The Giant Gila Monster

Best DVD transfer yet of guilty-pleasure monster cheapie
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...

Best lousy movie I've ever seen!
This movie is LOUSY! That's what makes it so much fun to watch! The gila monster is never shown in the same shot with the people he is supposedly attacking, the sheriff is a whiny, ineffective fool who couldn't solve a jaywalking case, and the main character, Chase, is so annoying with his "goody-goodness" and horrendously bad musical numbers,that you will relish the prospect of watching him get torn limb from limb by the gila monster (which unfortunately does not happen!). Having stated all that, let me say that if you like campy sci-fi you couldn't find a better movie if you raided Ed Wood's own personal movie vault! You'll savor every agonizing minute! Buy it now!

It's great, but not worth $35
It's a very good (not excellent) episode of the show, and was substituted for GODZILLA VS. MEGALON in Rhino's "10.2" release of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 COLLECTION VOL. 10. (Due to legal reasons. Sandy Frank, he's the source of all our pain...)

And there's a special bonus: Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Kevin Murphy and Frank Conniff have created a brief new sequence, explaining how to insert your DVD without upsetting copyright lawyers.

But most importantly, don't pay $35 for it. It's available directly from Rhino's web site for $7.95 + S&H.

Take it away, Cambot...

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