'm sorry, but a Gila Monster isn't a terribly threatening beast. It's not quite as silly as a KILLER SHREW, though, so again, the movie fails to reach true camp status.

Students of what bad early rock 'n' roll could be, as conceived by Hollywood B-listers might get some amusement from this film...but if you like the old '50s monster movies, this ain't the one to hunt down.

Rating:
Summary: So BAD it's...just bad!!!
Review: As we all know, some bad movies (PLAN NINE being the example always trotted out) are so bad that they are actually fun. Their crudity, or cluelessness or sheer incompetence make them worthwhile. THE GIANT GILA MONSTER almost makes it to this status, but alas, falls short due to some indefinable quality that takes it from camp to just plain boring.

Perhaps the main problem is that we just don't see enough of the monster. In this small Texas town, the kids seem to have more interest in listenin' to that good ole rock 'n' roll! And the rock songs are simply wretched...and too many. More monster...less music!! That's what this movie needs.

The special effects, such as they are, are below average for this time period, but not far enough below (a la ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN) to make them a laugh riot. They're just obvious. And I'm sorry, but a Gila Monster isn't a terribly threatening beast. It's not quite as silly as a KILLER SHREW, though, so again, the movie fails to reach true camp status.

Students of what bad early rock 'n' roll could be, as conceived by Hollywood B-listers might get some amusement from this film...but if you like the old '50s monster movies, this ain't the one to hunt down.

Rating:
Summary: The Giant Cheese-Log...
Review: Don Sullivan (Teenage Zombies) is a small town mechanic and hotrod enthusiast in this scaly classic. Hoping to become the next Elvis, Sullivan's character begins crooning at any opportunity! His friends only serve as enablers for his heinous catterwalling! He really gets going when he serenades his little sister, while playing the infamous "banjo-lele". Meanwhile, a gargantuan gila monster is on a rampage of destruction. No model car or toy train is safe during the holocaust! Can our wacky teens defeat this tongue-flicking horror? Is their barn-dance doomed to cancelation? Will Don Sullivan ever stop singing? Watch as these and other mysteries are solved. Recommended for immature audiences (to which I happily belong)...

Rating:
Summary: Best DVD transfer yet of guilty-pleasure monster cheapie
Review: Everything about this movie says "stinker," yet I just can't help but like it; I've watched it at least half-a-dozen times since my early teens and just don't get tired of it. As every Giant Gila fan must know, it was produced by Ken Curtis (deputy Festus Haggen on TV's Gunsmoke) and directed by Ray Kellogg (The Green Berets, My Dog Buddy) back-to-back with The Killer Shrews. The pedestrian script is by Jay Simms, who did much better with Shrews, Panic in Year Zero, and Creation of the Humanoids, and the repetitious 'eerie' soundtrack is courtesy of Jack Marshall (who penned the memorable Munsters' TV theme). While all the kids tool around in custom "slingshots" and mouth some nifty jive talk, Giant Gila is just too NICE to qualify as a (typically sleazy) JD/monster flick. Don Sullivan (Teenage Zombies, Monster of Piedras Blancas) stars as keen teen Chase Winstead, who's so virtuous and upstanding that he ought to be canonized. He's working in a garage to support his family, keeps his buddies in line (no dragging!), helps the sheriff search for missing gila victims, writes and sings religious pop songs, is taking a correspondence course in engineering, and saves his money to buy leg braces for his polio-stricken kid sister! It's enough to make you gag. He gets additional saint points because his dad died on an oil rig owned by wealthy jerk Mr. Wheeler, and he's also got a beautiful but annoying and nearly unintelligible French girlfriend (Lisa Simone). Fred Graham, veteran of numerous westerns and flyboy flicks, plays the understanding sheriff, and Shug Fisher (formerly a member of the Sons of the Pioneers vocal group, along with Curtis) provides some cornball 'comedy' as Old Man Harris, whose 1932 Model-A is lusted after by the hot-rodders. Ken Knox is amusing as hep-cat DJ "Steamroller" Smith (he's driving while completely smashed when we meet him, yet nobody seems too concerned). The giant gila monster itself just seems to be sitting on the sidelines (exactly where is never really clear), observing a lot, and looking very normal-sized (the "effects" crew obviously had no idea how to shoot miniatures properly). When it does do some attacking it never interacts with any of the live actors (the film lacks a single matte shot, or even a cheesy double-exposure a la Bert I. Gordon, that would have put the monster and humans in the same frame). Since Ray Kellogg was a former special photographic effects technician at 20th Century Fox, it's a mystery why the monster scenes here are so lackluster. As if all this weren't enough, Sullivan sings the utterly cringeworthy "Laugh, Children, Laugh" (with ukelele accompaniment) not once, but TWICE during the picture (imagine a really lame Ricky Nelson or Everlys tune), although his rock'n'roll number, spun by Smith at the climactic "platter party," is fairly passable (it sounds like an Elvis ripoff). The gila monster gets to demolish a toy tanker truck and electric train, and is finally annihilated by Chase, naturally, who destroys his custom rod in the process. While never achieving greatness, Giant Gila Monster is a relatively painless 75 minutes of corn-fed schlock that should please fans of 1950s monster cheapies (and/or Green Acres).
Not as pristine as most Image/Wade Williams releases, Giant Gila Monster is still presented here in better overall shape than any video or DVD copy I've seen yet. The box says it's matted at 1.85:1, though by my calculations it's closer to 1.66:1 (1.70:1 to be exact) and anamorphically enhanced. Print quality is very good to excellent, generally exhibiting only light speckling, blemishing, and lining, although there are a few stretches where the speckling/blemishing is a bit heavier; not enough to be a major distraction, but noticeable. Otherwise, the black level, brightness, contrast, sharpness, and shadow/highlight detail are excellent throughout. The accompanying trailer is also matted to about 1.70:1 and looks fine except for some light to moderate speckling and lining. Additional extras include 12 chapter stops, five Wade Williams Collection trailers, and an Images Journal essay that's nearly as amusing as the movie, wherein Giant Gila Monster is discussed in scholarly terms more befitting a Bergman or Godard film. As is typical with this sort of thing the type is too small and condensed, making for difficult on-screen reading (at least on a 27" monitor). For the extremely cost-conscious, Diamond's full-frame edition (paired with Killer Shrews) isn't absolutely terrible (physical damage is a bit worse, plus it's softer, darker, more contrasty, and generally lacking in detail), but if you want the best available transfer, this is it.

Rating:
Summary: Dreck then, Dreck now
Review: Golden Turkey Awards to the following: to Shug Fisher for proving that lovable town drunks are the real menace and should be locked away permanently, to special effects for proving that a single coupon to Toy's R'Us furnishes all the props a movie needs, to the luckless lizard for proving that a single narcotized expression gets you real screen time, to the composer of "Laugh Children Laugh" for turning an audience of nice Sunday school graduates into howling mad atheists, and finally, to the producers for believing this 70 minutes of unabashed treacle would actually convert switch-blade greasers into Pat Boone acolytes. The best way to view this 50's abomination now, as then, is passed-out in the back of a '57 Chevy. Some may call it camp -- it doesn't rise to that level. I still call it dreck.

Rating:
Summary: Dreck then, Dreck now
Review: Golden Turkey Awards: to Shug Fisher for proving that lovable town drunks are the real menace and should be locked away permanently, to special effects for proving that a single coupon to Toy's R'Us furnishes all the props you need, to the narcotized gila monster for proving that a single paralyzed expression gets you actual screen time, to the composer of "Laugh Children Laugh" for making wrathful atheists out of an audience of Sunday school graduates, and finally, to the producers for believing this 70 minutes of unabashed treacle would actually convert switch-blade greasers into Pat Boone acolytes. The best way to view this 50's abomination now, as then, is passed-out in the back of a '57 Chevy. Some may call it camp. I still call it dreck.