The blood and carnage is everywhere in THE GIANT GILA MONSTER as a . . . well, a giant gila monster attacks a small Texas community, leaving a string of bodies and wreckage in its wake.

Okay, maybe I’m over-selling it.

THE GIANT GILA MONSTER was one of writer/director/actor/special effects man Ray Kellogg’s forays into the giant beast genre of the 50s and 60s. Created as a double-feature with Kellogg’s other giant animal movie THE KILLER SHREWS, THE GIANT GILA MONSTER is actually quite charming despite its faults. The story follows the efforts of Chase Winstead (Don Sullivan) and Sheriff Jeff (Fred Graham) as they try to track down the missing Pat and Liz who’ve not turned up for a few days. Speculation is that they eloped, but Pat’s father, the local Mr. Important, says he’ll have the Sheriff’s job if his boy isn’t found.

The plot thickens when Pat’s car turns up in a ravine, the state of the car resembling another backroads wreck a few days earlier. And when a train crashes and some of the survivors report seeing a giant lizard on the scene, all hell breaks loose. Finally, the giant gila monster turns up at a barn party Chase is throwing and the hero must sacrifice his prize possession--his 100% complete hot rod, loaded with 4 canisters of nitroglycerine--in order to destroy the beast and save his town.

I really dug this movie. It’s not great. The special effects are laughable--miniatures set against the regular size gila monster (which IMDB says isn’t even a gila monster, but a Mexican beaded lizard)--and reactions to the beast are shot and then inserted, but the acting and editing is so bad, you can tell they’re reacting to nothing more than director Kellogg saying “Action!”

But what I really liked about this movie was the fact it had a story. The characters had depth, however cliche and unoriginal their stories. And Don Sullivan as the hero really makes an impact. His character Chase Winstead leads the local gang, but he’s the gang leader with a heart of gold, convincing his followers to slow down on the road instead of dragging everywhere, and being buddies with Sheriff Jeff. Chase’s father was killed earlier in a factory owned by Pat’s father Mr. Wheeler, the Mr. Important who threatens the sheriff. Mr. Wheeler thinks Chase is bad news, but the Sheriff knows better. With his father gone, Chase has to work extra hard to provide for his mother and sister Missy who’s in need of an operation and leg braces. Plus he’s got a foreign exchange student girlfriend, Lisa, who’s adoptive family forbids her to see Chase. Cuz he’s the bad boy in town. Like I said, his story is pretty cliche. But Sullivan’s got something that really sells the part. There’s a sincerity in his performance, as if he’s not so much acting the character as he is showing himself. Based on this performance, I’d have to say Don Sullivan seemed like the kind of guy you want to hang out with. Certainly Chase Winstead was.

THE GIANT GILA MONSTER does a good job of reeling the viewer into its world. The characters have real lives they lead away from view of the camera and Kellogg has convinced me this town really exists.

But it’s that gila monster that gets in the way. I enjoyed the story of the town so much, I got a little bored when we cut to the monster slinking through the ravine outside of town, moseying along and taking up valuable screen time. The movie’s only 74 minutes, but those few shots of the boring gila monster sure made it seem longer.

It’s hard to say whether THE GIANT GILA MONSTER qualifies as a “classic”. Considering there were so many similar movies at the time, it’s hard to determine what was necessarily influential and what was just a weekend warrior job that was quickly forgotten. Obviously GILA MONSTER wasn’t forgotten, but how well is it remembered? Can you really point to any recent movie of the same kind and say it was influenced by THE GIANT GILA MONSTER? Hell, even ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES could be seen as a precursor to LAKE PLACID (talk in both movies of how these creatures can’t live in this type of water, be it salt- or fresh-water). But the themes and ideas in GILA MONSTER are so general, it’s hard to say.

And does it even matter? Not really. When you’re talking movies like this, be it THEM! or THE GIANT SPIDER INVASION or whatever, giant animal movies are comparable only to themselves and in the realm of these types of movies, THE GIANT GILA MONSTER stands out.


other Horror Classics
Carnival of Souls: http://www.epinions.com/content_403446140548
Atom Age Vampire: http://www.epinions.com/content_403512856196
Creature from the Haunted Sea: http://www.epinions.com/content_403596349060
Nightmare Castle: http://www.epinions.com/content_404037799556
Black Dragons: http://www.epinions.com/content_404796575364
The Invisible Ghost: http://www.epinions.com/content_405221379716
One Body Too Many: http://www.epinions.com/content_405861076612
White Zombie: http://www.epinions.com/content_405939326596
Attack of the Giant Leeches: http://www.epinions.com/content_409233493636
The Screaming Skull: http://www.epinions.com/content_414279896708
The Beast of Yucca Flats: http://www.epinions.com/content_414752214660
The Terror: http://www.epinions.com/content_415068622468
Revolt of the Zombies: http://www.epinions.com/content_415464984196


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older