“The Giant Gila Monster” is a horror B-movie that tells the story of two teenagers who disappear in small town in Texas. It is assumed that they ran off to the big city, but when their bodies are found, the sheriff knows something is up. He soon finds evidence that a giant lizard on the loose, and the thrills, chills, and spills proceed from there.
Director Ray Kellogg did a good enough job with the sparse budget to make this film qualify as passable entertainment. The inexpensive FX features a live lizard filmed on a scaled-down model landscape. The script, penned by Jay Simms, is adequate enough for mostly unknown actors to recite, which includes Don Sullivan, Lisa Simone, Fred Graham, Shug Graham, Bob Thompson, and Janice Stone as Missy Winstead.
The producers of “The Giant Gila Monster” were B. R. McLendon, Gordon McLendon, and Ken Curtis, who later became famous as Deputy Festus Haggen on CBS’s “Gunsmoke” (1964-1975). This lizard picture was not terribly successful in theatrical release, but was part of double features from McLendon-Radio Pictures.
The Giant Gila Monster (1959)
cinema
My Review
“The Giant Gila Monster” is a horror B-movie that tells the story of two teenagers who disappear in small town in Texas. It is assumed that they ran off to the big city, but when their bodies are found, the sheriff knows something is up. He soon finds evidence that a giant lizard on the loose, and the thrills, chills, and spills proceed from there.
Director Ray Kellogg did a good enough job with the sparse budget to make this film qualify as passable entertainment. The inexpensive FX features a live lizard filmed on a scaled-down model landscape. The script, penned by Jay Simms, is adequate enough for mostly unknown actors to recite, which includes Don Sullivan, Lisa Simone, Fred Graham, Shug Graham, Bob Thompson, and Janice Stone as Missy Winstead.
The producers of “The Giant Gila Monster” were B. R. McLendon, Gordon McLendon, and Ken Curtis, who later became famous as Deputy Festus Haggen on CBS’s “Gunsmoke” (1964-1975). This lizard picture was not terribly successful in theatrical release, but was part of double features from McLendon-Radio Pictures.