Strong and Moving!

Pretty Good

As Good As It Gets

A Masterpiece!

The film is really, really bad. It is also laugh-out-loud funny! Like The Creeping Terror (which is hands-down, the worst monster flick of all time), this movie is so bad that it is good. The monster is fresh off the sale rack at Wal-Mart after Halloween. The sort of villainess enters and leaves the dungeon/prison through a standard door which, for some reason, the prisoners choose not to use to make their escape. And Tommy Kirk is shot in the abdomen midway through the movie, yet manages to fight off his 300-pound antagonist in the end. The flashbacks take up half the film. The gaffes are blatant...no decent film buff would even take any pride at spotting them. It is certainly among the top 5 of the worst movies of all time, and for that reason, it should be seen so it may be believed.

Bickering couple Norman (stolid Corveth Ousterhouse) and Leilla (pretty blonde Shirley Bonne) find themselves hopelessly lost in some remote rural region. They seek assistance from deranged redneck farmer Greely (a game performance from beefy veteran exploitation picture regular Bill Thurman), who locks them both in a cave so he can feed them to his beloved pet lethal carnivorous reptilian humanoid monster (also played by Thurman). Flatly directed by legendary Grade Z schlockmeister Larry Buchanan, with a dull, talky, uneventful script, a sluggish pace, cruddy, washed-out color cinematography by Robert B. Alcott, a tedious drawn-out flashback that's just tossed in to pad out the running time, a generic film library orchestral mush score, a simply pathetic some-poor-zhlub-in-a-lousy-rubbery-suit creature, no tension or momentum to speak of, and a spectacularly fumbled less-than-thrilling explosive conclusion, this hilariously horrendous hunk of unmitigated junk possesses all the right wrong stuff to qualify as a real four-star stinkeroonie. Former Disney kid thespian Tommy Kirk seems asleep on his feet as paleontologist hero Wayne Thomas while Annabelle MacAdams does her best with the thankless role of Greely's scared and abused housekeeper Bella. Moreover, the misty cavern setting is genuinely cool and creepy. A tasty slice of prime celluloid Velveeta cheese.

It's Alive: 1 out of 10: Nostalgia is a dangerous thing. I often look back on movies from my childhood such as Damnation Alley or The Punishment of Anne (I had a very strange childhood. Hey it was the Seventies the rules were different back then) and wonder if I can view the films objectively. (Death Race 2000 is in reality not the best film of all time).I have the feeling that those who look back fondly on Larry Buchanan's made for TV masterpieces are remembering their old dog, their mothers cookies and the comforts of childhood rather than the film in question. Because the film is awful.I didn't like Manos Hand of Fate but this film is almost a remake of said film (Complete with endless opening drive in the Ozarks of all things.) Except it doesn't have Manos's bizarre sex fetish undercurrent and no Tor.Instead we get talentless former child actor (How is that for a redundant statement) Tommy Kirk and some unknowns.We have a truly unconvincing monster apparently recycled, death march style pacing, and witless dialogue that is almost impossible to describe. It really pales in comparison to the great films of my childhood like Massacre at Central High. (Hey we had cable what can say)

its alive!not to be confused with Larry Cohen's;its alive about the mutant baby.is a bizarre low budget movie about a reptile loving farmer (bill Thurman)who has a tourist trap in the south with snakes and lizards.and something he keeps in a cave,a bizarre monster that looks like one of the creatures from horror of party beach minus the sausages. well some travelers happen along(tommy kirk,Shirley bonne)and stumble on the demented farmers secret.i saw this on TV very late at night as a teen and found it kind of creepy and unsettling,now i watch it and find it very funny and silly.it was made by Larry Buchanan who did many remakes of roger corman and American international pictures.this was one of the better ones.bill Thurman starred in all of Buchanan's monster films.i have to say this movie is so bad its good.the monster is hilarious.i believe this was done on a ultra low budget.5 out of 10.