The Giant Gila Monster
Directed by Ray Kellogg
Written by Jay Simms; original story by Ray Kellogg
1959/USA
Hollywood Pictures Corporation
First viewing/Amazon Prime
[box] Tag Line: Only Hell could breed such an enormous beast. Only God could destroy it![/box]
Sometimes bad rock and roll, hot rodders, and a giant lizard aren’t enough …
Despite his love for his crippled sister and entrepreneurship, tow truck operator Chase Winstead is considered by some to be the local bad boy, So the town’s big wheel blames him when his son and son’s girlfriend go missing. Turns out the real culprit is a slow-moving pink and black gila monster whose mere presence causes trains to derail. Chase goes to the rescue, in between souping up cars and belting out “rock” classics like “Laugh Little Children”.
One would have thought that B movie makers would have giant creature effects down to a fine art by 1959. Here we had some particularly lazy ones that concentrated on close ups of an actual lizard. There are a couple of scenes in which we see the creature with fake looking miniatures. The rest of the movie is an ultra-lame teen flick of the era. I watch some of these so you don’t have to.
Trailer
